If you’ve thought about buying a water softener, you should know that there are various kinds that you can buy. But after you’ve chosen which brand will be best for you, there are still more judgments to be made. The most important one is what variety of salt you will use in the softener. This is what softens the water, and there are three different kinds you can use. These are: rock, solar, and evaporated salt. So, how do you know which one will work most suitable for you?
Does a salt-free water softener soften the water in your home? Well, not really. Technically it’s not softening it but conditioning it. Softeners that utilise salt extract minerals in your water that do it hard, like calcium and magnesium, and repairs it with something like sodium. This decreases the hardness making it softer.
salt for water softener is truly a water conditioner. It works with a calcium carbonate crystal structure that attracts excess dissolved hardness by pulling it to the crystal structure, making it more prominent. As the crystal structure rises, the flow of water and friction and transfer of additional hardness minerals against the crystal structure will create small pieces to break off and move with the water through the pipes.
Rock salt is a natural mineral that is located underground. This kind of rock can be seen in both crystal and rock form. Rock salt is made from frequently sodium chloride with a small amount of calcium sulphate as well. Although rock salt is the most affordable form of salt that you can purchase, it also demands the most support. This is because, due to its complex nature, it is not simply dissolved in water. Thus, the water softener tank needs to be cleaned much more regularly, which means more support for the homeowner.
Evaporated salt is usually the most selected type of salt for use. This salt is also located underground, but it is much more water solvent because it’s worked in its evaporated form. This means that the water tank won’t need to be cleaned almost as often. Evaporated salt is also involved in 100% sodium chloride, which works great in water softeners.
Solar salt falls in the centre of the three categories. Solar salt holds approximately 85% sodium chloride, so that the water will be receiving more of the salt solution with solar salt than rock salt but not as much as dried salt. Also, solar salt is a little more water-soluble than rock salt, meaning that the tank won’t need to be cleaned as often. But, because solar salt is not as water-soluble as evaporated salt, it still requires to be cleaned daily.
Some homeowners like to supplement the most suitable variety of salt, evaporated salt, and salt such as rock salt to keep costs. While this isn’t supposed to be very harmful to the water softener, it can make the softener jam much more quickly. This can cause some difficulties, and repairs may need to be made. Because of this, it’s usually great to use only one variety of salt in a water softener.
