Resin installation

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dmendiol

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I am going to put in the resin this weekend. Do I use the same the salt and brine solution that has been sitting in the brine maker? Or do I start from scratch, i.e. water, bleach, etc.?
 

Tom Sawyer

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It's probably Ok but it never hurts to clean out the brine tank from time to time. Stay away from bleach though, not good for the resin.
 

Tom Sawyer

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A sponge and mild detergent with a thorough rinse and be careful not to bugger up the float assembly
 

ditttohead

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A few years ago new guidelines have been recommended and I definetly agree with them, especially after visiting a few resin manufacturing facilities throughout the world. Not only that, it is just good practice. Sanitizing water softeners is usually a monthly item in pharmecuetical certified (USP 27) or WFI systems to lessen the total TOC load on the system. Resin has a life expectancy based on the total contact time with oxidizing agents. A typical 8% resin can handle up to .5 ppm for many years. A 50-100 PPM solution for 15 minutes will have a neglible affect on the longevity of the resins life, but will ensure that you are not introducing unknown contamination into your house. To sanitize a new water softener use 3 tablespoons of household bleach per cubic foot of resin to the brine tank and run the softener through a normal regeneration. This should raise the chlorine to approximately 75 ppm. For sanitization after the system has been inoperable for an extended length of time, interrupt the regeneration during the brine cycle when all the water has been removed from the brine tank and let the softener soak for 1 or 2 hours then finish the cycle making sure the chlorine is rinsed out.

Do not introduce a sanitization process to resin that is being used for iron or manganese removal without first acid cleaning the resin otherwise you risk permanently locking the iron onto the resin beads.

To clean the brine tank, a simple soap and water finished with a very mild bleach rinse. Do not use more than a tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water for final rinsing the tank. The brine tank is where most of the organics are introduced into a water softener and should be cleaned annually. I know someone will say this is overkill, but for the last 10 years I have had to do bacterial counts inside of ultrapure water systems and the softener is always the dirtiest part of the system. A simple regular sanitization keeps them relatively clean and minimizes the amount of contamination introduced into the rest of the system.
 
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Chevy427

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Do not introduce a sanitization process to resin that is being used for iron or manganese removal without first acid cleaning the resin otherwise you risk permanently locking the iron onto the resin beads.

To do this, can you use white vinegar or citric acid? Would this be a stronger solution (amount/gallon) than the bleach solution.
 

ditttohead

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Acid solutions tend to be less damaging than oxidizing solutions. I would recommend citric acid. Add it to the brine tank and run the system through a standard regeneration. Phosphonic acids are also commonly used. I have not tried or experminted with Vinegar. I will put that on my list of items to experiment with this year. I dont know why Vinegar wouldnt work other than the fact that it would take away from our sales. :)
 

Chevy427

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What about 7% Hydrogen-Peroxide instead of bleach for sanitizing?
 

LLigetfa

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What about Super Iron Out, as both a cleaner and as a sanitizer? Here is a link to their MSDS for the ingredient list.
http://www.summitbrands.com/summit/downloads/msds/usa/MSDS Super Iron Out.pdf

Sodium carbonate = 3 - 7%
Sodium hydrosulfite = 15 - 40%
Sodium metabisulfite = 15 - 40%
Citric acid = 1 - 5%
Sodium sulfite = 0.5 - 1.5%
Sodium bisulfite = 0.1 - 1%

I and many others use it as a resin cleaner but would it negate the need for a separate sanitation regimen?
 

ditttohead

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Super Iron out works extremely well but.. I thought I was going to pass out when I opened the brine tank the next morning. it is the sodium metabilsulfite that hits me so bad. We regularly use it for chlorine removal from applications where GAC is not ideal. I used to have to manually mix that nasty stuff and if you did not do a respirator test before mixing you would be gagging for an hour. Sodium bisulfite and the other ingredients are better preservaqtives than sanitizing agents. I would still ecommend a quick sanitization. Hydrogen peroxide is better than bleack but I have not researched its use on softening resin. I almost guarantee it will work perfectly though. Resin sanitization is becoming very common and considered mandatory by most major water softening companies. It is probably not as critical as the big companies make it out to be, but I would still recommend it. The real trick is on systems with GAC ahead of the softener, either in the same tank with a divider, or even in a seperate tank like the stacked tank design.
 
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