First of all, ion exchange softeners require salt (sodium chloride or potassium chloride) pellets in order to soften the hard water coming into your home. This salt is held in a “brine tank” which sits next to (and is connected to) your water softener.
How much salt you’ll need to purchase and add each month will depend on the level of “hardness” in your water and the quantity of water your household consumes. Industry standard is that the average family of four with typical water hardness (roughly 7-10 grains per gallon hardness level) will use about 9 to 10 pounds of salt each week or one 40-lb bag of salt each month.
A 40-lb. bag of sodium or potassium chloride will cost between $5 and $25 dollars, subject to the brand, salt purity rate, and location of purchase.
We recommend using either potassium chloride or evaporated water softener salt pellets with a purity rate of 99.5 percent. For more information on what type of salt to buy, we’ve addressed that in another blog post.
If you find you’re going through more than one bag of salt each month, you may want to have your water specialist check your softener’s regeneration schedule. The control valve on many softeners and conditioners will automatically do the calculations for you regarding when to regenerate, but you’ll want to keep an eye on the salt level in the brine tank and add additional salt as it is consumed. You should never see standing water above the salt pellets in the brine tank. If you do, add more salt to the brine tank.
Many purchase three (3) 40-lb bags (120 pounds total) at one time so they only have to add salt about once every three months.
To ensure that your softener is working properly, we recommend that you have your water softener inspected by a local water treatment professional every 1-2 years.
The specialist will take into consideration how your household has changed since the last service call–have the kids gone away to college? Do you now have three toddlers running around? Most water softeners today are sized per the number of people in the household, but valve settings can be adjusted (if the unit doesn’t adjust automatically) to increases or decreases in water consumption.
