A mobile vehicle that is self-contained and equipped to wash firefighter gear at the firefighter's station. The vehicle would be on a dispatched network and be activated after an incident, and for scheduled cleanings on a regular basis; the vehicle having the required equipment to clean all contaminated gear by use of a sonic cleaner, extractors, dryers, and an ozonator. The process includes monitoring the life of the gear and decontaminating the gear in accordance with the gear manufacturer's recommendations. Gear that has been cleaned is reassembled, wrapped, sealed and placed back into a fireman's station, giving the firefighter the assurance that their firefighting gear was cleaned, sanitized, and serviced per the manufacturer's recommendations.

Methods and systems for an integrated acid regeneration of ion exchange resins are disclosed for use in cleaning applications. Acid resins designed for use in a variety of cleaning application using a treated, softened, acidic water source are disclosed. Various methods of using the softened acidic water generated by acid regenerate-able ion exchange resins within a cleaning application, e.g. ware wash machine, are disclosed to beneficially reduce spotting, filming and scale buildup on treated surfaces, reduce and/or eliminate the need for polymers, threshold reagents and/or rinse aids, and using protons generated in the acidic water effluent for triggering events useful in various cleaning applications.

A laundry treatment appliance having a laundry treatment chamber adapted to receive laundry to be treated, a treatment agent delivery system configured to store an amount of treatment agent sufficient for performing a plurality of treatment cycles, and to deliver a treatment agent dose towards the laundry treatment chamber, the treatment agent dose being a fraction of the stored amount of treatment agent, a water supply unit configured to supply fresh water having a first level of hardness to the laundry treatment appliance, and a water softening system configured to selectively receive the fresh water from the water supply unit and to selectively provide softened water having a second level of hardness lower than the first level of hardness to said treatment agent delivery system.

A laundry treatment appliance comprising: a fresh water supply; a treatment chamber; a water softener; a liquid delivery system connected to the water supply, the water softener, and a treatment agent delivery system configured to store a water-soluble treating agent pod and/or a steam generator. The liquid delivery system is configured to supply fresh water from the water supply or soft water from the water softener into the treatment chamber. The appliance can perform one or more treatment cycles including at least one of: a first cycle in which the process liquid supplied by said process liquid delivery system further includes laundry treatment agents contained in the pod, and a second cycle in which the steam generator is activated to steam into the treatment chamber. The appliance further comprises a control unit to activate the water softener to provide the process liquid delivery system with soft water.

A steam generator includes a pre-heat chamber configured to heat incoming water to a temperature less than the boiling point of water, where the pre-heat chamber is configured to heat the water such that if the water contains a calcium compound, the calcium compound is caused to take a particulate form. The steam generator also includes a filter assembly in fluid communication with the pre-heat chamber, the filter assembly including a removable particulate filter element, where the filter element is reusable and cleanable. The steam generator also includes a water pump in fluid communication with the filter assembly, and operative to cause water flow through the steam generator and a boiler in fluid communication with the water pump, where the water pump is configured to cause water to flow to the boiler, and where the boiler is configured to boil water such that steam is produced.

A laundry washing machine (1) includes an outer casing (2), a washing tub (3), a rotatable drum housed in axially rotatable manner inside the washing tub (3), a detergent dispenser (10), a fresh-water supply circuit (12) for selectively channelling a flow of fresh water towards the detergent dispenser (10) and/or the washing tub (3), and an internal water softening device (14) capable of reducing the hardness degree of the fresh water. The laundry washing machine (1) further includes: at least a main drawer (16, 74) which is fitted/inserted in extractable manner into a corresponding substantially basin-shaped, drawer housing (18, 73) which is located/recessed inside the outer casing (2), and is provided with a substantially basin-shaped, manually tillable regeneration-agent compartment (20); a first water-supply line (19) which is structured for selectively channelling a flow of fresh water into said regeneration-agent compartment (20) so as to form some brine; a brine container (34) which is located underneath the drawer housing (18, 73) and communicates with the bottom of the drawer housing (18, 73) so as to allow the brine to freely flow by gravity from a basin-shaped bottom portion (32) of said drawer housing (18, 73) into the same brine container (34); and an electrically-powered pump (35) able to selectively pump the brine from said brine container (34) to the water softening device (14).

A mobile vehicle that is self-contained and equipped to wash firefighter gear at the firefighter's station. The vehicle would be on a dispatched network and be activated after an incident, and for scheduled cleanings on a regular basis; the vehicle having the required equipment to clean all contaminated gear by use of a sonic cleaner, extractors, and dryers. The process includes monitoring the life of the gear and decontaminating the gear in accordance with the gear manufacturer's recommendations. Gear that has been cleaned is reassembled, wrapped, sealed and placed back into a fireman's station, giving the firefighter the assurance that their firefighting gear was cleaned, sanitized, and serviced per the manufacturer's recommendations.

A laundry washing machine (1) includes an outer casing (2) and, inside said outer casing (2), a washing tub (3), a detergent dispensing assembly (9), a fresh-water supply circuit (10) for selectively channeling a flow of fresh water from the water mains towards the detergent dispensing assembly (9) and/or the washing tub (3), and a water softening device (11) interposed between the fresh water supply circuit (10) and the detergent dispensing assembly (9) or the washing tub (3), and being structured for reducing the harness degree of the fresh water supplied to the washing tub (3). The water softening device (11) includes a water-softening agent container (26), crossed by fresh water arriving from the fresh-water supply circuit (10) and is filled with a water softening agent; a regeneration-agent reservoir (27) being structured to receive a salt or other regeneration agent for performing a regeneration of the water softening function of the water softening agent; and a water supply circuit (28) for selectively channeling a given amount of fresh water into the regeneration-agent reservoir (27) to form brine; and an electrically-powered brine-circulating pump assembly (29) interposed between the water-softening agent container (26) and the regeneration-agent reservoir (27), and being structured for transferring/moving the brine from the regeneration-agent reservoir (27) to the water-softening agent container (26) when activated, and for watertight sealing/isolating the regeneration-agent reservoir (27) from the water-softening agent container (26) when deactivated.

A laundry washing machine includes an outer casing and, inside the casing, a washing tub arranged inside the casing directly facing a laundry loading/unloading opening realized in a front wall of said casing, a rotatable drum arranged in axially rotating manner inside the washing tub and structured for receiving the laundry to be washed, a detergent dispenser which is structured for supplying detergent into the washing tub, and a water softening device which is structured for reducing the hardness degree of the fresh water supplied to the washing tub. The water softening device includes a water-softening agent container filled with a water softening agent able to reduce the hardness degree of the fresh water supplied to the washing tub, a regeneration-agent reservoir which is structured to receive a salt or other regeneration agent for performing a regeneration of the water softening function of the water softening agents, and a water supply circuit which is structured for selectively spilling/pouring a given amount of fresh water into the regeneration-agent reservoir. The regeneration-agent reservoir includes a regeneration-agent container which is fillable with a given quantity of regeneration agents, and the water supply circuit includes a first sprinkler head provided with a shower-making portion which is structured for feeding a shower of water droplets by gravity into the regeneration-agent container.

A laundry washing machine includes an outer casing and, inside the casing, a washing tub arranged inside said casing directly facing a laundry loading/unloading opening realized in a front wall of the casing, a rotatable drum arranged in an axially rotating manner inside the washing tub and structured for receiving the laundry to be washed, a detergent dispenser which is structured for supplying detergent into the washing tub, and a water softening device which is structured for reducing the hardness degree of the fresh water supplied to the washing tub. The water softening device includes a water-softening agent container filled with a water softening agent able to reduce the hardness degree of the fresh water supplied to the washing tub, and a regeneration-agent reservoir which is fluidly connected to the water-softening agent container and is structured to receive a salt or other regeneration agent for performing a regeneration of the water softening function of the water softening agents. The detergent dispenser includes a detergent container which is fillable with a given quantity of detergent, and a detergent flush circuit which is structured for selectively spilling/pouring water into said detergent container. The regeneration-agent reservoir includes a regeneration-agent container which is fillable with a given quantity of regeneration agents. The water softening device also includes a water supply circuit which is structured for selectively spilling/pouring a given amount of fresh water into the regeneration-agent container and a water piping assembly which is structured for channeling water through the water-softening agent container. The detergent dispenser includes a water delivery member which incorporates at least part of the detergent flush circuit, and at least part of the water supply circuit and/or of the water piping assembly.