Can We Rebed Our Industrial Water Softener or Filter Ourselves?

Can you rebed (replace the media or softener resin) your industrial water softener or filter yourself? You can certainly attempt to do so. Whether you will be successful, save time or money, or can do so without damaging your equipment is the real question.

A quick Google search will give you many DIY instructions for rebedding water softeners and filters. However, you’ll notice that most of these tutorials are typically for smaller residential units, not large industrial water softeners.

If you are considering putting new resin or media in your industrial water softener or filter, consider the following:

• An industrial water softener rebed can be very time-consuming. The full industrial softener rebedding process takes multiple hours to days to complete, and that presumes that everything goes correctly. If you are not experienced in the process of rebedding an industrial water softener or filter, plan to need at least triple the time of an outside expert.
• The overall industrial water softener and filter servicing process can be broken into three stages: 1) The removal of existing resin, media, and gravel. 2) The replacement of the gravel/media/resin in the softener, and 3) getting the industrial water softener or filter system back online, and working correctly. Surprisingly, the first two stages of removing media and replacing the media/gravel are often easier than the last stage of getting your industrial water softener or filter system back online. Getting back online consists of a series of technical steps with a caveat: you need to keep unwanted resin out of the wrong places, and you have to be careful to not damage the softener by incorrect loading procedures. One small mistake won’t just wipe out all of your cost savings – it could cost you thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and delay getting your process or boiler back online for days.
• Rebedding industrial water softeners and filters requires specialized equipment such as pumps and/or vacuum trucks that are used to pull out the resin, and if necessary, gravel. Distribution systems typically break when the gravel is removed, but sometimes it is necessary to remove gravel to check or repair the distribution system.

Can you rebed your industrial water softener or filter yourself? The answer is a qualified “yes.” Should you rebed your industrial water softener or filter yourself? Unless you have the experience, equipment, patience, and finances to handle the downside if something goes wrong, the answer is “no.” Rebedding an industrial water softener is a job for experienced field personnel. Great techs make it look easy, but rest assured, it’s not.

If you’re ready for a resin or media for your industrial water softener or filter, contact the experts at Industrial Water Solutions. We’ll make the process efficient so you can quickly get your water back to high-quality levels. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate reach out to us at 800-820-9021 or info@industrialh2osolutions.com.