Kenmore ULTRASOFT 400 625.3884 - Manual (Page 13)

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HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
B. 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. 5). As
hard water passes through the bed, each bead at­
tracts and holds the hardness minerals. This is
called ion-exchanging. It is much like a magnet at­
tracting and holding metals. Water without the
hardness minerals (soft water) flows out of the soft­
ener and into the house soft water pipes.After a pe­
riod of time, the resin beads hold all of the hardness
minerals they can, and cleaning with salt brine is
needed. This cleaning is called regeneration or re­
charge. Regeneration is started at 2:00 a.m. by the
electronic timer (see page 2-5). It takes place in 5
stages or cycles. These are:
FILL
BRINING
BRINE RINSE BACKWASH
FAST RINSE
Note:
If the Clean feature is set to ON, additional back­
wash and fast rinse cycles occur before the fill cycle.
FIG. 5
Water Flow Through
the Softener in Service
soft water
OUT
hard water
resin tank
resin bed
REGENERATION
n 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. 6. 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.
FIG. 6
Water Flow Through
the Softener in Fill
soft water
OUT
hard water
2
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