Kenmore ULTRASOFT 280 - Manual (Page 15)

SECTION 2 HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
B. SOFT WATER SERVICE and REGENERATION
AUTOMATIC BYPASS
During the brining, brine rinse and backwash cycles
of regeneration, HARD water goes through the soft­
ener valve and to the house pipes. If a faucet is
opened, hard water is there for your needs. Howev­
er, you should not use hot water, if possible, because
the water heater will refill with hard water. The soft­
ener, as factory programmed, regenerates from 2:00
AM to about 4:20 AM, a time when not much water
is used.
If you start your day prior to 4 AM, you may need
to change the recharge starting time. Set the re­
charge time to 12:00 AM or 1:00 AM (page 1-4).
Then regeneration will start and end that much ear­
lier and your water heater will not refill with hard
water if a hot faucet is opened.
ELECTRONICS
Two main parts of the softener's electronics are [î]
a WATER METER, and
[ 2 ] a COMPUTER.
[T] WATER METER—The water meter is in the soft­
ener valve outlet. As water flows through the meter,
it sends electric pulses to the computer. The com­
puter changes the pulses to a measure in gallons of
water.
[2] COMPUTER — The computer is part of the face­
plate timer circuit board. It is programmed to know
the softener's capacity (how many grains of hard­
ness minerals it will take out of the water before a re­
generation is needed). When starting the softener,
page 1-4, you set it for the grains per gallon (gpg)
hardness of the water.
To find a regeneration pattern best for your needs,
the computer uses: (1) water usage from the meter,
(2) hardness setting, (3) softener capacity, and (4)
time since the last regeneration. The computer al­
ways adjusts this pattern to your water using hab­
its. It works toward providing you with soft water
for the longest time and at the most efficient salt
usage.
Softening capacity is used as hard water goes
through the softener and hardness minerals are re­
moved. When the computer determines that only
enough capacity remains to provide soft water up to
the next regeneration starting time (2:00 AM, or as
otherwise set) it will schedule a regeneration. When
the regeneration begins, KELHARGE or RE­
CHARGE TIME REMAINING flashes during the re­
generation.
^ Note:
If the CLEAN feature is set to ON, a cleaning back­
wash {CLEAN and Bkwsh or Rinse flashes in the dis­
play, along with the minutes of the clean cycle re­
maining), precedes the recharge.
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Problems, Questions? Call 1-800-426-9345 Kenmore Water Line