Controller / Valve Assembly

The control valve, or controller, is the "brains" of your system which initiates and controls the regeneration of the system media.  These are typically mounted on top of your tank(s) that contain the media which removes the particulates and/or contaminants for which your system is designed. Some controllers are clock based and scheduled to regenerate on a specified frequency for a specific duration. Others monitor your water and initiate regenerations only when your system media requires it.  Since some water is lost during regeneration, these "smarter" controllers use less water by regenerating only long enough to revitalize the media.  They also save you money by minimizing the depletion of salt.  These controllers, electrically driven,  use only approximately 10 cents per month to operate.

Tanks

A typical system may have more than one tank, but usually one of two types; a salt tank, sometimes referred to as   a brine tank, and a resin tank. Pictured at left are several tanks we commonly use in our systems.

The salt tank (pictured in inset)contains the salt that is used to "refresh" the resin bed during regeneration.  Those pictured are 300 # capacity tanks.

The resin tank contains the filtering media that actually removes impurities from your water and conditions it.   The size of the tank utilized for any given system is determined by the media it contains, the volume of water to condition, and the exposure or contact with that media to achieve the desired water conditioning.

The physical components of your system. i.e., tanks, controllers, etc., span many years of normal service.   There are components of your system that are considered "consumable" and the life of these components vary according to the conditioning and volume of each system.

Pictured at the right is an assortment of consumable components. From right to left:

A one cubic foot bag of Ionac C-249 water softening resin, "The Industry Standard" This resin is used in most of our water softener systems. It became "The Industry Standard" because of its versatility and durability.

A five pound container of Pro Softener Mate, a salt additive which helps remove iron and manganese from softening resin during the regeneration process. It also contains specially designed surfactants to aid in keeping the resin cleaner and lengthening the resin's service life.

An eighty pound bag of solar salt, a food grade salt which is ideal for use in water softening applications due to its purity level and its resistance to bridging in the brine tank. This particular brand is widely available at Lowe's stores while Sun Gems is the product marketed by The Home Depot. Both products are excellent for use in water softeners.

A five pound container of Pro Rust Out, a salt additive which helps remove iron and manganese from softening resin during the regeneration process. Pro Rust Out is used where the levels of dissolved iron and rust are in excess of 1 part per million in the raw water. It also contains specially designed surfactants to aid in keeping the resin cleaner and lengthening the resin's service life.

A fifty pound bag of filter gravel, speciallly sized and selected to serve as the foundation of most filtration beds. Its placement at the bottom of the tanks improves flow rates and provides for more effective backwashing.

Six inch Western well packer, not exactly a consumable, but certainly worth a picture and an honorable mention. The packer is used in well repair and rehabilitation jobs to isolate the "bad water zones" from the "good water zones". The packer is solvent welded to four inch well casing and placed at a strategic location in the well shaft. Water, dirt, loose rocks and anything else above the packer and outside the four inch well casing is sequestered or isolated from the water pump zone. Many times, the installation of a packer can rehabilitate a well water supply that was previously considered undesiriable or even unacceptable for use. Packers are also used in new well construction to isolate shallow water zones or water zones which are observed by the well driller to be of questionable or poor quality.