Patent ID: 6926835

Claim:
A water softening device, comprising: at least a first water softener and a second water softener, each of the first and second water softeners having a sample conduit in fluid communication therewith for collecting a sample of treated water; at least one regeneration chamber for conducting regeneration of each of said water softeners; a hardness detection device for detecting the hardness of treated water from each of said water softeners, the hardness detection device being in fluid communication with the sample conduits associated with the first and second water softeners such that the sample of treated water can be withdrawn from one of the first and second water softeners and delivered to the hardness detection device; a control device for controlling the flow of raw water to each of said water softeners and for controlling regeneration of each of said water softeners; said control device controlling the flow of raw water and regeneration of each of said water softeners based on the difference between a previous measurement value and a current measurement value from the hardness detection device; and a sampling mechanism that samples treated water from inside a resin layer of each of said water softeners; wherein said hardness detection device detects the hardness of treated water sampled by said sampling mechanism.