here's how to perform a manual regeneration on water to buy time or water softeners a manual regeneration is recommended in the following scenarios you are experiencing hard water after your installation your unit is not using salt and simply just a check if your unit is working correctly when starting a manual regeneration make sure the backwash knob is at the serve position turn the manual backwash knob clockwise to the first position marked region do not run a manual backwash immediately before after or during an automatic backwash the cycle is complete when the backwash knob returns to the serve position it's as simple as that the regeneration cycle is complete when the doll returns to the serve position thank you for choosing water to buy water filtration made easy