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A) How a water softener works |
All ION exchange softeners have a resin bed that extracts calcium as the water passes through the softener before entering the house. They ensure that 100% softened water is supplied to the property. Huge savings can be made on protecting all household appliances, boilers and you will use less deteregents and cleaners. No need to use additives such as Calgon, Dishwasher Salt etc etc!
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B) Regeneration |
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ALL ion exchange softeners have to clean themselves periodically as the resin bed becomes saturated with calcium deposits. It does this by making brine from the salt placed in the softeners brine tank and as this is flushed through the resin bed, the calcium breaks free and is flushed to a drain, normally a washing machine type trap or to an external gully
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B1) Upward Flow regeneration - click for more details ... |
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Most softeners pass the brine through the resin bed during regeneration in the same direction as the normal flow of water through the softener before entering the house. More sophisticated machines regenerate in reverse. This method is more efficient in the use of brine and uses less energy and water to perform the regeneration process. Sometimes referred to as Counter Regeneration.
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C) Timed Controlled Softeners - click for more details ... |
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A timed controlled softener plans the regeneration process at a set number of day intervals. These types of controlers are usually found on budget or entry level machines. These machines do not take into account changes in water consumption and therfore have to be set to generate more often in order to guarantee a constant supply of soft water. As a result these machines will have higher running costs in salt and water consumption than a metered softener. There are occasions when a timed softener is preferred, especially if it is supplying a low volume requirement such as a steam room, steam ovens or single appliances. If a metered unit was used, there would be too long a gap between regenerations, and the resin bed will start to create water channels, allowing hard water to break through. When this happens protection of the equipment will be reduced. A timed machine in these instances would ensure that the resin bed is aerated at reasonable intervals thus preventing break through.
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D) Meter Controlled Softeners - click for more details ... |
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Unlike timed controlled softeners, these machines monitor consumption of water and will allow a pre-determined volume of water to be used based on the water hardness between each regeneration. They are able to react to changing consumption levels and therfore have lower running costs because they are more efficient. Other features found on top of the range models further reduce overall running costs from basic metered machines.
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E) Monospheric Resin - click for more details ... |
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Most softeners, unless stated have a standard resin media which is normally irregular shaped beads. Mono resin has completely regular spherical beads. Softeners with Mono Resin offer the best performance. Mono resin allows passing water to make use of the entire resin bed thus extending the gap between each regeneration cycle. Mono resin is easier to clean and therefore requires less brine to complete the regeneration cycle. Therefore Mono Resin softeners offer the optimum performance and reduced running costs. The additional cost of these machines can be repaid in a relatively short period of time.
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F) Proportional Brining |
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Some machines have more sophisticated controllers that monitor the available capacity remaining in the resin bed and can judge the best time to regenerate. On regeneration, only enough brine is produced to clean the resin beds used capacity and therefore further savings are made on salt and water consumption.
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G) Capacity |
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The capacity of a softener is governed by the quantity of resin in the resin chamber. The capacity is shown in litres, eg. A 10ltr softener is normally quite adequate for a normal domestic house. Some cheaper softeners will have smaller resin chambers in order to reduce the price but have higher running costs as these machines regenerate more often. For very large houses it may be necessary to consider a 14ltr machine or above. Sometimes specification state number of persons it will support, but this terminology is misleading. It refers to people days between regeneration calculated at 300 ppm of hardness. A person is deemed to use 165 ltrs of water per day
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H) Fixing Kits - click for more details ... |
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All machines require a fixing kit to enable connection to the incoming water supply. We strongly believe that by offering these seperately ( unless stated otherwise) you get the right kit that optimises your softeners performance. We offer a standard fixing kit which is suitable for vented systems or upgrade to full-bore valves as below
Which fixing kit depends on your heating system
1) Vented system (You have a hot water tank with a header tank in the loft Normally a 15 mm rising main - Kit1
2) Combination boiler. Rising main may 15 mm or 22mm. For 15 mm choose Kit 2 and 22mm rising main choose Kit 3
3) A pressurised Hi-Flow system. (Has a hot water cylinder but no header tank as the system is pressurised via a mains filling loop) Normally a 22 mm rising main - Kit 3
Picture shows the fixing Kit fitted on the incoming main with optional Drinking System
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I) Plumbing Out Kits - click for more details ... |
Ion Exchange water softeners need to have a drain connection to take away waste water during the regeneration process. The drain hose can be placed in a washing machine trap or connected to a 15 mm copper pipe which goes through an outside wall to an open gulley. When either of these options are not easily available, we sell a Plumbing Out Kit which can be clamped to a 32mm or 40mm waste pipe from the sink. The drain hose is then slid on the spiggot and held in place with a jubilee kit. The waste water then goes to the normal drain.
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J) Hardness Levels - click for more details ... |
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Hardness levels are normally measured in Parts Per Million, or ppm for short. In order to calibrate a water softener it is necessary to set the hardness level so that the machine can then control the amount of water consumed before each regeneration. We sell a very simple home chemical kit which can tell you your hardness ppm in minutes. Click the link for more details
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K) Salt - click for more details ... |
Salt is supplied for water softeners in 3 basic types
Tablet
Granular
The above products are supplied normally in 25KG bags. The machine chosen will specify which type is recommended. We strongly recommend that you use only salt designed specifically for water softeners. All our machines use tablet salt except block salt softeners
Block salt
Only Block Salt softeners can use this product. It has the advantage that it is more convenient to handle than 25KG bags but is more expensive Kilo/Kilo. However, our block salt softener is non-electric and is an advantage if a suitable electrical point is not available. All other machines require an electrical supply
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L) Scale Inhibitors - Electronic and Magnetic - click for more details ... |
Scale inhibitors come in the form of Magnetic, Electrolytic, electronic and Phosphate dosing.
Magenetic, Electroytic and electronic uses magnetism or radio frequencies to change the structure of scale particles in the water supply. This treament makes the calcium deposits remain potable and as a result calcium does not build up on heating elements. These units don't soften the water, the calcium just passes through the system. These systems are best positioned on pipes that lead directly to heating appliances. Water that is treated and then held in a loft storage tank may lose its polarity if stored for more than 17 hours. Therefore position on the supply from the tank and not to it, or both if the feed in also feeds washing machines, dishwashers etc.
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M) Scale Inhibtors - Polyphosphate Dosing - click for more details ... |
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Phosphate dosing systems slowly release a food grade polyphoshate into the water supply. This solution is attracted to calcium and prevents it from sticking to heated surfaces. One system can be installed to cover whole house or single appliance. The water remains safe and drinkable but it is recommended to take an untreated supply off for drinking water when unit is fitted to protect whole house. The Aquadial Combi-care is an excellent product for this application
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 How a water softener works)
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 Scale Inhibitors - Electronic and Magnetic)
_0.jpg&title=M) Scale Inhibtors - Polyphosphate Dosing)
