LT5 Water Softener w/ Optima Mounting Bracket (XD/XE/EST/DMF)

Minimize maintenance, increase the lifespan of your machine, save money, and get even better results. The biggest challenge to Optima Steamer owners is dealing with scale buildup as a result of hard-water minerals in water. The best means of improving your water quality, and Steamericas only recommended solution for preventing is to use a salt-based water softener and we’ve got one that will work great with the Optima Steamer–the LT5. The LT5 is powered by typical salt and will last most operators 1-2 weeks before needing to regenerate. What’s better is that this filter was designed to be installed on the back of your Optima Steamer and to provide a mobile water softening solution that goes where your Optima goes. End the constant battle with scale buildup and get the best performance out of your machine.

Connects via the Direct Water Feed connection. Typical recharge time based on weekly water usage of 25 gallons of water per week.

Why do you need a LT5 Water Softener?

The Optima Steamer has an industrial boiler where soft water (15-40 parts per million or 1-2 grains per gallon) usage is a must!  When water is boiled, sediment is separated from the steam and settles in the bottom of the boiler which turns into scale. The Optima Steamer comes with a test strip to identify the hardness of your water supply. You can skip the water softener if you already have a whole building water softening system at your facility, or can guarantee that only soft water TDS between 15-40ppm will be used for the Optima.

RO, DI or Distilled water is NOT recommended to be used with the Optima due to the fact that the Optima relies on ions in the water to detect the safe water level in the boiler.

Is the LT5 Portable Softener Kit right for you?

The LT5’s purpose is to fill in the gap between being mobile and having a fixed location with a proper water treatment solution. Anti-scaling additives are only a temporary deterrent and operators still need to perform regular descaling. The only true preventative solution, and the solution recommended by Steamericas, is to use a softener. While a full-sized, commercial-grade softener system is ideal, mobile operators often don’t have a location to treat water or a reservoir large-enough to supply all of the water needed for a job, and the LT5 is meant to fill that void.

The Harder Your Water, the More Often the LT5 Will Need Recharged.
The LT5 Softener contains a resin that is recharged by adding salt. The cartridge provides a limited amount of softening power—the harder the water, the faster the salt in the cartridge gets consumed. Customers throughout the United States will have a wide range of different hardness of water*, but customers with relatively normal hardness may need to recharge their LT5 only 3 or 4 times a year. The higher the volume of usage, the more often the cartridge needs to be recharged. The resin has a lifespan of about 5-7 years, after that time, it needs to be replaced. Depending on your water’s hardness and the volume of water you use, the LT5 will need to be recharged more or less frequently.

Determining if the LT5 Will Work for You
In order to know if the LT5 can work for you, you will need to test your water’s hardness. Hardware stores often have tests that will tell you your water’s hardness, usually indicated in GPG, or grains per gallon. Additionally, a TDS meter, which stands for Total Dissolved Solids, can tell you simply the amount of particles in your water in PPM, or parts per million—however, a TDS meter isn’t measuring scale minerals alone. Steamericas recommends purchasing a hardness test kit that uses test strips and provides a reading of hardness in GPG or mg/L. A backup solution is to use a TDS.

Water Hardness	GPG	11.67 gpg	17.51 gpg	23.34 gpg	29.17 gpg	35.01 gpg
	ppm	200 ppm	300 ppm	400 ppm	500 ppm	600 ppm
Amount of Water Used	gallons	277 gallons	184 gallons	138 gallons	110 gallons	92 gallons
	litres	1050 liters	700 litres	525 litres	420 litres	350 litres

Based on your water’s hardness, you can determine how much water you can consume before you will need to recharge. By estimating how quickly you use that much water and that will tell you how frequently you will need to recharge. Keep in mind that the resin will only last for 5-7 years, and will need replaced after that time. This should help you determine if the LT5 is the best solution.

What If Your Water Is Too Hard?
Contact a local water quality specialist who should be able to direct you to an option. Larger, commercial-grade softener solutions will be more capable of softening severe water at a better efficiency and more cost-effective rate. Look into a large, 200+ gallon reservoir to use for mobile solutions and fill the tank with softened water. Also, consider the cost/benefits of filling up your reservoir with filtered drinking water–it might be an alternative until purchasing a softener system is more convenient.

Maximum Pressure Rating

The LT5 Water Softener has a max pressure rating of 1 to 8 bar.

If your water pressure is greater than the max pressure you risk rupturing the screen of the filter which will release resin into the machine that will cause issues and need to be cleaned out. If your water pressure is greater than the max pressure, it can be reduced by simply installing a water pressure reducing valve on your waterline of which there are many different options available.

Recharging the LT5 Resin Cartridge

The LT5 comes with simple instructions for adding additional salt to recharge the resin cartridge. The process takes about 40 minutes. Please find detailed information on how to recharge your cartridge in the owners manual here: Owner’s Manual

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