17 September 2017

How often do you add salt to a water softener?

Maintaining a water softener isn’t too difficult. If you check the salt levels once or twice a month, you will generally be in good shape.

The level of salt should be three to four inches above the water level in the brine tank or if you don’t see water levels, the salt should be above halfway full mark in your tank. You will likely need to add one full 40 lb. bag of salt to your water softener per month (on average), to keep your salt at an adequate level.

Our salt level recommendations are based on generalities. Your salt consumption will depend on the level of water hardness (minerals in your water) and the amount of water your household consumes. The average family of four with hard water (7-10 grains per gallon hardness level) will use about one 40-lb bag of salt each month. Hardness levels above 10 grains per gallon or more, might require more salt.  According to our own research, a households usually purchase around twelve bags of water softener salt per year – or one bag per month.

If your water softener runs out of salt due to not checking it for a long period of time, no immediate harm will occur. You simply won’t have soft water for a while. Actually, if you fill your tank with salt, it will still take a few days to regain soft water throughout your house as it can take more than one regeneration cycle to get things back to normal