3
Softener Operation
As water enters the softener, it passes over a resin bed in a special tank. The resin consists of tiny
beads of a plastic called styrene. These beads attract and hold sodium ions and exchange the sodi-
um for hardness ions when encountered. Over time, the resin becomes saturated with hardness ions
and no longer removes hardness materials. The softener goes into a "regeneration" to flush hard-
ness materials to the drain and refresh the resin with sodium. Regeneration is typically programmed
to take place in the middle of the night when little or no water is in use.
Regeneration consists of four cycles:
1. Backwash Position
Backwash
is a rapid upward flow of water that loosens the resin bed and flushes iron particles, dirt
and sediments filtered in the bed out to the drain.
2. Brine Draw / Slow Rinse Position
Brine Draw
is the process in which brine is drawn out of the brine cabinet and passed through the
resin in a downward direction. This rinses the resin and large amounts of sodium ions replace the
hardness ions accumulated during service.
Slow Rinse.
After brine is completely removed from the brine cabinet into the resin tank the brine
valve closes. Water replaces any remaining brine from the resin, flushing hardness ions removed
from the resin to drain.
3. Fast Rinse Position
Fast Rinse
is a fast flow of water down through the resin tank that follows a
Backwash
. This flushes
all remaining brine from the tank and packs the resin bed for softening efficiency.
4. Brine Fill
Brine is water saturated with large amounts of a salt (sodium chloride). During
Brine Fill
, water
flows into the salt storage area after each regeneration and dissolves salt. During the regeneration
process, hardness ions on the resin beads are replaced or exchanged for sodium ions from the brine
solution.
5. Service
When the softener is in
Service
it is flowing water through the system and removing hardness min-
erals from your water.
