We like to share product recommendations with you and hope you like them! Just to make you aware Water Filter Data may collect a small share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
It’s one of those critical questions in your household: How long does water softener regeneration take?
Short answer: between 60 and 90 minutes.
Water softeners are a common appliance in any home nowadays but do we all know everything we need to know to keep the water softener functioning at its best level?
Keep on scrolling as we are trying to figure out.
What is a water softener?
First off, let us briefly explain what a water softener is. It is a whole house filtration system that is used for removing minerals that make your water harder, this includes minerals like calcium and magnesium.
Now, having a problem with hard water is a frequent thing in modern households, and it does cause some serious harm.
It can damage your water pipes and clog them, also it does some serious damage to your inhouse appliances like dishwashers, washing machines, coffee makers. Hard water also lowers the water pressure exponentially.
Now that we told you why having a water softener is very important, We are going to explain how your water softener is healthy and working correctly.
A water softener is an appliance that needs cleaning as well, in this case, it’s called regeneration and it does it all by itself.
What is a water softener regeneration process?
This is a process that can take up around an hour and a half and includes a few parts to the process. It starts with filling, then brining, brine rinsing, backwashing, and ends with a fast rinse. Here’s a short explanation of every process individually.
- Filling. This process removes all the minerals that are collected in the tank. It takes about 15 minutes to fill up the brine tank with water and dissolves it with salt to create a brine.
- Brining. Takes up to 45 minutes, when the brine that has been collected during the filling process fills up the tank and starts flushing the minerals from the raisin beads.
- Brine rinsing. Usually takes no more than 5 minutes, it flushes the remaining minerals or the leftovers from the brine tank.
- Backwashing. The backwashing process takes no more than 10 minutes to finish. It fills up the tank with water and flushes it a couple of times to remove minerals and brine from the tank.
- Fast rinsing. Takes about 10 minutes, its job is to do a final rinse and flush the remaining water through the tank, this process also makes sure that all the brine is removed. After this final process, the raisin beads are reset and the water softener continues working as before.
Every water softener is programmed to regenerate on its own, the frequency of the regeneration process depends on many other factors.
The most important factors are water usage, meaning how much water does your house use, and the water hardness level.
The water softener regeneration process is programmed to start when the water usage of the household is almost zero, this means it usually starts at night, most commonly between 2 a.m and 4 a.m. This process usually takes about one hour to an hour and a half, but it can vary by 15 minutes more or less.
Wrap up
We hope we put your mind at ease and showed you that the regeneration process of the water softener isn’t something you should worry too much about, although it’s good to check it once in a while.
Wayne is a water quality expert – The founder of Water Filter Data. He has a degree in microbiology and his field of expertise is drinking water. His goal is to allow for clean and healthy water for as many people as possible.
