How Water Softeners Use Resin

Water softener resin is the material that is necessary for the ion exchange process, which removes hard water minerals from your water.

Model 700 WaterBoss cutaway

Small, spherical resin beads are packed in a “bed” inside the tank of a water softener. The resin beads hold a negative charge that will attract any positively charged ions. To perform their role in the water softening process, the resin beads are pre-loaded with a coating of positively charged sodium ions before they are packed into the water softener resin bed.

The calcium and magnesium ions in hard water are also positively charged by nature. When supply water flows through the water softener tank and resin bed, the hardness ions knock the sodium ions off the resin beads and attach to the resin in their place. The sodium ions are then released into the water.

Once all of the resin beads are completely covered with hardness ions, the water softener needs to have a way to get rid of the calcium and magnesium it captured, in order to continue collecting more. That is when regeneration occurs.

During regeneration, the water softener flushes out the hardness mineral ions using a brine solution that is created when salt, or sodium chloride, is added to the water softener. The positive charge of the resin is strong enough to break apart the sodium chloride compound as the salt water passes by, replenishing the sodium layer back onto the resin bead so they are ready to begin the ion exchange process again.

Fine mesh resin next to a dime

Fine Mesh Resin vs Standard Resin

Not all water softener resin is the same. WaterBoss uses “fine mesh” resin, which is much smaller, so more beads are tightly packed into the bed compared to ordinary resins.

WaterBoss uses a unique vacuum packing process, which gives it the greatest capacity for hard water treatment in the smallest amount of space possible. Since sodium ions attach to the surface of the resin, the more resin bead surface area that comes into contact with the water, the more effective the cycle will be.

Along with the greater softening capability of fine mesh resin, the design of a water softener can aid in its ability to use the resin most efficiently.

WaterBoss – Better Resin Use By Design

Conventional water softener design is prone to a problem called channeling or tunneling within the resin. This occurs when the hard water creates a path or channel through the resin, which becomes oversaturated with mineral ions. The unique design of the WaterBoss assures that the water is distributed more evenly throughout all of the resin bed, thereby maximizing the use of the resin.

Super fine mesh resin and a patented design allow WaterBoss to deliver unbeatable quality and efficiency in water treatment.