What is the main ingredient of the Water Softener?

The main ingredient of the Water Softener is cation resin.  This is a polystyrene material that absorbs the calcium and magnesium ions.  When the cation resin is fully coated it will not soften any longer.  A little known secret about cation resin is that it removes the chlorine from the water.  The cation resin material absorbs the chlorine from the water.  The chlorine from the water causes the resin to disintegrate.    The resin we utilize will take out 100% of the chlorine.  You do not need several expensive units.  You need one good heavy (high capacity) unit which will remove the hardness ions and also the chlorine ions.  We can provide you a water softener Queen Creek AZ, soft water unit, whole house water conditioning unit that will remove the hardness and also the chlorine.

Because the chlorine causes the resin to disintegrate; in order to keep A+ soft water you will have to replace , clean, replenish, rejuvenate, recondition> the material periodically.  We have an indication that the tipping point in Arizona is about 5 years.  If you do not service the cation resin in 5 years your water quality will be less.

Why do I have to change the resin every 5 years?

The resin is a filter.  The filter media will not last forever.  If you want to keep high quality water in your home you will have to give the water equipment the right maintenance.  You must replace <clean, replenish, rejuvenate, recondition> the resin material every 5 years to maintain A+ soft water.

What if I do not change the resin every 5 years?

You will not have A+ water.  The water must have adequate contact time with the resin in order to be completely soft. 
The Water Quality Association says that water is soft at less than 1 grain per gallon.  As the resin disintegrates the contact time will decrease.  If you have no more cation resin – you will have no more soft water.

Here is an example of resin that is begining to disintegrate.

This is a view of cation resin - seen through a microscope. The round beads are in good condition. The beads which are not round or fractured are begining to disintegrate. The reason the cation resin disintegrates is because of usage, age and high chlorine levels. The high chlorine content of the incoming water will cause resin to disintegrate much faster.

Can anything bad happen if I don’t change the resin every 5 years?

Bad things can happen.  You go to take a shower and you do not have water pressure.  The resin has escaped and clogged your shower head.  You go to your other shower and the same thing happens.  You try to flush your toilet and the toilet is now clogged.  Every single water fixture may get clogged.

What do I do if I get low water pressure in my house?

Go out to the water softener and put the unit on bypass.  This won’t fix the problem, but it will help it from getting worse.

What does Boyett’s recommend to solve this ‘resin disintegration’ problem?

Replace, clean, replenish, rejuvenate, recondition> the resin every 5 years.  Many people are renting the automatic water softener for 99 cents a day.  Because of tough economic times the rental program is very popular.  The rental soft water and reverse osmosis programs spread out the investment over time (like leasing a vehicle).  It takes advantage of the time value of money.  For a small installation fee we provide you all the soft water service and maintenance for $30/month + tax; and we guarantee to keep you in A+ water 100% of the time.  We utilize sustainable methods that help our environment and keep our rental and service fees low. We change the rental unit out every 5 years.  This service is included in the monthly fee.  We also include our ResinTrapTM invention to prevent the cation resin from ever escaping the water softener.  When you look at the face plate of our whole house water softener and water conditioner there is a sticker that says 'screen in bypass'.  Cation resin escaping the water treatment equipment is a common industry problem; our company came up with a solution by adding a specific sized screen in the bypass valve to catch any resin that escapes.  By inventing this ResinTrapTM devise we have solved an industry wide problem and we are protecting each of our water softener customers from experiencing loss and inconvenience.

Should I rent or purchase my water softener?

If you invest $1,695.00 to purchase an adequate water softener and have the entire unit rebuilt ever 5 years (because of the cation resin disintegration caused by the high amounts of chlorine in the Phoenix Metro area on the resin and valve components).  If the rebuild fee is $850.00 (every 5 years) – in our opinion; renting the water equipment for $30.00/month + tax makes the most financial sense.

If you purchase a good water softener for $1,695.00 and have the unit rebuilt in 5 years for $850.00

Total investment to Purchase and maintain a water softener for 5 years is $2,595.00

If you rent a good water softener over 5 years; we change out the water softener every 5 years at no cost.  If we need to change the unit sooner there is no charge for any service calls.

Total investment to Rent a water softener for 5 years $1,800.00

By renting instead of buying a soft water unit - you save $795 within a five year period

We guarantee you A+ water all the time if you rent the water equipment.

Click here to schedule the installation of a Rental Water Softener and/or a Rental Reverse Osmosis Purified Drinking Water System

Please contact us for more information

This is some information that is provided by our chemical engineering customer (whom utilized our service 9 years ago and recently called us to install a rental water softener).  R.A.D was nice enough to collect this information on 'Causes of Irreversible Resin Degradation'.  It is because of clients like R.A.D that we have been a strong and successful company for over 46 years.

Check this. http://www.gewater.com/handbook/ext_treatment/ch_8_ionexchange.jsp

then almost towards the end, GE talks about chlorine adverse effect on polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins. Below is the excerpt. It not only destroys the resin, the mechanical and dynamics aspects deteriorate, i.e., channeling and water pressure drop. It recommends carbon filtration or sodium sulfite to consume the chlorine.

Causes of Irreversible Resin Degradation

Oxidation. Oxidizing agents, such as chlorine, degrade both cation and anion resins. Oxidants attack the divinylbenzene cross-links in a cation resin, reducing the overall strength of the resin bead. As the attack continues, the cation resin begins to lose its spherical shape and rigidity, causing it to compact during service. This compaction increases the pressure drop across the resin bed and leads to channeling, which reduces the effective capacity of the unit.

In the case of raw water chlorine, the anion resin is not directly affected, because the chlorine is consumed by the cation resin. However, downstream strong base anion resins are fouled by certain degradation products from oxidized cation resin.

If chlorine is present in raw water, it should be removed prior to ion exchange with activated carbon filtration or sodium sulfite. Approximately 1.8 ppm of sodium sulfite is required to consume 1 ppm of chlorine

On another site: http://www.prominentinc.com/resin-as2-cl.html

However, exposure to significant amounts of free chlorine, “hypochlorite” ions, or other strong oxidizing agents over long periods of time will eventually break down the crosslinking. This will tend to increase the moisture retention of the resin, decreasing it s mechanical strength, as well as generating small amounts of extractable breakdown products.

Why is the chlorine so much higher now than before?

When my family founded our company in 1964 there were less than 439,999 people in the Phoenix area.  In 2006 there was about 1.5 million.  Now there is about 5 million people in the Phoenix Area. (source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/17/300.million.over/index.html). Because we live in the desert the water officials are having to utilize more source water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP Canal).  Why do they call it a canal?  Because it is a canal.  Here is my definition of a canal: A ditch lined with concrete in which water flows.  In the case of the CAP Canal; the water flows from Colorado.  This canal is open most of the way.  Dirt can fall in this canal; insects can fall in this canal; fish swim in this canal; fowl deficate in this canal.  When the water arrives to Arizona it is awful.  This is why our water is awfully hard.

.....So why is there so much chlorine?

If you want to see how much chlorine is present in your water; go to a swimming pool store and buy an over the counter chlorine test kit (OTO Solution).  Let the water run and test your water.  Call us and tell me what you see.  In many cases the reading will be the same as a swimming pool.  Let's be honest with eachother; this is shocking.  This is all I am going to say about this subject for now.