Water turned off during cleaning cycle

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Kent Harris

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The water company was doing maintenance on the pumping station and turned off the water to the community at 4am Saturday morning. This was the same time the water softener was doing a cleaning cycle. I have a Kenmore 370 that is half full of water in the salt bin. Currently I have the softener in bypass mode. If I run a couple of cleaning cycles will that get rid of the brine inside the filter? Also how does the water drain? There does not seem to be a water pump on the unit, just a small motor.
 

Reach4

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I am suspecting that what you call a cleaning cycle is what would usually be called a regeneration cycle. I am not really familiar with the unit, but I think it is does brine fill first. I expect that if you trigger a regeneration, it will add more water. If there is a cutoff float to prevent overflowing, then there should be no problem. You might watch during the fill to see if it is in danger of overflowing. If so, dip water out before it overflows.
 

Kent Harris

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I am suspecting that what you call a cleaning cycle is what would usually be called a regeneration cycle. I am not really familiar with the unit, but I think it is does brine fill first. I expect that if you trigger a regeneration, it will add more water. If there is a cutoff float to prevent overflowing, then there should be no problem. You might watch during the fill to see if it is in danger of overflowing. If so, dip water out before it overflows.

Yes, you are correct it was doing a regeneration cycle. Yes it does have a float. Will the water drain itself or do we need to drain it manually?
 

Reach4

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Yes, you are correct it was doing a regeneration cycle. Yes it does have a float. Will the water drain itself or do we need to drain it manually?
The water will drain itself. It is possible that since the brine draw will be longer than normal, the rinse might not rinse off all of the salt. Maybe take a long shower or bath first after the regeneration, because the first water might be a little salty. It might not be.
 

Kent Harris

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The water will drain itself. It is possible that since the brine draw will be longer than normal, the rinse might not rinse off all of the salt. Maybe take a long shower or bath first after the regeneration, because the first water might be a little salty. It might not be.
Thank you for your advice. If it does a regeneration cycle does it turn off the water going to the house?
 

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Thank you for your advice. If it does a regeneration cycle does it turn off the water going to the house?
No. However during the backwash and later cycles it will pass unsoftened water through. That starts maybe 2 or 3 hours after a regeneration starts in a brine-first softener.... or at least that is what I think I have read.

So the water flows to the brine tank, the water takes up salt, and then the softener goes through the cycles where the softener is bypassed.
 

Bannerman

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Is there a method to manually advance the controller to the next cycle?

As water was previously added to the salt bin (brine tank), upon initiating a manual regeneration, are you able to manually advance the controller to the 'Backwash' cycle which I expect is the cycle directly following the brine fill cycle? If so, the remainder of the regeneration can be performed without adding more water to the brine tank.

Also how does the water drain? There does not seem to be a water pump on the unit, just a small motor.

A softener controller generally operates by opening and closing various valves, moving a piston or turning a cam to redirect water flow through various internal water pathways. The motor in your unit will be a drive motor utilized to turn a cam and/or operate a timer.

A pump is usually not required as the incoming water pressure provides the force which eventually flows to the drain during the regeneration cycle.

A venturi is commonly utilized to create suction to draw the brine out from the brine tank.
 
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