Riyadh restaurants and cafés often find white crust on dishwasher arms and a coffee boiler that needs descaling every few months. A hard water softener deals with the cause, but only if it is sized for the site. The Regal 100, 150 and 200 are our compact softeners for small kitchens, villas and light commercial lines in the Kingdom. They look almost identical from the front, yet they hold different amounts of resin and so treat very different volumes of water before they need to recharge. This guide walks through how to choose, using your water source, your machines and the space you have.
TL;DR
- Regal 100, 150 and 200 carry 10, 15 and 20 litres of resin and are rated for 1.8, 3 and 5 m³ of soft water between regenerations.
- Supply in the Kingdom mixes desalinated water with groundwater. Where groundwater is blended in, as in Riyadh, hardness is higher and a softener earns its place faster.
- Size the unit for the machines it feeds, such as a dishwasher, a coffee machine or a combi oven, not for the whole building.
- The datasheets cap inlet water at 30 °C. In a Saudi summer, roof tank water can run warmer, so plan where the softener sits.
- A softener removes hardness, not salt. If the water tastes salty or the TDS is high, you need reverse osmosis as well.
Not sure which model suits your kitchen? Talk to Our Team and tell us your city and your machines.
Contents
- Where Saudi kitchen scale comes from
- Hard water softener sizing: the three inputs
- The three Regal models compared
- Worked example: a Riyadh café
- Siting it in Saudi heat
- When to choose something bigger, or RO
- FAQs
Where Saudi kitchen scale comes from
Most municipal water in the Kingdom starts as desalinated seawater. In some cities it is blended with treated groundwater before it reaches the network. A 2024 review of Saudi drinking water quality by Al-Hamzah and Fellows describes this mix and notes how much quality varies from place to place (Al-Hamzah and Fellows, via SWCC). Groundwater carries calcium and magnesium, so a blended supply can be noticeably harder than pure desalinated water.
The national unbottled drinking water standard (2024) allows total hardness up to 320 mg/L (Unbottled Drinking Water Standard, KSA 2024). That is a drinking limit, not a target for kitchen equipment. Water well inside it can still lay down scale wherever it is heated.
That is why heated machines show the problem first. A commercial dishwasher heats its wash and rinse water dozens of times a shift. An espresso boiler sits hot all day. Each heating cycle leaves a thin layer behind, and over months it slows heat transfer, blocks jets and leaves marks on cups and plates.
A softener stops that at the inlet. Water passes through a bed of resin beads that hold on to calcium and magnesium and release sodium instead. Once the beads are loaded, the unit rinses them with brine from its salt cabinet. That rinse, called regeneration, resets the resin. How often it happens is the heart of sizing.
Hard water softener sizing: the three inputs
You need three numbers before you pick a model.
Your hardness. Ask for the latest water report from your building or supplier, or have the water checked by an accredited laboratory. Tanker supplies can differ from mains, so note which one feeds the kitchen. Our guide to hard water in Saudi Arabia explains the units.
Litres through the softener each day. Count only the machines on the softened line. The litres per cycle for a dishwasher are on its data plate or in the manual. Multiply by your cycles on a busy day, such as a Thursday night or a Ramadan evening service, and add the coffee machine or combi oven if it shares the line.
Peak flow. The softener has to keep up when two machines fill together. A dishwasher and a combi oven filling at once ask more than a single espresso machine.
The three Regal models compared
All three share a Clack control valve with a mixing valve and up-flow proportional regeneration. In plain terms, each recharge uses brine in proportion to how much of the resin was actually used, rather than a fixed dose. Figures below are from our datasheets and product pages.
| Specification | Regal 100 | Regal 150 | Regal 200 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft water between regenerations | 1.8 m³ | 3 m³ | 5 m³ |
| Resin in the tank | 10 L | 15 L | 20 L |
| Flow it can supply | 1.0 to 1.2 m³/h | 1.3 to 1.5 m³/h | 1.6 to 1.8 m³/h |
| Height of the cabinet | 469 mm | 539 mm | 741 mm |
| Width and depth | 270 x 430 mm | 270 x 430 mm | 270 x 430 mm |
| Working pressure | 2 to 6 bar | 2 to 6 bar | 2 to 6 bar |
A recharge takes 80 to 110 minutes. The Regal 100 uses roughly 1.2 kg of salt per regeneration and the Regal 200 roughly 1.6 kg, according to their datasheets.
Rated capacity is measured at a set hardness. On harder groundwater blends the resin loads faster, so the unit regenerates more often. If you sit near a choice between two models, take the bigger one.
Want us to check your figures? Request a Quote with your city, water source and machine list.
Worked example: a Riyadh café
The numbers here are illustrative, so replace them with your own.
- An undercounter dishwasher uses 3 litres per cycle and runs 80 cycles on a busy evening: 240 litres.
- The espresso machine draws around 50 litres across the day.
- Daily load on the softener: about 290 litres, or 0.29 m³.
At the rated hardness, a Regal 100 would recharge roughly every six days and a Regal 200 roughly every 17 days. On a harder Riyadh blend, both intervals get shorter.
The smaller unit fits more cupboards and uses less salt each time. The larger one gives breathing room if a second dishwasher or a combi oven joins the line later. The mixing valve lets the installer leave a small amount of hardness in the water, which many coffee machine makers ask for, so read the machine's water requirements before commissioning.
Siting it in Saudi heat
Footprint is the same for all three, 270 by 430 mm, so the deciding measurement is usually height. The Regal 100 slides under most counters. The Regal 200, at 741 mm, often fits better in a store room or tall cupboard.
Temperature matters more here than in Europe. The datasheets set inlet water between 4 and 30 °C. Roof tanks in Riyadh or Dammam can deliver warmer water in July and August, and back-of-house rooms can get hot. Keep the softener in a ventilated space, away from ovens and compressors, and tell us if your feed water runs warm so we can plan around it.
Our connection document for the range asks for:
- a 100 micron sediment filter before the softener, which matters with tank and tanker water
- isolation valves and a bypass, so the kitchen keeps running during service
- a drain with an air gap for regeneration water
- a power socket close by (the units draw about 30 W)
The datasheets also list other inlet limits, including iron below 0.2 mg/L. Well water sometimes carries more, so share any lab report you have.
Keep one unsoftened tap for drinking water and food preparation. Softened water is best kept for the machines.
When to choose something bigger, or RO
Our datasheets describe the Regal 100, 150 and 200 as a home range. They suit villas, apartments and light commercial duty such as a café dishwasher or a small clinic. A hotel kitchen, a central production kitchen or a restaurant group's busiest branch needs more. Our commercial water softener specification guide for Saudi Arabia covers twin-cylinder units that keep softening during regeneration, and the full hard water softener range.
Also check whether hardness is really your problem. A softener does not lower total dissolved solids or chloride. If the water tastes salty or your coffee tastes flat whatever you do, reverse osmosis is the better tool. Our post on reverse osmosis explained shows how the two can work together.
Whatever you fit, it needs looking after. Our Comprehensive Maintenance plans cover salt top-ups, prefilter changes and valve settings, so the softener keeps protecting your machines through the summer.
FAQs
Do I need a softener if my water is desalinated?
Not always. Pure desalinated water is fairly soft. Where groundwater is blended in, or the site uses tanker water, hardness rises and heated machines scale faster. Check your water report first.
Which Regal suits a small Riyadh café?
One dishwasher and one coffee machine on moderate hardness often suit a Regal 100 or 150. Pick the 200 for harder water, plans to add machines, or where height is no problem.
Will a softener stop salty taste?
No. It swaps hardness minerals for sodium and leaves total dissolved salts much the same. For salty water, use reverse osmosis.
How hot can the incoming water be?
The datasheets set a maximum of 30 °C. Keep the unit out of hot plant rooms and tell us if your tank water runs warm in summer.
What does it need on site?
A drain with an air gap, a power socket nearby, a sediment prefilter and space of 270 by 430 mm at the height of your chosen model.
Ready to choose?
Send us your city, water source, machine list and the space you have. We will confirm which Regal fits, or tell you if you need a larger system or RO. Get in Touch with our team in the Kingdom.
Sources
- Al-Hamzah and Fellows, Drinking Water Quality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Water 2024: https://www.swcc.gov.sa/uploads/water-16-01810%20(3).pdf
- Unbottled Drinking Water Standard, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2024 (hosted by KAUST HSE): https://hse.kaust.edu.sa/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Unbottled-Drinking-Water-Standard-KSA-2024.pdf
- Sovereign Water datasheets: Regal 100 (FU1013CABDVUP), Regal 150 and Regal 200, and the Regal softener connection document SWC-REG100-INST-26-R0 (13 May 2025)