New water softener….salt or potassium chloride?
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at
2:15 PM
I bought a new water softener for my new house. I was told by the installer to only use potassium chloride and not salt. He said that salt will ruin the pipes. Is this true? Can I use salt? The reason I ask is because where I live the potassium chloride costs about 3 times as much as the salt.
Tagged with: New House • New Water • Pipes • Potassium Chloride • Reason • Water Softener Salt
Filed under: Water
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There is very little effect on modern plumbing systems by either sodium chloride (salt) or potassium chloride, though exposed steel is somewhat more susceptible to sodium. If the dissolved solids in the water were very high before installing the conditioner, sodium can cause an adverse reaction to the anode rod in older water heaters, causing an intermittent black residue. Other than that, they both will exchange ions on the resin bed of your system.
There are benefits to using potassium chloride.
It is more environmentally friendly.
It provides a fuller soap lather and cleaner, brighter, fluffier laundry..
The backwash can be captured and used to water lawns and gardens. because potassium is a nutrient..
The biggest difference is the fact that residual amounts of either one you choose will be left in the water after the exchange process.
There have been studies that show we could use more potassium in our diets, helping to lower the risk of stroke and high blood pressure. The amount of salt left should not be a problem unless you have other risk factors but, simply put, potassium is healthier
The benefits of sodium chloride are less maintenance to the brine tank, and the tank will stay cleaner
Some skin sensitivities and (minor) skin problems can be alleviated by the excess sodium. (Some major ones can be alleviated just from bathing in conditioned water)
The system will remove small amounts of iron no matter which product you choose, but there are additives in some higher priced salts that will prevent iron build up on the resin.
Higher amounts of iron require a prefilter.
Cubes are preferred over crystals and pellets because there is less chance of bridging (crystals) and mushing (pellets). Mush can ruin the valves on some systems, and works less effectively during the ion exchange process
The one you choose is simply a matter of personal preference and cost benefit.
**************EDIT***********
For those below who think it is a misconception that salt is left in your system after the ion exchange process, get a salinity tester.
There is enough left in some perfecly functioning systems to meet the daily value of sodium after drinking 2 8oz glasses of water. Since the residual sodium binds with disolved solid particles less than 5 microns, it is almost tasteless.
We did maintenance on a unit for a dentist who said his unit retained enough residual sodium to lessen some gum diseases. Some systems even use a small after filter purely for sodium.
The plumbing that may be damaged or have a shorter life span (allbeit after very long exposure) include the stops for the supplies to fixtures, steel seats in faucets, solenoid valves in your appliances and exposed metal in your wahing machine, among others.
The only system that will remove 99.9 of the processed salt is an expensive United Standard Hydroquad. We installed a larger version of these high priced systems in touchless car washes to keep salt from damaging car finishes. I installed and maintained conditioning systems for over 15 years, including Rainsoft, Sears, United Standard.and others.
By all means, read the instructions and do the reasearch to find what will best suit your needs. Both sodium and potassium will work. Only you can decide which is best to suit your needs and budget.
We've been using solar salt for many years with no problems. But ask them what their reasons are besides ruined pipes. If the pipes are plastic then salt can't hurt! Good Luck!!
you wrote>> New water softener….salt or potassium chloride?
I bought a new water softener for my new house. I was told by the installer to only use potassium chloride and not salt. He said that salt will ruin the pipes. Is this true? Can I use salt? The reason I ask is because where I live the potassium chloride costs about 3 times as much as the salt.
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Awnser:
You can use Salt, but Potassium Chloride works better[:
Also, the salt takes a long time to hurt you're pipes.
No worries.
He is not correct.
I really suggest Morton pellet salt.
Don't use crystal salt. It is known to 'bridge' in the brine tank.
If you live in a high iron area, Morton has softner salt that will treat water that has a high iron content.
Potassium Chloride, we used it because it's it's rid of impurities in the water especially if the water is not treated with chloride. We were never told about the pipes being ruined by the salt, but you will notice the difference in your laundry ,your whites will not be as white as before ,this is another plus if you use the potassium chloride.
the salt used in a water softner is for rinsing the medium in the cylinder that actually softens the water , so the only pipe that the salt would come in contact too is the discharge tubing from the back of the softener unit to the nearest drain . This is usually an opaque or clear plastic tubing .The unit uses the brine from the salt tank to cleanse the medium in the cylinder , than the sysytem goes through a backwash and rinses all the brine out of the medium and than goes back into service mode . if you ever taste salt in your softened water something is not working properly . It is a big misconception about salt in the water after having a softener installed .always go with what the manufacturer recommends in the paper work that came with the unit .ask the installer for the paper work if they failed to leave it after the install.
wicket35 gets my vote - start from the beginning… your water softener has a large cylinder that looks like a big air cylinder but it actually filled with resin beads. Water that comes into your house goes thru the cylinder with the beads - the extra elements that make the water hard (lime / iron - etc) are attracted to the resin beads and they stick to them as the water passes thru. Your water softener or filtration system may have additional filters inline to remove other impurities but your water softener is there to remove these hard elements/compounds from the water.
They are now stuck to the resin beads, after the beads attract so much of the hardness they lose their ability to retain any more from the incoming water. That is where the water softener purge cycle comes in…you set it to the waters hardness level ( usually you send out a sample and they will tell you what to set your softener too or the previous residents will have it set already).when you set up the unit you tell it when to purge or cycle. When it becomes active it directs water into the tank where you have your salt or potassium chloride crystals/pellets etc. It sits there for a few minutes so it becomes salt water - then the water softener pumps this salt water into the cylinder with the resin beads where it sits for a while - the resin beads are not surrounded by salt water for a period of time… as the salt water begins to react with the resin beads it causes the hard water elements to be removed or cleaned off of the beads - then the water softener cycle removes the salt water that is now dirty hard salt water - this water is usually dumped into your sewer or septic tank - the water softener may do this a few times as part of the cycle. End result is that the resin beads have now been cleaned off and they can now begin to remove the hardness from the water again…this cycle is repeated over and over again - if you don't put the salt or potassium chloride into the tank the resin beads won't be cleaned and hard water will begin to flow thru your pipes in your house… the salt from the water softener is discharged into your sewer or septic tank or wherever you have the discharge hose connected to but it doesn't release it into the water pipes in your house. For example my water softener is in the laundry room, the discharge pipe goes down to the sewer down the same pipe that my washing machine discharges it's water down. Hope it helps…
This world has as bunch of experts in it. I get my water softener stuff from the Hardware store or Lowes. In fact potassium chloride might be pretty hard to find. My softener has been around for a dozen years going strong. What pipes are you going to ruin. It won't be the copper pipes or the plastic pipes in your water system. Is he talking about the pipes in your softener?
SALT is just as good and does the job,and no salt will not damage your water pipes,what will damage the water pipes is bad water such as rust and sulfur.
no
i have always heard using salt so that is what i would do.
Potassium Chloride is salt, often used to melt snow. I am assuming that he told you not to use Sodium Chloride, the type of salt you put on your food.
Sodium Chloride is more reactive, but I don't know the effect on pipes. I know that Potassium chloride does a real number on cars during the winter, but cars from the sea coast can have worse corrosion. Sea salt is mostly sodium chloride.
I can tell you that a burst pipe can be very expensive, especially if it goes while you are not home. You can lose a lot of irreplaceable stuff. I can also tell you that the cost of replacing copper pipes in a building can run into the $10,000+. So I guess you need to figure is it worth the cost?