Bypass valve

Three-position valve at the back of the cabinet: SERVICE = soft water to the house (normal), BYPASS = raw mains to the house (during plumbing work or if the system goes down), OFF = system isolated. The main user-facing control.

LCD control head

Top of the cabinet. Backlit screen shows treated-water countdown, days to next regen, time of day, and any service alerts. Four buttons handle programming. CleverBloom sets the hardness on install — you don’t normally touch it.

Manual regen button

Single recessed button on the control head. Hold for 5 seconds to force an immediate regeneration. Used after a heavy water event — pool top-up, garden irrigation, large laundry day — or when commissioning the system.

Salt-level check

Lift the salt-cabinet lid; visual check of the salt block. Top up when the level drops below half. The control head also issues a “LOW SALT” alert when level falls below threshold — visible on the LCD.

Hardness setting

Programmable from the control head, set on install based on a hardness test of your mains. London-area mains typically 250–350 mg/L. The setting determines how much water the resin treats before the next regen.

Time-of-day schedule

Regeneration runs by default at 2 am — outside peak demand, when nobody’s using water. 90-minute cycle. Configurable from the control head if the household routine is unusual (night-shift workers, etc.).

Inlet/outlet isolators

Standard ball valves on the supply and exit. Engineer’s isolation for service work, drain-down, or removing the cabinet. Closed together with BYPASS open, the rest of the house still has water.

Power transformer

Plug-in 24 V transformer on the cable. Powers the control head and triggers the brine valve during regen. ~5 W standby, ~30 W during the 90-minute regen cycle. Total annual electricity under £10.

24 L resin tank

Pressure vessel containing the ion-exchange resin bed. Glass-fibre wrapped construction, NSF-rated for potable water. 10-year design life on the resin; the tank itself outlasts that. The heart of the system.

Salt cabinet

Integrated salt-storage cabinet alongside the resin tank. Holds ~25 kg of standard tablet salt — enough for several months of normal household use. Hinged lid for easy top-up. Brine line draws from the bottom automatically.

Electronic control head

LCD display and 4-button keypad on the top of the cabinet. Manages the regeneration cycle, counts treated water, schedules regen for 2 am. Set once on install; runs unattended thereafter.

Bypass valve

Three-position rotary valve at the back: SERVICE (normal operation), BYPASS (raw mains direct to house), and OFF (system isolated). Used during salt top-ups, plumbing work, or temporary supply to the garden tap.

Distributor tube

Internal riser tube with fine slotted strainers at the base. Distributes water evenly through the resin bed and stops resin beads escaping into the household plumbing. Internal, not user-serviceable.

Brine line

Flexible tube connecting the salt cabinet to the control head. Carries saturated brine to the resin tank during regeneration. Quarter-inch food-grade tubing, push-fit fittings.

Drain line

Flexible tube carrying spent brine and displaced hardness to the household drain during regeneration. ~60 L per cycle. Needs to terminate above a tundish or open trap — we’ll confirm the route on the site survey.

Power transformer

External plug-in transformer powering the control head — about 5 W typical, 30 W peak during the regen cycle. Plugs into a standard 13 A socket. CE-marked.

Salt top-up

Every 4–6 weeks: open the cabinet lid, pour in a 25 kg bag of tablet salt. That’s the only routine maintenance task. The system tells you when via the LCD’s “LOW SALT” alert.

Soft water at every tap

Kitchen, bathroom, shower, washing machine, dishwasher, garden tap (optional — sometimes set up on a hard-water branch). Whole property treated, not just one tap.

The morning shower change

Most owners notice within a week: soap actually lathers, hair feels different, shower glass stops streaking. The visible household change happens before any of the appliance savings show up on bills.

Regen at 2 am

90-minute cycle when nobody’s using water. Mains briefly routes around the resin tank during the cycle — if you turn a tap on at 2:30 am the water is temporarily hard. Configurable if your routine is unusual.

Annual service

CleverBloom service plan includes the annual visit: brine line check, control head firmware update if applicable, hardness re-test, salt cabinet clean, resin condition check. Most softener problems get caught on this visit, not in a breakdown.

Resin lasts 10+ years

Ion-exchange resin doesn’t wear out the way a filter does — it regenerates indefinitely as long as salt is supplied. Practical life 10–15 years before efficiency drops enough to justify a replacement. We test on annual visits.

Going away?

For more than a fortnight, run a manual regeneration before leaving. For more than a month, set BYPASS so the resin doesn’t sit unused. We’ll show you the procedure on handover.

2-yr warranty · 10-yr resin

Full 2-year manufacturer warranty on the control head and cabinet. Resin warranted 10 years against premature failure. CleverBloom handles any warranty claim direct with Ecosoft.