Water Softeners

Water softeners work by a process called Ion exchange. Hard water flows into the top of the filter tank, down through the filter media, then up through a tube and out to the system as soft water. The hard water minerals have positive charges which rub off onto the negatively charged filter media beads which are made of polystyrene and DVB plastic resin.

To clean the filter media the water softener performs a regeneration cycle at least once, and often two or three times per week. The regeneration cycle consists of a backwash in which the water flows down through the tube and up through the filter to physically lift sediment off the resin then pump it out into the drain. While this is happening the brine tank is making salty brine water. The brine water gets pumped into the top of the tank to undergo ion exchange again, this time rubbing the minerals off of the filter media and onto the salts in the brine water. Finally, a rinse cycle runs water through the softener and out into the drain to clear the brine water from the filter media.