Kinetico 2020c Owner's Manual

2020c

WATER SOFTENER

OWNER’S MANUAL

visit www.kinetico.co.uk

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

Thank you for choosing Kinetico to improve the quality
of your water.

You will immediately begin to notice the numerous benefits of having
quality water throughout your home and the benefits of having a Kinetico
Water Softener.

Since 1970 Kinetico Incorporated has designed and manufactured products
to improve the quality of your water. Kinetico oers a complete line of quality
water systems to solve your water problems. Pioneers in non-electric, demand
operated water treatment, Kinetico continually sets the direction for the entire
water quality industry. Our products are installed in hundreds of thousands
of homes around the world. Once you enjoy the benefits of your Kinetico
Mini Kinetic B Water Softener we are sure you will agree that Kinetico Water
Softeners are the worlds finest.

For more information about Kinetico -

visit www.kinetico.co.uk
or freephone 0800 015 1380

Kinetico UK Ltd
Bridge House, Park Gate Business Centre, Chandlers Way, Park Gate,
Hampshire SO31 1FQ

CONTENTS

User Manual 04

Use pure soap products 04

Use less soap and household cleaners 04

Reduce of eliminate the use of fabric softeners 04

Take special precautions with automatic dishwashers 05

Special care for plants and fish 05

Drinking water 05

How your water softener works 06

Non-electric, demand operated valve 07

Consumer friendly features 08

Easy open lid 08

Low-flow metering 08

Proper regeneration 08

Compact, attractive design 09

System status monitoring 09

Maintaining your water softener 10

Adding regenerant 10

Manual regeneration 11

Cold weather protection 12

By-pass 12

02

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Maintenance Tips - frequently asked questions 14

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03

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

K5 DRINKING WATER STATION

Owner’s Manual

USER MANUAL

Now that your Kinetico 2020c is installed, you can enjoy the benefits of having soft water
through your home. If you are not accustomed to soft water, here are some helpful tips so
you can gain the full benefit from your system:

Use pure soap products

Most leading brands of laundry soaps, household cleaners and shampoos contain large
amounts of detergent. The harsh chemicals in these detergents are necessary when using
hard water but you can be reduce the amount you use or even eliminate them altogether
with soft water.

We recommend you to use pure soap products and clear liquid soaps without dyes or
perfumes. If you continue to use your normal detergents, you should reduce the amount
you use to suit your needs. Your Kinetico dealer can provide you with more information and
recommend the correct detergent amounts.

Use less soap and household cleaners

When using soap or cleaners with soft water, start by cutting the amount of soap that you
normally use in half. You may even find you can use as little as a quarter of the amount you
were using before. Hardness minerals in water interfere with soaps cleaning ability. Once
they are removed, soap can do its job better. although you will use less soap, you will get
more suds and cleaner results.

It’s especially important to reduce the amount of washing detergent you use. Washing
clothes in soft water not only means you will need less powder to get your clothes clean,
but also that the powder you do use will rinse out completely. Washing in soft water makes
your clothes look brighter and whiter and they will last longer too.

After bathing in soft water, your skin should feel “silky“. The silky feeling is your smooth
skin without soap curd or residue. When bathing in hard water, this soap residue is normally
left behind. The soap curd that left a visible ring around your bathtub was also left on your
skin. The same dierence is applied when using shampoo also.

Reduce or eliminate the use of fabric softeners

Take special precautions with automatic dishwashers

Soft water, when combined with caustic phosphates in some dishwasher detergents and
very high temperatures in the dry cycle, can etch dishes and glassware. To prevent this
from happening, use the “no heat“ dry cycle on your dishwasher. Use the minimum amount
of good quality, low phosphate dishwasher detergent needed to clean your dishes. This
may be as little as 20% of the amount recommended by the appliance manufacturer or on
the dishwasher soap box. Wash good china and crystal by hand.

Special care for plants and fish

Depending on your water hardness level, the amount of rainfall and how often you water
your garden, you could use soft water for outside watering, but why waste your soft water?
Water your garden, shrubs and outside plants from an outside hard water tap or put
your Kinetico 2020c in by-pass before watering. See the “By-Pass“ section on page 12 for
instructions on how to do this. Many house plants can be watered with soft water although
some can be very sensitive to the elevated level of sodium ions in soft water. You may
prefer to water with hard water or from a Kinetico Drinking Water System.

The accustomed to hard water may have trouble with an abrupt change to soft water. Make
the transition gradually over a period of 7~14 days by combining hard and soft water until
the tank contains 100% soft water. As soon as you start using soft water, you should notice
your fish tank will stay cleaner for longer.

Drinking water

The process of softening water adds a small amount of sodium into the water. When a
person is on a low sodium diet, all possible sources of sodium should be evaluated in
relation to the limit set by your doctor.

To enhance your drinking water, you may wish to consider using a Kinetico drinking water
product, also available from your Kinetico dealer. Kinetico drinking water products will
significantly improve the quality of your coee, tea, cold drinks and water used for cooking
and baking.

Please contact your local Kinetico dealer for further information regarding our range of
drinking water solutions.

Fabrics washed in hard water retain soap curd or residue, making them “crackle” when
removed from the dryer or sti if air dried. Fabric softeners are necessary with hard water
to keep your clothing soft. When using soft water, you can reduce the amount of fabric
softener used in your laundry or even eliminate them all together.

04

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05

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

How Your Water Softener Works

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Non-Electric, Demand Operated Valve

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS

Hard water contains calcium and magnesium. Your Kinetico 2020c contains resin beads
which hold sodium ions. When hard water passes through the beads inside the Kinetico
2020c, the beads attract and hold the calcium and magnesium ions in exchange for sodium.
After this ion exchange process, the water leaving your Kinetico 2020c is soft (Fig. 1).

Once the resin bed is loaded with calcium and magnesium ions, it must be cleansed (or
regenerated) so that it can continue to soften water. The salt in your storage tank mixes
with water to wash the resin beads. The brine solution loosens the hardness minerals which
have built up on the resin beads; then the system backwashes and flushes the hardness
minerals away.

Once this is complete, the resin beads hold sodium ions. The system is again ready to
exchange the sodium ions for more calcium and magnesium ions. The Kinetico 2020c
regenerates with soft water. Since you already know what the dierence cleaning with soft
water can make throughout your home, it only makes sese that the Kinetico 2020c cleans
itself with soft water too. Your system uses only clean, soft water to make the salt solution
in the salt storage tank.

Fig. 1

NON-ELECTRIC, DEMAND OPERATED VALVE

More than 30 years if ingenuity are behind the valve that operates the Kinetico 2020c
Water Softener. The valve uses the energy of moving water instead of electricity so there is
nothing to plug in, no buttons to push and no timers to set. Because of this technology, the
2020c Water Softener is energy ecient and therefore, better for the environment.

The Kinetico valve measures the amount of water that you use and determines when to
initiate regeneration. Since it regenerates only on demand, it wont waste water or salt.
Other systems must be programmed to regenerate at a preset time - normally during the
night. So, if you use more soft water than usual, you may end up with hard water. If you use
less water than normal, you will waste salt and water due to unnecessary regenerations.
Kinetico’s metering system allows the 2020c Water Softener to regenerate only when it is
necessary to do so at any time of the day. The twin cylinders (Fig. 2) in the Kinetico system
ensure you have a continuous supply of soft water, even during regeneration.

When one cylinder needs to regenerate, the service automatically switches to the other
cylinder. Twin softening cylinders also enable the system to clean itself with clean, soft
water. Most other water softeners use hard water to regenerate.

The resin used in the kinetico 2020c works extremely well in this compact system. The
smaller size creates more surface area, allowing for more ecient operation.

Fig. 2

06

ION Exchange Resin

Magnesium

Calcium

Sodium

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B

A

Cylinder A is

standing by

Cylinder B is

softening

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B

A

Cylinder A is

softening

Cylinder B is
regenerating

B

A

Cylinder A is

softening

Cylinder B is

standing by

B

A

Cylinder A is
regenerating

Cylinder B is

softening

07

2020c WATER SOFTENER

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Consumer Friendly Features

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Compact, Attractive Design

The Kinetico 2020c takes up less volume than any other comparable cabinet style water softener.
Thats because the Kinetico packs a lot of performance in a small package. If your softener is
installed in an open location, you wont be afraid to show o its sleek, modern design.

System Status Monitoring

If the location of your Kinetico 2020c permits viewing from the top, you can always check your
system status of service and regeneration by looking through the viewing window on the top of
the cabinet. Simply check the indicator dot (see fig. 9 on page 12) to see what mode of operation
your system is in. Remember that even if the softener is regenerating, your Kinetico system can
still provide you with soft water since it has 2 softening cylinders.

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

CONSUMER FRIENDLY FEATURES

Your Kinetico 2020c is loaded with convenient features that make it as easy as possible for
you to operate your system.

Easy open lid

Kinetico’s hinged lid (Fig.3) means you will never have to fumble around trying to make the lid fit
on the softener. Simply hold the handle and pull the lid open to gain access to the salt bay. Close
the lid by lifting until you feel it lock into place. If your particular installation does not permit
the use of a hinged lid, your installation kit contains an alternative connection mechanism
that permits you to lift the entire lid from the system for access to the salt bay (Fig. 4).

Low-flow metering

Your Kinetico system is equipped with the latest technology capable of measuring
extremely low flow. As a result, you can be sure that your system is metering your water
usage properly so it can regenerate at the appropriate time and continue to provide you
with an uninterrupted supply of soft water.

Proper regeneration

Some system manufacturers, in an attempt to publish better performance numbers, reduce
the amount of water used during regeneration. Unfortunately, using less water increases
the chance that the system will not completely rinse itself of the salt regenerant and you
may get salty water through your home. Your Kinetico system uses just enough water to
rinse any remaining regenerant from its tanks to prevent salty water from entering your
plumbing while maintaining maximum system eciency.

Compact, attractive design

The Kinetico 2020c takes up less volume than any other comparable cabinet style water
softener. That’s because the Kinetico packs a lot of performance in a small package.

If your softener is installed in an open location, you wont be afraid to show o its sleek,
modern design.

System status monitoring

If the location of your Kinetico 2020c permits viewing from the top, you can always check
your system status of service and regeneration by looking through the viewing window on
the top of the cabinet.

Simply check the indicator dot (see fig. 9 on page 11) to see what mode of operation your
system is in. Remember that even if the softener is regenerating, your Kinetico system can
still provide you with soft water since it has 2 softening cylinders.

Fig. 5

Fig. 3

08

Fig. 4

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09

2020c WATER SOFTENER

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Maintaining Your Water Softener

Add salt when

line is visible

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Add salt when

11

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

Using Tablet and Pellet Salt

Tablet salt and pellet salt that is manufactured for water softeners are perfectly suitable for use
in your Kinetico system. Simply add salt as you need it.

IMPORTANT: Never use rock or granular salt in your system as it contains impurities that can
interfere with performance.

Manual Regeneration

If your salt storage tank does run out of salt, you will have to manually
regenerate the unit after adding salt. If you prefer, you can wait for the system to
automatically regenerate, although you may have hard water in the mean time. To
manually regenerate your system, use a Phillips head screwdriver to push down
on the softener valve screw (fig. 8) and slowly turn CLOCKWISE ONLY until the
actuator has advanced the indicator dot to the “BRINE“ position (fig. 9). You should hear
at least 5 “clicks“ while turning the screw before the indicator dot reaches the “BRINE“
position. At this point you will hear water flowing to the drain. This indicates that you have
successfully initiated a regeneration.

NOTE: If you do not hear a flow of water running to drain, please contact your local
Kinetico dealer.

Repeat the procedure for manual regeneration after the water flow stops (approximately 11
minutes) to be sure both resin tanks are regenerated.

Note: If your hot water tank or loft storage tank has refilled with hard water, it may take several
days for it to empty completely and your water to feel soft again.

Note: Never turn the softener valve screw counter-clockwise

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

MAINTAINING YOUR WATER SOFTENER

Kinetico engineers every 2020c system to provide you with quality water without requiring
extensive maintenance. Minor, routine maintenance is necessary to keep your softener working
properly. Should you have any questions or need any assistance, contact your Kinetico dealer.

Adding regenerant

Convenient Salt Options

For your convenience, your system was designed to accommodate various sizes of block
(where available) and tablet/pellet salt. Use the optional salt bay extension to increase
the salt bays capacity when using tablet/pellet salt. Depending on where you live, this
may already be installed in your system. To install the extension, simply lift the salt
platform from the cabinet and insert the side tabs into the corresponding grooves on the
extension (fig. 5 on page 9). To use the block salt again, simply remove the extension.

Using Salt Blocks

Using block salt is convenient and easy. To use salt blocks, simply open the softener
cabinet and place them in the salt storage bay (fig. 6). Use the indicator marks on
the back of the salt platform (fig. 7) to determine when to add new salt blocks. We
recommend that you use Kinetico Block Salt, a clean, premium grade that has been
developed and processed specifically for Kinetico systems. Other quality grades of block
salt are also acceptable. Be sure to use salt manufactured for use in water softeners.

Make sure your salt storage bay never runs out of regenerant. Your Kinetico dealer can
recommend or perform a schedule of periodic maintenance for checking the salt supply.

Using Tablet and Pellet Salt

Tablet salt and pellet salt that is manufactured for water softeners are perfectly
suitable for use in your Kinetico system. Simply add salt as you need it.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

line is visible

IMPORTANT:

Never use rock
or granular salt in
your system.

It contains
impurities that
can interfere with
performance.

Manual regeneration

If your salt storage tank does run out of salt, you will have to manually regenerate the unit
after adding salt. If you prefer, you can wait for the system to automatically regenerate,
although you may have hard water in the mean time.

To manually regenerate your system, use a Phillips head screwdriver to push down on the
softener valve screw (fig. 8) and slowly turn CLOCKWISE ONLY until the actuator has
advanced the indicator dot to the “BRINE“ position (fig. 9). You should hear at least 5
“clicks“ while turning the screw before the indicator dot reaches the “BRINE“ position. At
this point you will hear water flowing to the drain. This indicates that you have successfully
initiated a regeneration.

NOTE: If you do not hear a flow of water running to drain, please contact your local
Kinetico dealer.

Repeat the procedure for manual regeneration after the water flow stops (approximately 11
minutes) to be sure both resin tanks are regenerated.

NOTE: If your hot water tank or loft storage tank has refilled with hard water, it may take
several days for it to empty completely and your water to feel soft again.

NOTE: Never turn the softener valve screw counter-clockwise.

Fig. 8 Fig. 9

c

a

k

B

W

a

s

h

Indicator Dot

e

s

n

i

R

e

n

i

r

B

h

B

r

i

n

e

R

i

n

s

e

s

a

W

B

k

a

c

10

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freephone 0800 0151 380

11

2020c WATER SOFTENER

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

13

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

Cold Weather Protection

If your Kinetico 2020c is installed outside or in an area that is not heated, you may want to
take precautionary measures to prevent damage to your unit from freezing. Kinetico oer
cabinets specifically designed to protect your softener from freezing temperatures. Please
call your local dealer for more information.

NOTE: Kinetico’s warranty does not cover damage caused to your system due to freezing.
If you have any questions about your Kinetico 2020c, or you suspect that your system isn’t
working properly, contact your local Kinetico dealer.

By-pass

There may be times when you need to shut o the water supply to your entire house.

To do this, set the by-pass valve to the “OFF” position. No water will flow through the
house. To restart the water, set the by-pass valve to the “SERVICE” position.

You may put the softener into by-pass at any time if necessary by putting the by-pass valve
into the “BY-PASS” position. You will still get water throughout the house, however all of
the water will be treated. To return the softener to service, set the by-pass valve to the
“SERVICE“ position.

NOTE: By-pass styles vary and yours may not be as described. Contact your local Kinetico
dealer for further assistance.

Fig. 10

Inlet

open

Service

By-pass

closed

Outlet

open

V

R

I

E

C

S

E

O

F

F

B

Y

P

A

S

S

Kinetico By-Pass Valve

By-pass

By-pass

open

Inlet

closed

Outlet
closed

Inlet

closed

O

By-pass

closed

Outlet
closed

12

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Turn

clockwise

Turn counter

clockwise

13

2020c WATER SOFTENER

2020c Water Softener

Owners Manual

From Main Supply

Bypass

Inlet

To Drain

Outlet

To Home

Overflow

To RO Storage
Tank

To Drain

To Drain

Air Gap

Two typical Kinetico 2020c installations shown with kinetico reverse osmosis Drinking Water Sys-
tem. Your installation may vary.

Owner’s Manual

2020c WATER SOFTENER

Owner’s Manual

MAINTENANCE TIPS - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

My system seems to be regenerating more frequently, is this normal?

Your Kinetico 2020c is demand operated and therefore adjusts to your water usage. If you
do not think that your water usage has increased due to extra house guests, additional
laundry or some other reason, check for any leaking plumbing, dripping taps or running
toilets, all of which can contribute to more frequent regenerations.

My water doesn’t seem soft. How can I be sure that my system is regenerating properly?

Be sure that the water supply to the softener is not by-passed. Follow the instructions on
page 11 to manually regenerate the softener tanks. If the unit does not begin advancing
to the next regeneration automatically, please contact your Kinetico dealer for further
assistance.

I can hear my Kinetico system running or regenerating during the day. My old softener
only used to run at night. Is this normal?

Single tank, electric water softeners tend to be set to regenerate at night because of
the unavailability of soft water during the regeneration process. Unlike traditional water
softeners, Kinetico systems operate on demand based on your water usage, without timers
or electronics. Your system regenerates whenever necessary, at any time of day. Kinetico’s
twin cylinder design allows one tank to provide treated water while the other regenerates
so you will never be without soft water.

Two typical Kinetico 2020c installations shown with
Kinetico reverse osmosis Drinking Water System.

Your installation may vary.

If at any time you feel your Kinetico 2020c requires a service, put the
system in by-pass and call your local Kinetico dealer.

NOTE: This system conforms to NSF/ANSI Standard 44 for the specific performance

claims as verified and substantiated by test data. The system is not intended to be used
for treating water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate
disinfection before or after the system.

14

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NOTE: Waste connections or drain outlets shall be designed and constructed to provide for

connection to the sanitary waste system through an air gap of 2 pipe diameters or 1 inch,
whichever is larger.

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15

Kinetico UK Ltd

Bridge House, Park Gate Business Centre, Park Gate,
Hampshire SO31 1FQ

t 01489 566970
f 01489 566976
e [e-mail]

© Kinetico UK Ltd 2012. Kinetico reserves the right to amend details or specifications
without notice, prices are correct at time of print, E&OE.
All trademarks are registered to Kinetico Inc. Newbury, Ohio.

07/12 10702D