There is a simple calculation that uses the iron and total hardness readings from your raw well water to determine how often your water softener should be regenerating. This is the same calculation that a water professional uses when diagnosing the quality of water in your home.
You will need the following information before you can calculate water softener regeneration:

1. Iron in Raw Well Water - (ppm or mg/l)
2. Total Hardness of Raw Well Water - (in grains per gallon)
(If given in ppm or mg/l, simply divide number by 17.1 to
convert to grains.)
3. Size of Your Water Softener - Water softener size is measured in “grains capacity or cubic feet of resin”.

32000 grains capacity = 1 cubic foot of resin.

This information is usually found in your softener’s owners manual.
Once you have all of the above data, the first step is to determine what your adjusted total hardness grains per gallon are. Use the calculation below:

Adjusted Total Hardness Calculation
(Iron x 3) + total hardness

example: Iron-5ppm / Total Hardness 20 grains
sample calculation: (5 x 3) + 20 = 35 Adjusted Total Hardness

 

 

 

 

 

A. How To Set Regeneration For Digital Softener

Once you have determined your adjusted total hardness amount, press the arrow up key on the controller of your water softener until it displays your hardness number. This number should be set to the adjusted total hardness result of the calculation above. Using our example, the hardness number should be adjusted to 35 on the softener.

This hardness setting on the softener tells the softener how much minerals are in the incoming water. The softener will then calculate how many gallons of your water it can soften before it needs to regenerate. Making sure this setting is correct is very important in assuring the proper operation of your water softener.

B. How To Set Regeneration For A Non-Digital Softener

Once you have determined your adjusted total hardness amount, do the following:

Calculation To Determine How Many Gallons Of Your Water Can Be Softened Before Needs To Regenerate.
(water softener grains capacity x 80%) /adjusted total hardness grains

example: Iron-7ppm / Total Hardness 15 grains / 48000 grain softener size

sample calculations:

1. (Iron x 3) + total hardness
(7 x 3) + 15 = 36 Adjusted Total Hardness Grains

2. (water softener grains capacity x 80%) /adjusted total hardness grains
48000 x 80% = 38,400
38,400 / 36 = 1067 gallons

Once you determine how many gallons your water softener can soften before it needs to regenerate, you then have to determine how many days it will take your family to use that much water. The standard is 100 gallons per person per day water usage. In the example above, if you have 3 people in your home, you would use 300 gallons per day.

Then simply divide the 1067 gallons / 300 gals per day = regenerate every 3.5 days.

Since non-digital softener deal in days, the number of days should always be rounded down. The softener in this example should be set to regenerate every 3 days.

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