Water softener

Supply, servicing and maintenance

Water softeners are installed in areas of the country that experience hard water. They remove calcium and magnesium ions, which form as scale on outlets and heat exchange surfaces like showers and heating elements in water heaters and calorifiers. Water softeners utilise softener-grade salt to affect ion exchange with their vessels. They have to ‘regenerate’, either based on the water turnover or via timer control.

In normal operation, these pieces of equipment need to be checked every week to ensure that salt levels within the brine tanks are maintained and that they are producing soft water. Further to this, they should be maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations, but at no less than an annual frequency.

Annual servicing of these units requires:

• Replacement of the o-rings and seals, checking for damage to the main pistons and spacers within the valve, application of silicon grease to all moving parts
• Disinfection of the resin beds
• Checking the operation of the main valve for the four stages of regeneration
• Checking vessels for leaks
• Checking the unit is producing soft water