Water softener salt – what you might want to know

What kind of salt is used by water softeners, and why do they use salt? Keep on reading to find out!

1. What salt is used by water softeners?

Salt for water softeners is made from refined food grade salt. There are different types, but tablet salt is the most commonly used method. The other types of water softener salt are granular salt and block salt.

Tablet salt is commonly used because it is easily dissolved, it will not build up salt sediment in the brine tank, and it has a high purity, making it the best type of salt for water softeners.

To ensure the correct function of your water softener, it is very important to use the correct type of salt. A common myth is that water softeners accept all types of salt when this can damage your softener. All EcoWater water softeners use only tablet salt.

Tablet or pellet salt is compacted at high pressure and is either pillow shaped or like a humbug sweet. It is usually available in 10kg or 25kg bags.

2. Why do water softeners use salt?

Ion-exchange water softeners exchange the abrasive calcium and magnesium ions (limescale) found in hard water for harmless sodium ions.

This works as follows: mains water passes through a tank or resin beads, charged with sodium ions. These beads exchange electrically charged sodium ions for stronger calcium and magnesium ions.

Then, once the resin beads are exhausted, they are refreshed in a regeneration process. During regeneration, a concentrated sodium solution is washed through the resin beads, reversing the exchange process. This removes the calcium and magnesium ions – which are flushed to the drain.

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What’s in it for me?

Tablet salt has two major advantages over block salt:

• It is readily available from various outlets, in 10kg or 25kg bags.
• It generally only costs half as much as block salt.

This, among other things, is why all EcoWater softeners use tablet salt.