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About the water softener system. GEAppliances.com
Service
When the water softening system is providing
soft water, it is called “Service.” During service,
hard water flows from the house main water
pipe into the water softening system. Inside the
water softening system resin tank is a bed made
up of thousands of tiny, plastic resin beads. As
hard water passes through the bed, each bead
attracts and holds the hard minerals. This is
called ion-exchanging. It is much like a magnet
attracting and holding metals. Water without
hard minerals (soft water) flows from the water
softening system and to the house pipes.
After a period of time, the resin beads become
coated with hard minerals and they have to be
cleaned. This cleaning is called recharge.
Recharge is started at 2:00 AM (factory setting)
by the water softening system control, and
consists of five stages or cycles. These are
FILL, BRINING, BRINE RINSE, BACKWASH and
FAST RINSE.
For emergency needs, hard water is available
to the home during the recharge cycles.
However, you should avoid using HOT water
because the water heater will fill with the
hard water.
Automatic Hard Water Bypass During Recharge
Fill
Salt dissolved in water is called brine. Brine is
needed to clean the hard minerals from resin
beads. To make the brine, water flows into the
salt storage area during the fill stage.
Brining
During brining, brine travels from the salt
storage area into the resin tank. Brine is the
cleaning agent needed to remove hard minerals
from the resin beads. The hard minerals and
brine are discharged to the drain.
The nozzle and venturi create a suction to
move the brine, maintaining a very slow rate
to get the best resin cleaning with the least salt.
Brine Rinse
After a pre-measured amount of brine is used,
the brine valve closes. Water continues to flow
in the same path as during brining, except for
the discontinued brine flow. Hard minerals and
brine flush from the resin tank to the drain.
Backwash
During backwash, water travels up through
the resin tank at a fast flow rate, flushing
accumulated iron, dirt and sediments from
the resin bed and to the drain.
Fast Rinse
Backwash is followed by a fast flow of water
down through the resin tank. The fast flow
flushes brine from the bottom of the tank,
and packs the resin bed.
After fast rinse, the water softening system
returns to soft water service.