You are correct that without a Rapid Rinse cycle, any untreated water located at the bottom of the tank, will usually be supplied to fixtures following each backwash cycle.
A Rapid Rinse cycle is not typically utilized in an AIO system since it would cause a portion of the air that had just filled the media tank, to become expelled to drain. Because the Air Draw cycle is performed using Slow Rinse flow from the top downward through the media, untreated water remaining from the Backwash cycle, will be slowly pushed out to drain, so there won't be much if any untreated water remaining after the Draw cycle.
At the end of the Draw cycle, the controller will return to Service mode. With the drain valve now closed, the pressure within the tank will fully rise to the water supply pressure, causing the air within the tank to become compressed into a bubble located toward the top of the tank. Opening a fixture downstream such as while filling a toilet or preparing to shower, will then permit any minimal remaining untreated water to be expelled through that fixture, with less potential for negatively impacting the quantity of air within the AIO tank.
Hi Bannerman
and the rest of the forum:
I would like to add a question to this conversation.
I have well water with about 4.5 ppm of Iron. Five Days ago, I replaced my AIO Iron Filter with the same exact model, but supposedly it has different media (no one seems to be able to tell me exactly what media, but I found out it is made by AquaSystems, so I might give them a call to try and find out. It seems it has a mixed media. I don't think it is anything special. And anything that they call "special" is probably just a sales technique.)
The iron in the water is ~1.5 ppm of Ferrous and ~3.0 ppm Ferric (just using those test kits that the water softener installers use -- not sure if that is accurate enough.) My last Iron Filter "lasted" 5 years. I am trying to "optimize" the regeneration cycle on my new filter, if such a thing can even be done. My regeneration settings on my last unit were: 9 minutes Backwash, 6 minutes Rinse and 30 minutes Air Draw. The tech I worked with said that the new media was much heavier, so he suggested a 12 minute BW, 8 minute Rinse (to settle the media) and 15 minute Air Draw (he thought it didn't need such a long air intake).
In reading all of the manuals I could find, the Rinse Cycle seems to be the most variable. Some mention the Rapid Rinse for 1 minute at the end. Most eliminated it altogether. The tech I spoke with at length felt that the Rinse was essential to getting the media packed down after the the Backwash. What was also interesting was that he suggested that I might not even need the Air Intake, as the 1.5 ppm of the Ferrous should be able to be handled by the Kinetico 2060 Water Softener without a problem. I can "logically" follow what he is saying, but it is contrary to everything I have read. Is this an idea you have heard before?
Perhaps 4-5 years on a unit is pretty normal. The sales people will tell you it will last "10 years, no problem".
So, my questions revolves around the "optimal" regeneration cycle for my situation. We regenerate every 2 days. We use anywhere from 350 to 500 gallons over the two days. Is there a suggested Minimum and Maximum for the BW cycle? Is the rinse cycle needed? If so, how long should the Rinse Cycle be? How long should the Air Intake be? I do the Rinse before the Air Intake. If the Rinse is done after the Air Intake, does it really impact the air in a great way? I noticed tonight that there is plenty of air in my water when right out of the faucet, even at the end of the second day, but that's probably because the unit is brand new. Maybe I am splitting hairs, but I am an analytical type of person and it got me thinking about all of the variables, in order to try and keep the unit running well as long as possible.
I hope you see this question, as I'm just tagging one of the previous posts.
Thanks in advance
