How a Water Softener Works

   A water softener works with the principle of ion exchange. This means that positive ions (usually sodium or potassium) are exchanged for the iron and hardness (lime/calcium) in your water. A water softener or water conditioner as it is more precisely called has millions of poppy seed sized beads made of poly styrene plastic which naturally attract positively charged ions.

   When you are using water, it flows down through the beads (mineral/resin bed) and exchanges sodium or potassium for the iron or hardness that is present in your water. The water then finds its way to a collection point at the bottom of the resin bed and is soft and free of iron. This process does add a small amount of sodium or potassium to your drinking water so further treatment may be desired usually in the form of a reverse osmosis drinking water system.

    When the water conditioner starts to run out of sodium/potassium on the resin beads, it is time to regenerate the system. This is done automatically and is usually initiated by a demand meter which counts the gallons of water your family uses and tells the control valve when the capacity of the unit is getting low.

    Most newer softeners have the metered regeneration feature which is designed to save salt. If the unit is not equipped with a meter, it either has a clock which can be set to regenerate 

the unit on a set schedule of days automatically or the unit is simply a manual unit. A manual conditioner is one that the homeowner must physically cycle through each individual step.

    When a water conditioner regenerates, whether it is metered, clock, or manual, it follows these basic steps and typically in this order. This usually happens at 2 A.M. unless the conditioner is a twin (dual resin tank) system.

1.) Backwash Backwash is when the unit pumps water down the center tube called the distributor. This cycle lasts for about ten minutes and is designed to expand the resin bed and allow foreign debris to escape out the drain of the unit.

2.) Brine and Rinse Brine and rinse begins when the unit draws the brine solution from the salt tank. The brine works its way down through the resin and up the distributor. At this time the sodium or potassium exchanges with the iron and hardness which was attached to the resin beads. The iron and hardness are now forced out the drain of the unit. The chloride from the brine is not needed and is also forced out the drain. The brine portion of the brine and rinse cycle lasts about 15 minutes. Now for the next 45 minutes or so the unit rinses out any traces of iron, hardness and chloride.

3.) Rapid Rinse Rapid rinse simply sends water down from the top through the resin and up the distributor for about 8 minutes. This procedure packs the resin down tightly in the tank.

4.) Brine Refill This cycle sends water to the salt tank to make brine for the next time the water conditioner goes into regeneration.

5.) Service The unit now sets the valve to service which means it is now ready to deliver soft water to be used throughout the home.

The Technetic and selected Quicksilver systems have upflow brining.  This means that when the unit brings in brine for regeneration, it will enter the resin bed from the bottom instead of the top. This is a more efficient way of introducing brine to the resin bed in most cases and will result in about a third less salt used per regeneration.