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"The presence of
free chlorine or other oxidizing agents in the
feed water can lead to resin degradation over
time. The maximum recommended levels of free
chlorine are 0.3 ppm to / > 30C). Iron and
other heavy metals catalyze the oxidative
degradation of cation exchange resins.
Oxidation of strong acid cation exchange resins,
causes de-crosslinking of the polymer matrix,
leading to an increase in the water retention
capacity of the resin and resin swelling. This
may cause a weakening of the mechanical
integrity of the resin and loss of wet volume
capacity. Temperature, chlorine
concentration, and the presence of heavy metals
impacts the rate of resin oxidation and de-crosslinking.
Like chlorine, chloramines, chlorine dioxide and
ozone also have oxidizing potential. Chlorine
dioxide has a somewhat greater oxidizing effect
on resin and chloramines have a somewhat lesser
oxidizing effect than chlorine."
DOW Corporation
All regular
ion-exchange based water softening, conditioning
and filtration systems can degrade at a
minimum average rate of 5% - 15% per year
without performance enhancing additives.
In fact, some systems may have even faster
attrition rates.
Structured
Matrix resins will tend to have the slowest
attrition rate.
This natural
attrition loss causes a reduction in functional
resin capacity. Physical resin loss can also
occur, but doesn't always necessarily occur at
the same rate.
Attrition loss
should be compensated for every year by
adjusting your system capacity or augmenting the
resin bed with additional ion exchange media.
Attrition is
exacerbated by factors such as high water
consumption, inadequate regenerations, elevated
chlorine levels, iron & heavy metals in water as
well as other complicating factors.
Common
Symptoms of Resin Attrition
1. Your water
doesn't feel as good as it should every day
2. Slight to
major water pressure drop
3. Possible
water discoloration in severe cases
4. Your
system needs to clean more often than before to
provide uniformly soft water
The Solution
to Resin Attrition
During your
annual multipoint inspections or tune-ups,
system programming can simply be adjusted to
accommodate for normal, expected resin
attrition. If you are particularly water
quality conscious, you could also augment your
existing resin bed to accommodate for attrition
loss. |
