When and How to Add Salt To A Water Softener

Hard water is a very common problem that affects most of the United States. While your water is of course not literally hard, having hard water means that the water has a natural buildup of minerals. While these minerals are usually harmless to you personally, they can cause hard water deposits commonly called scale.

Water Softeners Prevent Scale

To help stop these unsightly deposits from forming on your plumbing fixtures or stopping up your appliances such as the dishwasher or washing machine, it can help to have a water softener. Water softeners use an ion exchange process, which switches out positively charged sodium ions for the minerals in your water, such as positively charged magnesium or calcium ions.

Saltwater Rinse

As time goes by, the negatively charged resin in the water softener will collect an abundance of magnesium and calcium. In order to sustain its charge and keep softening your water, every once in a while the softener will rinse its resin with saltwater to restore the salt content.

Refill the Salt

In order to keep functioning at its best, your water softener will usually require a salt refill. How often you need to refill the brine tank will depend on the mineral content of your water, how much water your household uses, and how big the brine tank is. As a rule, we recommend that you check your brine tank at least once a month.

Recommended Salt Level

The instruction manual for your water softener should have a guideline for how full you should keep your salt tank. For most, keeping the tank at least halfway full should suffice. It is very important to make sure to put in more salt if the salt level has gone below the water level in the brine tank. When you put new salt in, make sure to clear off any salt that has built up on the sides of the tank, and to break up any large salt chunks that may have formed.

Where to Get Salt

While some stores in your area will carry water softener salt, you may be more interested in water softener salt delivery in Ocala, FL. For example, at McCullough Water Service, we can deliver the type of salt you need for your water softener straight to your front door, saving you time.