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1. Salt Usage: See your water conditioning professional for a
recommendation on the best type of salt for your application.
2. Brine Tank Cleaning:
a. Remove brine tank cover.
b. Scoop out as much old salt as possible.
c. Disconnect brine tubing from safety brine valve at brine well.
d. Remove safety brine valve from brine well by placing one
hand in brine well to hold overflow nut and remove 2 piece
overflow.
e. Remove optional brine well and grid plate, if used, from
brine tank.
f. Remove any remaining salt and/or impurities from brine tank.
g. Using clean water and a brush or rag, wipe and rinse inside
of brine tank. Also wipe and rinse the grid plate and brine well.
h. Reassemble brine tank reversing steps c - e. Note: If grid
plate is used and it is damaged or cracked, replace with
new one.
i. Put brine tank in place making sure there is no debris or
foreign material beneath it.
j. Reconnect brine tubing to safety brine valve.
k. Manually add 6 inches of water to the brine tank (or to
approximately 1” above the grid plate, if used).
l. Add new salt. Important: Do not add the old salt which
was removed earlier unless it is clean and not mushy.
We recommend using new salt.
m. Follow the disinfection instructions found at the top of this
page.
n. Put on brine tank cover.
MISCELLANEOUS
WATER SOFTENER DRAINING PROCEDURE
In cold weather climates it is common for plumbing systems that
are not in use to be “winterized“ or drained of all water to prevent
any damage that may be caused by the excessive expansion of
water when it freezes. To prevent damage to a water softener it
must be
properly
drained also. A simple way to properly drain
or winterize a water softener is to use compressed air to force
all of the water out of the softener mineral tank. The following
procedure will explain the process:
1) Initiate the softener into a manual regeneration cycle. After
the refill cycle, advance control to backwash and allow it
to complete the backwash cycle (this will clean the media)
and start into the brine-draw cycle. Allow the regeneration to
continue in the brine draw cycle until the brine is drawn out
of the brine tank and the air check at the bottom of the brine
pick-up tube shuts off. At this time no more brine is introduced
into the softener and the slow rinse process begins.
2) Turn the water supply inlet and outlet valves off to the water
softener as soon as the air check shuts off and no more brine
is being drawn into the softener (at the beginning of the slow
rinse process).
3) Unplug the electric power leaving the softener control valve
in the brine draw cycle.
4) Disconnect the brine tube at the top of the brine tank and
force air into the brine tube toward the softener mineral tank
and control valve. The air will force the brine/water solution
that was drawn into the mineral tank out to drain through
the control valve drain line. (An air compressor blow gun
attachment with a portable air compressor works well.)
CAUTION
: You do not want to apply any more pressure than
necessary to force the brine/water out of the mineral tank.
The small amount of brine/water that may be left in the min-
eral tank will not expand enough to cause any damage to
the softener when it freezes.
If your softener is equipped with an optional bottom drain on
the mineral tank, you will have to follow all of the same proce-
dures with the exception of the need for compressed air. With
the brine tube disconnected from the brine tank, raise it to a
level above the softener control valve and temporarily secure
it in this position. Now open the drain valve at the bottom of
the mineral tank and allow all brine/water to drain from the
mineral tank.
CAUTION:
If a hose is connected to the drain valve to direct
the brine/water to a floor drain be sure it runs downward and
is unobstructed. When brine/water quits running at the drain,
be sure to leave the drain valve open until you start the system
up again.
5) At this time the brine tank has very little water left in it. What
liquid is left in the brine tank is saturated brine, provided there
is still salt left in the tank. Saturated brine will not freeze solid
and cause any damage and does not have to be drained any
further from the brine tank.
If there is no salt left in the brine tank when the system is
drained we recommend dumping all of the water out of the
brine tank at this time. See brine tank cleaning instructions.
(#2 in Miscellaneous section, below)
6)
CAUTION:
It is important at this time to be assured that the
inlet/outlet water supply piping is properly drained. Depending
on how the water supply piping was routed to the water softener
control valve, a water loop or trap may have been created.
Sometimes drain valve(s) are installed at the bottom of the
loop to assure all water can be drained out. If not it may be
necessary to disconnect the control valve from the piping sys-
tem and open the inlet/outlet valve(s) to allow all the water to
drain from the piping. This should be done when the rest of
the plumbing system is drained.
7) Draining or winterizing of your softener is complete. Refer
to the start-up procedures on page 9 when you are ready to
start-up your softener.
WATER SOFTENER DISINFECTION
The construction materials of your water softener will not support
bacterial growth nor will these materials contaminate a water
supply. However, the normal conditions existing during shipping,
storage, and installation indicate the advisability of disinfecting
a softener after installation, before the softener is used to treat
potable water. In addition, during normal use a softener may
become fouled with organic matter or in some cases, with bac-
teria from the water supply.
Therefore, every water softener should be disinfected after
installation, some will require periodic disinfection during their
normal life. You have two choices for disinfection as follows:
A. SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE (household bleach)
5.25% SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE solutions are available
under such trade names such as Clorox, Linco, Bo Peep,
White Sail and Eagle Brand Bleach. If stronger solutions are
used, such as those sold for commercial laundries, adjust
the dosage accordingly.
1.
Dosage:
a. Softening resin; 1.2 fluid ounce per cubic foot of
resin.
2. Add the required amount of hypochlorite solution to the
brine well of the brine tank.
a. Proceed with the normal regeneration. Press REGEN
and allow the water softener to go through a normal
regeneration.
B. EPA and NSF approved Sani-System by Pro Products.
This can be purchased from your water treatment provider
or at: http://proproducts.com/products/sani-system.
