Water conditioner - Re-gen with no water?

[bczoom]

When I'm going to be away for awhile (several days), I'd like to shut off the main water coming in.

If I did so but didn't unplug the water conditioners, would they be damaged if they did their re-gen but didn't get any water?

I'd prefer not to unplug since the one in particular is computer controlled and would need to be re-programmed.

Thanks
Brian

 

[heehaw]

i can't see how they would do anything without the water: the water pressure causes all the cycles to work, so, no water, then they would just cycle thru with nothing happening..which shouldn't hurt a thing that i can see.
heehaw

 

[GaryQWA]

Going through the cycles with no water won't harm anything but ... coming home and using water until the next backwash or regeneration is not good for the mineral or resin which may become totally exhausted and need to be regenerated at the maximum salt dose for the volume of resin in the softener.

So do a manual backwash of any filter first and then when done, do a regeneration of the softener. Don't use water during either or you take water away from the equipment but also you get raw water. And next time, buy a control valve that doesn't lose programming when the power is off, or do the batteries need replacing? lol As an example, the Clack holds programming for 99 years and time of day for two hours.

Gay Slusser

 

[Richard]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( the Clack holds programming for 99 years and time of day for two hours. )</font>

What if you need to know the time of day in 50 years?

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

btw, we put our patio roofing project on top priority, havn't forgot about you when it comes to my softener. Just haven't got to it yet.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GaryQWA]

Hi Richard. I wondered what happened to you and was going to look up a posse out there! BTW, fifty years I won't be here... but the way things are going, you may not need to know the time of day and probably all water will be softened with lazer beams or something exotic or water will be too expensive to use so you shouldn't need a softener. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Gary Slusser

 

[anthonyk]

Guys, we're making this way to difficult.
If the softener is a computerized (demand regenerated) system, it won't matter whether the water is on or off. The system will not go into regen because there will be no usage of water.
Don't bother unplugging it, don't worry about the valve, don't worry about anything. As long as it's a demand regen and not a manual timer. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GaryQWA]

Man you guys are tough. But let's see... that's true 'except' with the electronic control valves which most are today and they have calendar override. That is a good thing if you're wanting to protect the life of your mineral and/or resin.... But it works on a timed basis and with power to the control valve, a backwash and/or regeneration usually will happen while you're away. Of course that depends on how close to the calendar day override you were when you left and how long you're gone (for the engineers amongst us). So unplugging the softener and resetting the time is the best and most accurate advice for anyone with an electronically metered/demand regenerated softener or filter; OR mechanical day timer controlled softener or filter (which most are). I think that nails it down for all but manually regenerated softeners and/or filters. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Gary Slusser

 

[anthonyk]

The calender override statement is correct, however, it can be disabled, and even then it's typically set for 7 days on our systems.
Are yours less? The way he described the question, he was only going to have the water off for a few days. If that's the case, the calender override shouldn't be a concern.
Also, with the systems I'm familiar with, the only thing that would happen is that the valve would move through it's motion, then return to "in service" position. That should not cause any harm.

anthony

 

[GaryQWA]

The day you override at depends on the max days you want service to continue based on the sizing of the equipment and what it is being used to remove from the water. I size most softener capacity for once per week regeneration with a 24 hr reserve capacity built in and then 8 day calendar override. Others for heavy iron, up 2 to 5 ppm max with a Turbulator distributor tube and certain resin, for every 3 days with a 4 day override.

Yes he said for a few days but... if his last regeneration was say 4 days ago, he only has to go away for 3-4 days then for both of us a regeneration happens due to calendar override.

If a regeneration happens with no water the meter is reset. He uses water until the next regeneration BUT then the softener only regenerated what his salt dose puts back in the bed and eventually, after 2-3 weeks, he's getting hard water leakage through the bed and wondering why while thinking his softener isn't working. And he's right but has no idea it's because of that no water regeneration a few weks ago or what to do to 'fix' it.

I size for high salt efficiency (short salted) and most softeners are not set for max salt doses so either that are run out of salt to exhaustion will have to be regenerated at the max salt dose for the volume of resin. Doing that by adding additional water to the brine tank and then doing a manual regeneration at least twice with as little water used between them, is much more difficult than resetting the clock (and reprogramming some controls) to get the bed back from total exhaustion. Or said another way, to prevent hardness leakage later.

Do you use Autotrol controls?

Gary Slusser

 

[anthonyk]

I see why we approach this differently.
Our systems are set to regen at only 33% capacity to begin with.
Even with the extended usage (lack of regen, but meter reset), we're still well within capacity.
Even if we reached max capacity, the actual total amount of hardness to be removed is greater than our rating.
In other words, we rate the bed at 48k grain, but it's closer to 52.
Because of the conservative nature of the rating and the excess capacity, I don't see it as a problem. Of course, when he gets home, he could simply turn on the water, and initiate a manual regen. Then the problem is moot, and he'd be fine.
We don't use the autotrol. I personally like that valve, but we design and build our own.

Anthony