How often does a salt based water softener have to regenerate...and for how long ? We have a rental home that has 2 adults. Based on the size of the salt tank...I'd say it's a medium to large capacity softener. I've written the manufacturer a couple times for a manual..but get no response. It's about 10-12 years old. Does it have to regenerate every night,...and/or for how long for each regen period ?
Thanks much, Tim
Mine recycles every 8 days and that works for me.
Have you tried calling?
For two adults, certainly not. Once every four days should be more than enough. Try setting it to that, wait a week, and see if the water is soft enough for you. If so, set to once every 7 or 8 days. Keep going, until the water is too hard -- then set it to regen more often.
Typically the only other setting available is controlling how much salt it uses each time it regenerates. You'll need a manual for that.
Need more information. How hard is the water? What is the actual capacity? Maybe someone here has a manual and can give better information. If it is already set up, I'd give it a try and test every day to see if the water runs hard before adjusting.
A correctly sized and properly setup softener for "average" water conditions on a municipal water system should regenerate every 6 or 7 days for longest resin life.
If there's iron in the water then more frequent regenerations are preferred and a resin cleaner should be routinely used.
You can't tell the size of the softener by the size of the brine tank... you CAN tell the softener by the size of the resin tank. A specific size resin tanks hold a specific volume of resin and that resin volume is what dictates the hardness removal capacity (size) of the softener.
Tim wrote:
Well that's not all of it. The volume of resin in cubic feet and the salt dose lbs dictate the capacity.
And all softeners have an adjustable K of capacity because they all have an adjustable salt dose.
The length of time a regeneration runs for is about 1.5 hrs on average and some softeners have no ability to adjust that and most consumer manuals do not have any instructions on how to do it if the control valve allows it..Better quality valves like the Clack WS-1 do allow it.
Gary Slusser Quality Water Associates
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