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. 

When you have a water softener installed in your home, you can quickly understand how much it can improve your quality of life. As a water softener owner, there are some tasks that need to be carried out, and one of these is refilling the salt in your brine tank. This may seem like a simple enough task; just go to the store and buy some salt. In reality, this can be confusing, there are so many choices available, such as crystals, pellets, rocks, blocks and table salt, how do you know which one you need? Let’s take a look at this issue in more detail so you can get the best salt for your brine tank.

Don’t Buy Generic Salt

This is the first tip and possibly the most important when buying salt for your water softener. Always buy a salt product that is specifically designed for use in a water softener. Don’t ever be tempted to use de-icing or table salt as these are not fit for the purpose.

Salt vs. Potassium Chloride

A water softener or conditioner works effectively with either softener salt or softener potassium chloride. Both are types of salt, and they are designed to work in a water softener. There are some things that you need to know about these two options.

There are some salt pellets available at stores that contain high levels of water insoluble matter and have impurities. This material can build up in your water softener reservoir and even cause a malfunction. If you decide to use these water softening salt pellets, keep an eye on your brine tank. If you do notice any build up, you may need to clean your brine tank more often to keep it clean and ready for use. For this reason, it’s a good idea to shop for softening salt that has a high purity level, and this is indicated on the label.

A Closer Look at Salt (sodium chloride)

Salt usually comes in three different forms, they are: pellet, crystal and block salt. The salt pellets are the most common and least expensive option; they are usually evaporated or solar salt pellets.

Evaporated salt pellets have a very high purity rate, this makes them more expensive, but they are far less likely to cause bridging, mushing and insoluble buildup in the tank.

A solar salt pellet can be a pellet or crystal salt that is made from evaporated sea water, and it is not as pure as evaporated salt.

Rock salt looks like pebbles or small rocks, it’s cheaper to purchase, but it contains high quantities of calcium sulfate that doesn’t dissolve well in water.

Block salt should only be used if your local water treatment specialist recommends its use. The blocks have to be entirely submerged to ensure that brine formation occurs.

A Closer Look at Potassium Chloride

This can be used in your brine tank as an alternative to the sodium chloride (salt) options shown above. This is a good option for people on a low sodium intake diet because it’s 99.9% sodium free. Potassium chloride pellets are typically more expensive than other products, and they may be harder to source. If you decide to switch from salt to potassium chloride the program settings on your water softener control valve may need to be increased by 10%. This will ensure that the resin regeneration cycle works correctly.