When a new plant is built, the actual start-up of the system involves many steps.

• Inspection of the equipment including the internals (laterals or nozzles)
• Loading of resin in the vessels. This requires water of suitable quality and available at a suitable flow rate.
• Once the resin is loaded, it may require regeneration and sometimes a double-regeneration depending on the form in which the resin was shipped.
• After loading the resin, an extended backwash is required to eliminate the presence of fines or broken beads. It is done best by gradually increasing the flow rate to full flow and even beyong. This needs to be done under closed supervision and will serve to determine the best flow rate to use for the backwash.