A typical water softener takes approximately 85 to 90 minutes to run through its complete automatic regeneration cycle. During regeneration, the softener cleans the treatment medium by changing the chemical reaction which eliminates unwanted dissolved minerals from your water. With the dissolved minerals eliminated, the washed therapy medium is ready to pull more minerals out of your own water. When troubleshooting a malfunctioning softener, you might want to run each regeneration step manually.
Step By Step
The regeneration process starts with a backwash through which the softener pumps water backward through the treatment medium to remove sediment. This step takes about 10 minutes. The next step is the actual regeneration, once the softener draws salt brine out of a tank and pumps it backward through the treatment medium to chemically clean out the side minerals and send them down a drain. This stage takes approximately 50 to 60 minutes. Afterward the softener flushes the salt brine out of the treatment medium and down the drain so that the cleaned treatment medium will be ready to treat more water. This requires approximately 10 to 15 minutes. The last step is refilling the salt tank with water to make more brine for another regeneration cycle. This takes about another 10 minutes.