What Kind of Salt Is Best For My Water Softener?

Table salt is delicious on French fries and tortilla chips, but you’ll need a different type when it’s time to top up your water softener. Find out what kind of salt is best for your water softener — you may be surprised.

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From rock salt to potassium chloride and beyond, several types of salts are available to improve water quality.

What Are the Different Kinds of Salt Pellets Available?

Here are some of the most common kinds of salt available for water softeners:

• Rock salt: Perhaps the most common type of water softener salt, rock salt looks like coarse crystals. It’s sold in close to its natural state, which makes the product more affordable. But it also reduces quality due to impurities, such as other minerals, embedded in the salt.

• Potassium chloride: This traditional salt alternative is popular among individuals who can’t tolerate extra salt in their diet. Potassium chloride water softener is also an environmentally friendly option, since less sodium leaches back into the soil.

• Solar salt: When you use solar salt for your water softener, you’re actually using evaporated salt sourced from seawater. This natural evaporation process produces a relatively affordable product, but solar salt isn’t as effective if you have particularly hard water.

• Evaporated salt: Evaporated salt for water softeners is produced similarly to solar salt, except the salt water is intentionally heated to harvest salt crystals. This process results in a higher concentration of quality salt for impressive purity and minimal tank residue. You’ll likely pay more for the bump in quality, though.

• Block salt: It’s easy to spot this type of salt because it comes in one large brick, not pellets or rocks like other salt options. Block salt is less messy and offers low impurity at a reasonable cost. It also dissolves slowly, which can help prevent pesky salt bridges that cause clogs and require maintenance.

• Rust/iron removal salts: This is a specialty salt infused with sodium bisulfate to help prevent iron and rust buildup. This can be helpful if you’ve noticed a lot of iron or manganese in your water or rusty stains in your sink basins. Some iron-fighting compounds can be quite corrosive, so follow instructions carefully.

More Related Articles:

• How Much Does a Water Softener Cost?

• How to Know if Your Bathtub Has Hard Water

• Installing a Water Softener Isn’t So Hard: A 6-Step Guide

• How Much Do Home Water Filtration Systems Cost?

• How Do You Clean a Water Softener?

Why Does Choosing the Right Salt Matter?

Deciding what kind of salt to put in your water softener isn’t just a matter of picking the cheapest or fanciest. Using the right salt can help:

• Maintain or even improve water softener efficiency

• Prevent unnecessary wear and tear and costly maintenance

• Keep your water quality up to standard

What Kind of Salt Pellets Should I Put in My Water Softener?

If you’re choosing rock salt for your water softener simply because it’s readily available and budget-friendly, it may be time to rethink your approach. Rock salt has its uses, such as deicing your sidewalks in the winter. However, other options can be kinder to your tank and your home.

Before switching salts, review the manual for your water softener to see what type the manufacturer recommends. Also take note of any warnings and note the dimensions of your brine tank.

Consider:

• Rock salt if budgetary concerns outweigh your desire to avoid extra maintenance and potential water softener damage.

• Potassium chloride if you’re on a low-salt diet and/or you’re trying to make more eco-conscious decisions around the home.

• Solar salt if you’re okay spending a bit more on a high-purity product that minimizes residue and maximizes efficiency.

• Evaporated salt if you want the purest product available, even if it costs a bit more.

• Block salt if you tend to forget about refilling your tank and want a product that dissolves slowly. Block salt is also ideal if you’re concerned about salt bridge prevention. Some tanks aren’t big enough to accommodate block salt, so be sure to check your measurements.

• Iron/rust removal salt if you see evidence of iron contamination and/or rust stains. You can combine this salt with regular salt for higher efficacy, but read instructions thoroughly before mixing.

The bottom line is, the best salt for your water softener is the kind that suits your water softener and your budget. Just remember that any salt is better than no salt, and it’s never a good idea to mix multiple salts that dissolve at different rates.