All About Water Softeners

IRON, MANGANESE & HARDNESS: Water softeners exchange ions (charged particles) of sodium or potassium for ions of iron, manganese, and calcium & magnesium (hardness). On many occasions, we’ve treated dissolved iron levels over 100 ppm! It’s virtually the ONLY way to effectively treat manganese.

ABOUT RESIN, SODIUM & POTASSIUM: Softeners are bedded with cation resin, a man-made, “plastic”, bead-like material. Resin is cleaned and regenerated with either sodium or potassium chloride. Both are equally effective and can be mixed. Potassium chloride is considered more environmentally friendly. During treatment, sodium ions are released into the treated water at a rate of approximately 7.5 mg/qt and potassium ions at about 12.7 mg/qt for every grain of hardness removed (1 grain = 17.1 ppm or mg/l). Resin is a very rugged material and usually lasts 15+ years. When “fouled” with iron bacteria it can be effectively “cleaned” and returned to like new condition.

SIZING: Water softeners are sized by media tank dimensions and the amount of resin contained. We recommend 9” diameter tanks bedded with a full cubic foot of resin. In our opinion, this strikes the optimum balance between treatment flow rate and regeneration efficiency. One cubic foot resin has a nominal treatment capacity of 30,000 grains. By knowing the raw water hardness (total calcium & magnesium expressed in grains per gallon) and the grain capacity of the softener, it’s easy to calculate how often the unit requires regeneration and how much sodium or potassium will be used. This number is your “meter setting” on the proposal.

“METERED IS THE WAY TO GO!” We strongly advocate efficient, meter-controlled softeners. Regenerating based on usage saves hundreds of pounds of salt or potassium and thousands of gallons of wastewater per year (not to mention the related well pump wear and tear) over conventional “day” initiated timers. The decreased frequency appears to have no adverse maintenance effects.

“ARE ‘TWIN’ SOFTENER TANKS WORTH IT?” The complete regeneration cycle takes approximately 2.0 hours. During this time you have water but it’s not treated due to the automatic bypass feature. Because we’re talking about only a couple of hours, commonly every few weeks, in the middle of the night, it’s rarely a concern. 24-hour treatment can be provided using a “twin” softening system with one unit always “in waiting.” For the typical home it’s not cost-effective or necessary. We do, however, frequently install “twin” softeners in motels, restaurants and malls.

“HANDLING IRON BACTERIA” Our controls feature a reliable, single piston with an electric motor that draws only 4 watts of current! (about the same as a good night light). Long experience has proven the superiority of this design. It handles tough, high iron bacteria conditions better than any other type of control because it doesn’t easily get “bogged down”.

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