The Salty Spot

We get asked all the time, "how much salt do we need in our brine tank?" We tell customers, generally, to maintain the salt level between 20%-80% full (That's the sweet, or "salty" spot). The softener will still do its job with 2% salt but there's no need to risk it running out. Also, generally, you can fill the brine tank all the way up to the brim, as much as you can fit in there, with one exception. In humid environments, salt is more likely to brick up, or bridge, when it's completely full. Therefore, leaving 20% of empty space (filling it 80% full) is an easy way to make this less likely to happen.

"What is the salt for?" is a question we get asked quite a bit, as well. Salt is used in the regeneration brine draw cycle to clean the media inside the water softener tank. The sodium ions bond to the media, ultimately knocking the calcium and magnesium off of the media before it's rinsed off the media and out the drain. For more information on water softeners, see our Water Softeners page. For more information on hard water, see our Hardness page

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