Water Elite

ECOWATER SYSTEMS

Water Softeners

The most frequently found mineral contaminant in water is hardness. In a large number of instances, installation of a softener would be beneficial.
In the removal of hardness minerals and certain other contaminants from raw water, a water softener functions on the ion exchange principle. The equipment contains a bed of softening material known as resin, through which the raw, untreated water flows. As the water passes through the resin, the hardness minerals attach themselves to this softening material. At the same time, sodium previously affixed to the resin is released into the water. This ion exchange process, as chemists call it, occurs literally billions of times during the softening process.

Eventually, so much hardness collects on the resin that, temporarily, the unit can no longer soften water. At this point it is considered "exhausted". Water passing through a unit in this condition would remain hard. Regeneration or recharging is now necessary. To recharge the resin, it must be rinsed with a rich brine solution. This washes out the hardness and replaces it with sodium. The hardness minerals and excess brine solution are rinsed down the drain, and the renewed resin is ready to remove hardness from the water.

During the recharging cycle, the unit is also backwashed. This reversing of the normal flow of water serves to remove any turbidity and sediment which may have accumulated during the softening process due to the filtering action of the ion exchange material. Backwashing also loosens and fluffs up the bed of resin.

The capacity of water softeners is in terms of the grains of hardness they will remove with each recharging. The harder the water, the more frequently recharging is necessary.