Kenmore 625.3486 owner manual Service, Fill Backwash Brining Fast Rinse Brine, Regeneration

SECTION 2

HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS

I

2B. SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION

SERVICE

When the softener is giving you soft water, it is

called "Service". During service, hard water comes from the house main water pipe into the softener.

Inside the softener resin tank is a bed made up of

thousands of tiny, plastic resin beads (FIG. 4). As

hard water passes through the bed, each bead

attracts and holds the hardness minerals. This is

called	ion-exchanging.			It is	much		like a		magnet
attracting	and	holding		metals.		Water		without		the
hardness	minerals		(soft	water)		flows		out	of	the
softener	and	into the	house		soft	water		pipes.

After a period of time, the resin beads hold all of the

hardness minerals they can, and cleaning with salt

brine is needed. This cleaning is called regenera-

tion or recharge. Regeneration is started at 2:00

a.m. by the electronic timer (see page 14). It takes place in 5 stages or cycles. These are:

FT]	FILL		r-_	BACKWASH
[]	BRINING		r_	FAST	RINSE
F]	BRINE	RINSE
NOTE:
If the	Clean	feature	is set	to	ON, additional

backwash and fast rinse cycles occur before the fill cycle.

WATER FLOW THROUGH THE

SOFTENER IN SERVICE

soft water hard water

OUT IN

salt storage tank (salt . not shown) _'

REGENERATION

[]

FILL: Salt, dissolved

in

water,

is

called

brine.

Brine

is

needed

to

clean

the

hardness

minerals

from

the

resin

beads.

To

make

the

brine,

water

flows

into

the

salt

storage

area

during

the

fill

stage

as shown

in

FIG.

5.

Fill

cycle

length

depends

on

how

much

soft

water

making

capacity

you

have

used

since

the

last

regeneration.

As

you

use

more

water, fill time

increases

so more brine is made. The

greater

amount

of

brine

cleans

more

hardness

minerals

from

the

resin

bed.

WATER FLOW THROUGH THE

SOFTENER IN FILL

soft water hard water

OUT IN

q

salt storage

tank -...

-j

brine valve

\\\\\\

,

\

fill water

brine valve	resin	tank
	resin	bed

12