With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment space, Mark Nelson is a Class 1 Drinking-Water Operator and a CBWA (Canadian Bottled Water Association) Certified Plant Operator. As founder and president of Nelson Water in Ottawa, Mark focuses on dealing with challenging water treatment system designs for problem water. He also heads the largest water bottling plant in the city of Ottawa with a delivery network throughout the Valley.

New water softener owners and some people that have owned or used one for a short time may be confused by how much salt they need to add. The water softener relies on water softening salt to make the ion-exchange process. This salt is added to the brine tank, and the brine solution is flushed through the resin media by the regeneration cycle. In this article, we will take a closer look at how water softeners work and how much salt needs to be added to make them work efficiently.

How Much Salt is Needed?

This is a common question, the water softening salt is added to the brine tank and this is located next to the resin media tank where the ion-exchange takes place. If too much or too little salt is added to the brine tank this will impair the performance and efficiency.  To keep the water softener working at optimal efficiency, there are three simple rules to follow:

  1. The brine tank should be kept at least ¼ full of water softening salt at all times.
  2. The salt should not exceed a distance of 4-6” below the top of the tank.
  3. The salt level should be a few inches above the water level in the brine tank.

How to Add Salt to the Brine Tank

This may seem like a simple process, but there are four simple tips to follow when you add water softener salt to the brine tank:

  1. Before any fresh salt is added to the brine tank, it’s important to loosen or break up the remaining salt in the tank. The best way to do this is to use a long blunt object such as a broom handle to carefully break the salt up.
  2. Any encrusted salt on the sides of the tank should be loosened and broken up. These pieces of salt will fall to the bottom of the tank, and larger pieces can be broken apart.
  3. If a salt bridge has formed, it can prevent the fresh salt from reaching the water to make the brine solution. This hard salt formation should be broken up with the broom handle. This can be tricky; if the salt is too hard, pour hot water on it, and it will soften up.
  4. Only add proper water softener salt to the brine tank. There are two main options: sodium chloride or potassium chloride. Regular table salt is not sufficiently pure to use in a water softener, and the small grains will dissolve too fast to work properly. Investing in good quality water softener salt is a great way to facilitate efficient softening and to extend the lifespan of your system.

How Much Salt Should a Water Softener Consume?

There are three key factors that will determine how much water softener salt your system will consume:

  1. The Volume of Water Used: Every home uses different volumes of water, and the more water that your home uses, the more water softener salt you will need. This is why homes that have more occupants tend to go through more water softener salt.
  2. The Water Hardness: The water hardness will vary depending on a number of factors, and harder water requires more frequent regeneration cycles.
  3. The Brine Tank Size: If you have a larger brine tank, you won’t need to fill it with salt as often as you would with a small tank. Again, this is a variable, and the water consumption will be a determining factor.

You should check the water softener salt level in the brine tank at least once each month to evaluate the need for more salt.

How Does an Ion-Exchange Water Softener Work?

There are few water softener processes, but the most reliable systems use an ion-exchange process to make the water soft and easier to use. These systems have a pair of tanks, one holds the resin media beads, and the other contains a brine solution. The incoming water passes through the resin media, and the beads have a negative ion charge because they are coated with salt. The mineral ions in the hard water have a positive charge, and they are attracted to the resin media. As the mineral ions come into contact with the resin surface, an ion-exchange takes place, and the salt ions are added to the water. This occurs on a minuscule scale, but salt is softer, and this softens the water leaving the mineral ions behind.

Why Does a Water Softener Need to Regenerate?

As the surface of the resin media beads becomes coated with mineral ions, the efficiency diminishes. There needs to be a negative ion charge to attract the incoming positively charged mineral ions. To deal with this problem, the water softener initiates a regeneration cycle to clean the surface of the beads and add a fresh layer of negatively charged salt ions. A brine solution from the brine tank is flushed into the resin tank, and the mineral ions are directed into the drain. The water softener is then ready to soften water again, and this cyclical process continues as long as salt is added to the brine tank.

When Does the Water Softener Regenerate?

Older water softeners use a timer initiated system that regenerates at a pre-programmed day and time. Newer systems use a demand initiated system that runs the regeneration process when a set volume of water has been used. Of the two, the latter is more efficient, and a basic timer tends to waste more water. Both systems are controlled via the control valve, which has simple controls to set the regeneration. But, if you are making major changes in the home, it’s a good idea to contact your local water treatment specialist to optimize the system for you. The regeneration cycle is usually initiated at night when the need for soft water is lessened. For the duration of the regeneration, the system is placed into a bypass mode, and users that are not asleep will experience hard water.

If you want to install a water softener in your home or you need to schedule some essential annual maintenance, contact your local water treatment specialist today.