Hard water passes through a bed of resin beads that hold sodium ions and trade them for calcium and magnesium. When the resin is spent, it is regenerated by rinsing with brine from a salt tank. Softened makeup should test at or near zero hardness; a hardness break means the resin is exhausted or the regeneration failed, and scale follows quickly in the boiler.
Water softener's putting out 8 grains, check the brine tank, I bet nobody's added salt in a month.
Test softened water hardness every shift; it costs pennies and catches a failed regeneration before the boiler does.
Also heard as
- softener
- zeolite softener
- ion exchange softener
Related terms
Scale
A hard mineral crust that forms on boiler heat transfer surfaces from calcium, magnesium and silica in the water.
Makeup water
Fresh water added to a boiler system to replace water lost to leaks, blowdown, venting and unreturned condensate.
TDS
Total dissolved solids: the concentration of dissolved minerals and salts in boiler water, held in range by blowdown.