Water softeners use salt but how do you know how much yours should use? Does it seem yours is using more salt than before? Can you adjust your water softener to use less salt? Why do other families use less salt in their water softener than you? In this blog post I’ll explain water softener salt usage and answer these questions for you.
In case you don’t know how water softeners work, check out my YouTube video first by clicking here.
Basically, within the softener, salt and water is used to make brine. The brine is used to recharge or regenerate the media beads. The more often your water softener regenerates, the more salt and water you use. The more water that is in the brine tank, the more salt it absorbs and then is used up during each regeneration.
So to make sure your water softener uses as little salt as possible, consider the following:
- High Efficiency water softeners, like AquaMaster and WaterBoss, use less salt per regeneration than Standard Efficiency water softeners.
- The harder your water is and the larger your family size, the more salt you’ll use but the correct hardness settings make sure your water is soft without wasting salt and water during the regeneration. Have the raw water tested for hardness, iron and manganese and put those settings into your water softener.
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Metered water softeners are critical to make sure you’re not regenerating your media too often, while maintaining soft water for your family. If your water softener is not metered, consider replacing it with a modern metered softener to use less salt.
- Make sure that there are no plumbing leaks because with any metered water softener, the more softened water you use, the more often it regenerates and the more salt and water is used for that regeneration. Because of all of the variables mentioned above it’s impossible to predict whether you’ll use 3 bags a year or 4 a month but to make sure you use as little as possible you can:
- Choose a metered, efficient water softener.
- Make sure you have no plumbing leaks.
- Have your raw water tested for hardness, iron and manganese and make sure your water softener settings are correct.
There you have it! Some great advice on how your water softener should be functioning for optimal performance, as well as tips on how to reduce the amount of salt being used in your home, cottage or cabin.
Have questions? Check out our YouTube channel for hundreds of DIY tips, tricks and maintenance videos. You can also reach out to us via our website here for help.
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