In the backwash phase the dirt inside the mineral tank which translates as residue from the previous regeneration process is flushed out through the drain and outside the water softener.
Water softener flush cycle.
You can manually set the water softener to perform an extra backwash and fast rinse cycle before the normal regeneration.
Here are the typical water softener regeneration steps.
Backwash 10 minutes this step removed accumulated dirt and such while also fluffing up the media bed.
This is known as the water softener backwash cycle.
Manually start a regenerating process or pour in the cleaner right before a scheduled regeneration.
This helps keep the resin efficient and functional.
Recharging consists of five stages.
No softened water will be available for home use until the regeneration cycle is complete.
Water softeners regenerate by removing trapped contaminants and replacing them with either sodium or potassium depending on which chemical you put in the brine tank.
So when a water softener runs it is in its regeneration or backwash cycle during which the softener pumps water into a salt tank to make brine then flushes the brine backwards through the water treatment tank then flushes the brine out of the treatment tank.
During a backwash of a water softener system water runs through a resin tank upward.
However the accumulation of bacteria in your softener may also be a cause of undrinkable brown water.
During regeneration the backwash cycle reverses the flow of water in the softener tank to lift loosen the resin bed and flush the gravel bed at the bottom of tank.
The times for each of these stages are variable and change just.
After a period of time the resin beads get coated with hard minerals and need to be cleaned.
Once every few months pour water softener cleaner into the brine tank following label instructions.
Flush with water softener cleaner.
It does this at a fast speed and flushes iron minerals from the resin bed and out to the drain.
A strong salt water brine solution is created with the salt added to the softener.
The cleaning process is called recharge.
Water softener 5 recharge regeneration stages.
The recharge phase involves placing sodium ions into the saturated hard water.
The brine solution flows through the resin tank rinsing the beads and exchanging new sodium for the hard water minerals that have collected.
All the oxidized iron that has settled to the bottom of the tank gets stirred up and rusty dirty cloudy water will show up immediately after a regeneration for a day or so.
The following steps are involved with regeneration.
Fill brining brine rinse backwash and fast rinse note.