Sanitize The Water Softener
SANITIZE THE WATER SOFTENER
Care is taken at the factory to keep your water softener clean and sanitary. Materials used to make the softener will not infect or contaminate your water supply, or cause bacteria to form or grow. However, during shipping, storage, installing and operating, bacteria could get into the softener.
SANITIZE YOUR WATER SOFTENER AS FOLLOWS:
1.Be certain the bypass valve is pulled out to “service” position.
2.Lift the salt hole cover and use a pail add up to 3 gallons of water to the salt storage tank.
3.Remove the brine well cover (Fig. 28) and pour about 3/4 ounce, or 1 to 2 tablespoons, of common 5.25%1, unscent- ed, household bleach (Clorox, Linco, BoPeep, White Sail, Eagle, etc.) in the softener brinewell. Replace the brinewell cover.
4.Press the REGENERATION button and hold for 3 seconds to start a recharge. This first recharge does several things.
•It draws the bleach into and through the softener to sani- tize it.
•It fills the salt tank to the water level needed.
•It gets all the air out of the resin tank.
•It prepares the resin bed (see page 26) for service and flushes residual chlorine from the softener.
NOTE: This recharge takes about
NOTE: During a recharge the water softener bypasses raw water to the home. You will not get salty water or affect the regeneration cycle if water is used at this time.
You can sanitize the softener with or without salt in the storage tank.
1Recommended by the Water Quality Association.
On some water supplies, the water softener may need peri- odic disinfecting.
Your new Sears softener is now softening the water for your household needs. However, your WATER HEATER is filled with hard water. To have fully soft water right away, you can drain the water heater so it refills with soft water. If you don’t drain the water heater, it will take a few days before you have fully soft water.
To drain the water heater, open a hot water faucet and let it run until the water runs cold. Then close the faucet.
NOTE: If this procedure is performed on a new softener, water coming from the taps may initially be discolored. This normally occurs the first time water runs through the resin bed. The discolored water is not harmful, and the discoloration will not last more than a few minutes.
Salt Hole Cover 
Brinewell Cover (Remove and add about
3/4 oz. bleach)
Brinewell
Water
About 3 gallons
FIG. 28
Questions? Call The Kenmore Water Line
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