How long(hours) is supposed to be a regenereation on a Culligan Medalist 8''?

**indoor** · 01-07-2011, 02:01 PM

Hi! I'm new to the forum and to 'water softeners'.
The house I bought already had one. So basically I just cleaned the brine tank and put in a couple of bags of salt. From there I would put a bag of salt here and there...basically if there was no salt or it was low.
Recently the water bill came and it was 8 times higher that usual. I found that the softener was draining continuously. I fixed the problem with a new 'seal pack'. After that I manually regenerate the unit. How long is the regeneration suppose to last, though? One hour later it's still regenerating...
Also I would like to know how much salt should I put in the tank and how often?
Thanks.

**Akpsdvan** · 01-07-2011, 05:06 PM

Most culligan units should be done cleaning and back into service within about 90minutes to 2 hours depending on rinse and brine refill time.. if it is a digital control it should be close to that time frame.

Salt will depend on use... but from the past I have found that most if not all culligan units do not like a brine tank that is under half full... to this day I have yet to figure that one out... fleck units will work just fine with 1/2 a bag in the brine tank but the culligan's just do not work right when the salt gets much below the half way point of the 400 lbs tanks that they like to use..

**indoor** · 01-07-2011, 05:46 PM

Yes you are right. The regeneration stoped after about 1 h and 20min. I was woried that maybe I didn't put things back together the right way after I replaced the valve. I wonder how does it know when to do it next time? I saw the time is 3am but how often? Sorry, I ask too many questions.
I'm glad to know about it now and also thanks for the info on salt. I was putting 1-2 bags every now and then...I mean I could always see some salt in there before I put more...but defenitely not half of tank.
Either way, I can see the difference in water quality if the softener is not working. Even the little bit of salt I was using helped a lot. But from now on I know to keep it half full.
Thank you very much for the info.

**jadnashua** · 01-07-2011, 06:02 PM

Depending on how it is programmed, it either regenerates after a fixed time, or after a certain amount of water has been used (sometimes with a time override if you don't use much in a long time). The amount of time it takes to go through a cycle depends on how hard your water is, and how often it is set to regenerate.

**Akpsdvan** · 01-07-2011, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by indoor

Yes you are right. The regeneration stoped after about 1 h and 20min. I was woried that maybe I didn't put things back together the right way after I replaced the valve. I wonder how does it know when to do it next time? I saw the time is 3am but how often? Sorry, I ask too many questions.
I'm glad to know about it now and also thanks for the info on salt. I was putting 1-2 bags every now and then...I mean I could always see some salt in there before I put more...but defenitely not half of tank.
Either way, I can see the difference in water quality if the softener is not working. Even the little bit of salt I was using helped a lot. But from now on I know to keep it half full.
Thank you very much for the info.

Is yours the older style of wheels out in the front or digital?
If it is the older style then there is most likely a 6 day wheel, and the number of pins in will say how often it cleans, if it is a meter unit then the gallon setting will say when it cleans..
example,,, 800 gallons on the meter and 4 people in the house use say 200 gallons, then every 4 days, but if 300 gallons is used then every 3 days for cleaning cycle..
To say how often one needs the water test and size of tank(how much media) and then salt used per cleaning for capacity...

**indoor** · 01-08-2011, 08:28 AM

I don't think my softener has a meter. But it has a digital dispaly(and timer, I assume). I would've liked to have a meter also. The digital display shows the folowing when you press 'status': tod(time of day), tor(time of regeneration), sltp(salt dosage), buu(backwash time) and then the 'blank screen'(statistics/diagnostics, I'm not sure how to use the diagnostics...it just shows H-00). So I don't have any option for regeneration interval.

**Akpsdvan** · 01-08-2011, 10:11 AM

How good are you at programing?

The H-00 is the home spot..

I have come across The Cullagin progaming for circuit boards 1992-2002...

**indoor** · 01-08-2011, 11:53 AM

Well, I'm sure I can use it. Is this a link your are talking about or is it on paper?
My softener is a 2006 model but I'm thinking they didn't change much since 2002...
See, the thing is when I discovered that the softener was draining non-stop(very high water bill) the first thing I did is to mess with the controls. Not having a manual, I just changed the buu values thinking it's just stuck back washing...not to mention that I didnt know what back washing means

Anyway, I think I can manage the programing but don't know what the values should be...

**Akpsdvan** · 01-08-2011, 12:09 PM

Welcome to the learning curve....
I remember learning about things like this years ago... like any thing at first it enough to scare the pants off ... but after awhile it is old hat..

It all works if one has a book that has most if not all of the information needed to get the job done.

I can not remember where I found the pdf file...