Startup & Maintenance Of The ProSoft 2 Series & Citymaster Water Softeners

At this point you should have the softener fully assembled and plumbed in place with the bypass valve set to "bypass" so that water is not flowing through the the softener. The drain line should be routed and secured. At this point the softener is ready for service and the following steps will complete the startup process:

Power Up The Softener: If you have not done so already, you should now plug the softener into a standard 110V AC outlet. You will hear the valve reposition itself into the "home" position and then rest.

Add Water To The Brien Tank: Add about 3 gallons of water to the brine tank.

Open The Inlet Valve On The Bypass: Open the inlet valve on the bypass about half way to allow water to fill the softening tank. You will be able to hear when the water has stopped flowing into the tank - it will be full at this point. Fully open the inlet valve now but keep the outlet valve fully closed.

Initiate A Regeneration: Press and hold the leftmost button (the "Enter" button or "Next Cycle" button). Release the button when you hear the motor engage.

The regeneration is a 4-stage process that backwashes the softener, draws brine out of the brine tank, and then adds water back to the brine tank for the next regeneration. Each stage of the regeneration has an associated countdown timer that will show on the screen. In this first regeneration the user will advance through the stages of the regeneration stopping at each stage to make the inspections listed below. To skip from stage to stage the user simply presses the "Enter" button once, without holding it down. Here are the list of regeneration stages and the things to inspect at each stage:

BD (Brine Draw): At the 15 minute mark, there should be a noticeable drop in the water level in the brine tank. If there is not, it likely means that the connection of the brine line at the control valve or at the brine tank is not air tight.

BW (Backwash): Check the drain line connection to the control valve for leaks. Check the discharge end of the drain line to make sure the receptacle that it's draining into can manage the flow of water.

RR (Rapid Rinse): Check the drain line connection to the control valve for leaks. Check the discharge end of the drain line to make sure the receptacle that it's draining into can manage the flow of water.

BF (Brine Fill): After 10 minutes of this stage there should be an observable and obvious rise in the water level in the brine tank.

Once the first abbreviated regeneration has completed and these inspections have been made, you should initiate another regeneration that is allowed to complete without skipping through any of the stages. This will allow the softener to fully rinse the media and to fill the brine tank with the proper amount of water.

When this full regeneration is completed, the softener is ready to be put into service. Fully open the outlet valve. Now all water will be directed through the softener and your cold water should be instantly soft. Water in the water tank will still be hard water and will take a little while to cycle through.

At this point put 1/2 bag of water softener salt into the brine tank. If you want to know which salt to use you can read our article What Water Softener Salt Is Best To Use?  The short answer here is that it doesn't matter much, except that you should only use salt sold in bags and labelled as "water softener salt".

After a week of running, and when you're happy that all is working well, add another two bags of salt to the brine tank. Periodically check on the salt level and add salt as appropriate. As long as there is any amount of undissolved salt visible in the brine tank, the softener will function properly.

Note: the water level in the brine tank relative to the salt level is unimportant. If you want to learn more about this you can read our article here.