Softener Saltes: Decoding Your Options

Softener Saltes: Decoding Your Options

You’ve already made the well-informed decision to install a water softener and filtration system in your home, but how you maintain your system matters.
When your brine tank is running low, you’ll usually notice an indicator light flashing, or even beeping, to notify you that you’re no longer getting the best water possible. This is when it’s time to add more salt.

Salt blocks, pellets, cubes, and crystals are all available at the local home store, but which do you choose? Do different brands use different salt applications?

Thankfully, we have Water-Right Technical Service Manager Kirk Guthrie on hand to give us the lowdown on sodium supplementation!

 

The Scoop on Salts

The most fool-proof answer is to always use Solar Salt Crystals. In fact, if your unit employs zeolite, as our exclusive Crystal-Right media does, then Solar Salt Crystals are actually the only answer. Additives in other types of salt may damage the media.

“For those pieces of equipment, it is imperative that homeowners use only solar salt with absolutely no additives, resin cleaners, or iron-fighting ingredients,” he says. “You don’t want any of those additives to get into zeolite-based water treatment equipment.”

This also applies to Evolve units like the EV1 and EV2, and Watercare units, like the TotalCare® series. Sanitizer® systems from Water-Right should never be exposed to salt with any additives at all.

Not only is Solar Salt easy to find and purchase, it’s also usually among the most affordable options.

All of our dealers are fully informed and educated on which salts are safest for your system, however, if it wasn’t our dealer who installed your system, or if your system came with the house, you may be exposed to misinformation.

In fact, if you complain to an outside dealer about an iron imbalance in your system, you might be instructed to use a salt with additives. This could potentially cause expensive or irreversible damage to your system.

“If you have zeolite media in your equipment, they just told you to use salt that wrecks your unit,” Kirk says.
Not intentionally, of course. They simply don’t have the information needed to give the advice you need.

 

Why Solar Salt?

The most important differentiator between Solar Salt and other softening brines on the market is purity. The process for creating the salt is quite simple, as Kirk explains. Vats are flooded with brine, and then allowed time and sunlight to evaporate the water, leaving only salt. This is how the product came to be named “Solar Salt”.

Not only is this pure salt product safer for your system, it’s also incredibly effective at treating hard water.

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Kirk Guthrie, Water-Right Technical Services Manager

Kirk expands: “They put miniscule amounts of acid cleaners in those salts, which are the chemicals that can destroy the zeolite,”

When asked if the shape and delivery system of the salt changes the efficacy of the product, he again cites purity as the reason behind his answer.

Consider what were to happen if you squeezed a handful of salt. When you open your hand, the salt would spill out, still granulated. Now you have to ask – how are pellets and blocks created?

“They put a bonding agent in the salt to form the pellets and blocks,” Kirk says. “That’s essentially glue, which is just more impurities being added to the salt.”

While resin softeners may not be negatively impacted by the adhesive agent used to form the pellets, Water-Right maintains that pure Solar Salt is the safest option.

“As a company, we want people to use extra coarse solar salt because it is readily available and we’d rather not ‘muddy the water,’ so to speak, with additives.”

Additionally, block salt requires time and a significant amount of water to dissolve enough to treat the water you’d like to use. Granulated Solar Salt is more easily soluble, and is delivered ready to treat your water. If you prefer or require block salt for any reason, be sure to contact your dealer to ensure that your softener is programmed to account for the slower process.

Direct to Your Door, Salt Delivery and Monitoring Services

We expect the best from your system, so if you are concerned about the performance of your system, if you are worried that salt has been incorrectly applied to your system, or if you have any questions at all, contact your Water-Right expert! We are here to help.

Your local water treatment dealer will also be able to answer any questions you may have about salt delivery services. Many of these dealers who sell Water-Right, Evolve, and WaterCare systems will be able to deliver Solar Salt directly to you, and will even refill your brine tank for you regularly.

This could save you the hassle of hauling and applying between 15 and 80 pounds of salt each month, depending on how mineralized your water is.

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The Water-Right salt monitor

Your system will hold between 3 and 4 hundred pounds of salt at a time. This means your system will only require this service a few times every year.
As infrequent as it is, it is still convenient to know that your dealer has it all covered. And if you opt to handle it all yourself, WaterCare and Evolve now have several options with an intuitive salt monitor, alerting you when your brine tank is low and ensuring you’ll never forget to refill. Ask your dealer if your current system can be equipped with this patented monitor and be sure you are always in-the-know about your home’s water supply!

  • Impression Series®and Sanitizer® Products
  • WaterCare®Products
  • Evolve®Products