Our EMWC TwinTank WaterSoftner bought in 2009 has turned up it's toes.
I'd forgotten they have a finite lifetime.

New single tank unit ordered.
Another DIY job to do that wasn't planned. Also now have to run power to
the back of the unit as the last one was all mechanical.

Perhaps we'll get an improved water flow from the shower, thought water
co. had turned pressure down a bit but it now seems this might not have
been the case.

Ah well, hopefully the replacement one will be as trouble free as it's
predecessor.

Rather intrigued on a mechanical softener, I thought these things just used
a filter that was replaced or filled with some substance on a regular basis.
Brian

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"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" wrote in message
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Our EMWC TwinTank WaterSoftner bought in 2009 has turned up it's toes.
I'd forgotten they have a finite lifetime.

New single tank unit ordered.
Another DIY job to do that wasn't planned. Also now have to run power to
the back of the unit as the last one was all mechanical.

Perhaps we'll get an improved water flow from the shower, thought water
co. had turned pressure down a bit but it now seems this might not have
been the case.

Ah well, hopefully the replacement one will be as trouble free as it's
predecessor.

On 03/07/2018 07:24, Brian Gaff wrote:
Rather intrigued on a mechanical softener, I thought these things just used
a filter that was replaced or filled with some substance on a regular basis.

Sorry for the confusion Brian,
It was a resin bead ion-exchange unit but regenerated and switched
active tanks by mechanical valves and measuring flow whereas the
replacement has a single resin bead tank but valves etc are operated by
a cam shaft driven by motor hence the power supply requirement.

On Tue, 3 Jul 2018 07:24:16 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Rather intrigued on a mechanical softener, I thought these things just used
a filter that was replaced or filled with some substance on a regular basis.

It is a normal ion exchange softener. The "mechanical" means the
daily regeneration of the resin pack takes place after a certain
amount of water, measured by a simple turbine, has gone through rather
than relying upon an electric motorised valve and timer where the
regeneration occurs at night when no or minimal water is being used.
Because the mechanical ones regenerate when they feel like it rather
than when no water is being used they usually have the resin bed in
two separate tanks so when regeneration of one tank is taking place
the other continues softening the water without interruption.

On Tue, 03 Jul 2018 11:28:14 +0100
Tim Streater wrote:

In article , Peter Parry
wrote:

On Tue, 3 Jul 2018 07:24:16 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Rather intrigued on a mechanical softener, I thought these things
just used a filter that was replaced or filled with some substance
on a regular basis.

It is a normal ion exchange softener. The "mechanical" means the
daily regeneration of the resin pack takes place after a certain
amount of water, measured by a simple turbine, has gone through
rather than relying upon an electric motorised valve and timer
where the regeneration occurs at night when no or minimal water is
being used. Because the mechanical ones regenerate when they feel
like it rather than when no water is being used they usually have
the resin bed in two separate tanks so when regeneration of one tank
is taking place the other continues softening the water without
interruption.

Our old one regenerated every three days or after N litres of water
had been softened and went through salt like a, err, dose of salts.
New one uses much less salt. Both of them regen at a settable time
which defaults to 02.00, or you can do a regen *now*.

On both machines, during the regen process the softener is bypassed
and hard water enters the system, but at 02.00 no water is being used
at home so that is not an issue.

It's also interesting that the soft water from the new machine is
soft, but feels hard in that once hands rinse properly. The old one
was irritating in that the softened water felt slightly soapy.


Our twin-tower mechanical TwinTec unit regenerates every so many litres,
set by the installer. It does not 'eat' salt hungrily and I have had no
problems with it at all. Unless I forget to put the salt blocks in, it
works beautifully.
It has a 10-year warranty, and was installed in 2011. So far, I have
only praise for it.

One unit we had in a rented house in the US had a programmable regen.
timer, but only had a 6 day week. So if you set it up for 2 am
Tuesday, next week it was on Monday, the following week Sunday, etc.
Weird.

I think your first unit described above had a bad regeneration setting.

--
Davey.