Water conditioner salt

[bczoom]

As expected, after several years of using salt pellets, I now have about an 80# block of salt in the bottom of my brine tank where the pellets got together and solidified.

My owners manual says I should use blocks of salt so I'm going to try that path.

A couple questions.
1. What's a good way to dispose of the salt? If I put it out for the deer, would they go for it?
2. When going to blocks, do I just stack them up?

Thanks
Brian

 

[Junkman]

Just break up the salt at the bottom of the brine tank and reuse it.... no need to waste good salt. I don't think it would be healthy for the deer to lick it, because there might be some chemicals in it for water softener use that are not digestable.....

 

[thcri]

Don't know what happened to my post around noon today but I agree with Junkman. Just break up that old stuff and use it. It should work yet. No sense of throwing the old stuff away.

murph

 

[anthonyk]

I'm an engineer with a water purification company. I would recommend that you do not use blocks of salt. The old salt in the brine tank is still good. You can pour a couple of gallons of water over it and it will dissolve and be sucked up during regeneration of the system.
Do you live in a high humidity area? If you do, that's the culprit.
Salt, in high humidity, tends to bridge up. That's not a problem, as I said. Just pour some water over it till it's all used up, then refill the cabinet.

good luck,

anthony

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm an engineer with a water purification company. I would recommend that you do not use blocks of salt.)</font>

May I ask why? When I bought the conditioner years ago, they included a few bags of pellets. I had the manual out a couple weeks ago (a different TBN thread) and ran across where it said to use blocks to avoid the problem of the solidification at the bottom which they said hinders performance (or something like that).

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Do you live in a high humidity area? If you do, that's the culprit.
Salt, in high humidity, tends to bridge up. That's not a problem, as I said. Just pour some water over it till it's all used up, then refill the cabinet.)</font>

Isn't the salt in the bottom of the tank constantly underwater? My tank always has about 18-24" of water in it.
All the salt except the bottom 6-8" is still in a pellet or powder form. The bottom 6-8" is like a rock.

Junk & Murph - Thanks for the responses, but... I got them about 2 hours after I dug the salt out. Since it was so hard and deep in the tank, I used a shovel (still dirty) to dig it out. It's in 5 gallon buckets now. Any recommendations on how to dispose? Can I just dump in the woods somewhere or should I bury or ???

Thanks
Brian

 

[RobertN]

This is from my particular expierience over the last ten years with a softener.

Don't put a lot of salt in the brine tank. It will tend to compact at the bottom. I used to think, just fill 'er up! Now, I put it in 40 lbs at a time. If I forget and it gets really low, I will add 80lbs, but that's it.

I clean the tank yearly, and fill it with fresh salt. I start it with 80lbs of salt. That yearly cleaning helps keep things from building up a lot.

The Rain Soft folks I have dealt with advised using coarse "solar salt", even over pellets. They indicated it has less tendancy to pack.

I have used blocks of salt. I got away from them mostly because of trying to lower that weight in to the tank... I was told they are fine to use. But... you have to get plain salt blocks. Apparently some salt licks have other stuff in them, which you do not want in your softener.

Best bet for the old salt since you got it dirty, is the trash. If you put it out in the yard or woods, it will kill anything right by it(plants)...

 

[anthonyk]

2 reasons I don't recommend blocks:
First---They're heavy and hard to lower into the tank. Sometimes people drop them in and damage the grid at the botton.
Secondly, they don't often dissolve as easily. I mean, think about it, if you're having problems with dissolving a large chunk of salt in the bottom of the tank now, how can adding another large chunk be good?
As for the water level, it should be set at the proper height to dissolve the proper amount of salt. Don't know what type of system you've got, but ours typically only have about 3 inches of water at the very bottom and cannot be seen unless you're about out of salt. I think you may be using too much salt with 18 inches of water.

Anthony

 

[bczoom]

Yep, they are heavy to "set" into place... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Looking at your response, it raises mixed thoughts so I'm getting confused (sorry, not hard to do...).

"If the water level is to be set at a particular height for the proper amount of salt to dissolve". If mine has let's say water at 18" but the bottom 9" is solid due to solidification of the pellets, aren't I running at 50%? With the blocks, there's water to the bottom of the tank at all times.

The system is a RainSoft. The little computer says how much salt is used and if I recall correctly, it's about 3 pounds.

Just thought of something. My tank has no water in it now. Should I put some in or will it fill appropriately on the first regeneration?

Just got the manual out. Here's what it says about the salt:
Fill salt container with white/plain block salt, if available (preferably, one labeled for use in Water Softeners). Use a belt or a salt strap available from the manufacturer t, to lower blocks into the salt container. CAUTION: DO NOT DROP BLOCKS. If block salt is not available, a clean rock salt such as Extra Course Solar Salt -- may be used. DO NOT USE compressed granulated salt products such as "pellets, "Ovals", "cubes" or Nuggets", as they will loose their shape anc sompress into a solid mass. Do not use granulated or flake salt.

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Don't put a lot of salt in the brine tank. It will tend to compact at the bottom. I used to think, just fill 'er up! Now, I put it in 40 lbs at a time. If I forget and it gets really low, I will add 80lbs, but that's it.

I clean the tank yearly, and fill it with fresh salt. I start it with 80lbs of salt. That yearly cleaning helps keep things from building up a lot.

The Rain Soft folks I have dealt with advised using coarse "solar salt", even over pellets. They indicated it has less tendancy to pack.

I have used blocks of salt. I got away from them mostly because of trying to lower that weight in to the tank... I was told they are fine to use. But... you have to get plain salt blocks. Apparently some salt licks have other stuff in them, which you do not want in your softener.

Best bet for the old salt since you got it dirty, is the trash. If you put it out in the yard or woods, it will kill anything right by it(plants)... )</font>

Sounds like you and I do about the same with adding salt (although I haven't cleaned mine yearly).

We may also have the same Rainsoft system.

Hmmmm. Salt will kill plants. I have a nice patch of poison ivy I was about to hit with chemicals. Think I should spread the salt instead?

 

[anthonyk]

okay, you've definitely got a wrong setting somewhere in the Rainsoft. I've tried to avoid sounding like I'm endorsing any particular equipment, but that's who I work for. I can tell you that you should NOT be seeing 18 inches of water.
Contact your dealer. They will be able to probably talk you right through the simple programming that sets the amount of water dispensed on the refill mode. That will limit the amount of salt that gets dissolved. It may also help with the solidifying problem. You may have too MUCH water dissolving too much salt. You are correct about the amount. Should be about 3 lbs, one of the benefits of a rainsoft over a cheaper system which uses 12 to 18 and means loading a LOT of salt.
If you can't get help from your dealer, let me know, I'll see if I can put you in touch with our service guys by phone and they can talk you through it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

anthony

 

[anthonyk]

by the way, the easiest way of adding salt is just buy the 40 lb bag, set it on the edge of the tank, and cut the bottom of the bag. It'll pour right in, and you won't be supporting the weight of the bag! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

anthony

 

[bczoom]

Anthony,

Thanks for all the info. Want to follow up with you on a couple things.
Do I need to add water initially (no water in it now).
What are your thoughts about my manual? It says to use the blocks. Now what?
I can go start a manual generation to check/confirm the water level. At what point should I measure? The mention of 18" or so was when I was checking during the day. Do I assume correctly that the measurement is in gallons, not a height? If so, was all that salt packed into the bottom affecting my reading?

I do use that approach for dumping pellets into the tank.

BTW - Want my salt to kill your poison ivy?

Brian

 

[RobertN]

If you put the salt on the poison ivy, remember nothing else will grow there either...

 

[anthonyk]

ha! you guys, I'm still laughing about the salt on the poison ivy.
In answer to your question, your rainsoft uses something called "proportional brining" which means it keeps track of the amount of water usage, and thus hardness collected, and dissolves the correct amount of salt by adding a specific amount of water. Actually, the last step of the regeneration process is to add just enough water into the salt tank section so as to be ready when it's needed. So that water will be sitting there for days, until it's called for. The computer then checks how much it needs and withdraws that amount. You should never have 20 inches of water in the tank.
As for the salt, ignore the manual. It was probably originally created in 1970, and certain text is just carried over.
Use the salt pellets. Use only a bag or so at a time. You should go through about one 40lb bag per month. Don't fill it up to the top.
Just buy the cheapest salt they carry at home depot, it's all about 99.9 percent pure. You don't need any "iron out" type salts or "solar" salt unless you have a specific iron problem.
Well, gotta go to work.
I'll check the forum later.
anthony

 

[bczoom]

OK, I'll pull the blocks today and give to the deer.

Do I need to put any water in the tank?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you put the salt on the poison ivy, remember nothing else will grow there either... )</font>

That's fine. It's in the woods but near where the kids would go (or I went and got it on my arm).

 

[George2615]

For years I have had a water softener both at home and also at my job. I have always used water softener crystals (like rock salt you put on your walks but made for softeners). I tried pellets in the beginning and ended up with mush in the bottom. seems like it doesn't all dissolve. My water treatment guy recommended solar salt or crystal tip salt. I've used it for over 10 years at home and about 15 years at work without any buildup in the bottom of the tank. (40# bags at home, 50# at work.

 

[Inspector507]

<font color="blue"> You should never have 20 inches of water in the tank. </font>

In some softners there is a float valve. If there is too much water in the softner, it shuts it down completely and will not draw brine into the media tank. Happened in my iron filter, which is basically a softner with different media in the tank.

 

[anthonyk]

These posts are all correct to a degree. There used to be an advantage to solar salt because it had less impurities. Used to be that rock salt had clay and other impurities that left a buildup.
These days, even the cheapest is about 99.9% pure.
As for adding water, I would say yes.
Just make sure you've got at least a couple of inches down at the bottom, probably 2 or 3 gallons max. That way when it does regen, it'll have brine to draw. You should let the water sit for at least a couple of hours before you manually regenerate the unit.
Also, your Rainsoft does not have a float valve. Some systems do, as stated, but this one does not. It controls the water level through the microprocessor.

Anthony

 

[ByronBob]

Brian,

FWIW to you, I just take a broom handle and tap the salt at the bottom loose and stir it up until it's free again and add more pellets. The system works fine this way and I think the solidification is just a byproduct of what were doing with it.
My system has between 6 and 12 inches of water in it also.
During the regeneration process the system adds water and takes water out of the tank. This goes into the granular cylindrical tank during filteration.
You don't have anything out of the ordinary going on.