Cation Water Treatment System
Water Softener
GeoWater’s water softening systems come in three sizes: 1 cubic foot, 1.5 cubic feet, and 2 cubic feet, to better treat individual well chemistry and water demand.
Water softeners are also called conditioners and cation filters. The unit consists of a mineral tank filled with cation resin media, a control head to regulate regeneration, and a brine tank for regenerating.
How the Filter Works
The filter works by selectively removing +2 and +3 ions from the water, including calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and certain uranium decay products referred to as gross alpha. This effectively softens the water and reduces corrosive or harmful effects. During the regeneration cycle salt brine cleans the media and flushes the contaminants to the septic system.
The regeneration cycle consists of 4 stages: backwash, brine draw, regenerant rinse, and brine fill.
- The backwash cycle runs water backwards through the system to loosen the media and flush out any sediment from the well.
- The brine draw cycle fills the tank with salt brine which dissociates the contaminants from the resin media.
- The regenerant rinse flushes the contaminants to waste.
- The brine fill adds water back to the brine tank so it is ready for the next cycle. Regeneration frequency is based on gallons of water treated, and the control head display alternates between the time of day and gallons of water until the next regeneration is indicated.
Maintenance
GeoWater recommends an annual service to maintain the system. This includes testing the mechanical and electronic components and field testing the water to assess functionality. As the media ages, the technician will be able to determine when the cation media is due for replacement.
Useful life expectancy is 10-20 years.
Customer Responsibility
The cation filter has a brine tank that will need to be filled with salt periodically. The frequency for adding salt is dependent on the water chemistry and water usage, it varies from every few weeks to every few months. It also has a clock which will need to be reset after power outages. The programming is maintained and the unit will still regenerate on schedule, but if the clock is off by more than an hour regeneration cycles can interfere with normal water usage. Heavy water use during regeneration can lead to low water pressure, salty water, or contaminant release to the house. Reset the clock by holding the up or down arrow until the correct time is set. There is an am indicator but no pm indicator.
