How much salt is a water softener supposed to use??

[hockeybc69]

I dont know if its just me or what, but I sure seem to be dumping bags of salt in the brine tank an awful lot the last several months.

I dont recall having to add this often over the years.

Its set to cycle every other day if I am looking at it right.

Whats an expected usage on average? What details do I need to post in order to get an idea of what it should be doing?

[walleyehunter80]

in my 3 person 2 bedroom household witha 50 gallon water heater, dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, 1 washing machine and just 1 shower/tub I use between 20-25 50lb bags a year, so less than 3 a month. my brine tank holds between 7 and 8 bags.

hope this helps

[CAMAN]

You may need to give the machine a thorough cleaning. Is it trying to flush itself constantly?

I fill mine with 60-80 lbs every 2-3 months. I use nothing but Morton System Saver pellets. Seems to last alot longer than the cheap stuff. In the long run it's cheaper to go with the expensive stuff.

[Macgyver55]

Its set to cycle every other day if I am looking at it right.

Whats an expected usage on average? What details do I need to post in order to get an idea of what it should be doing?

In order to properly set your softener, you need to know the hardness of your water, the amount of water useage (an average based on how many people live in the home) and what size your softener is. Every other day seems rather high unless you have a large family, fairly hard water or an undersized softener.

[MNice]

I agree 100%. We need more info on your water. City, well, hardness, how many in your family. When I lived South of New Prague, we raised 3 daughters. Minimum shower time was I swear 30 minutes

[Kyhl]

CAMAN, I'm also in Savage and use less salt. Are you on city water? How old is your water softener and how much water do you use?

Granted we are DI NKS and only use about 2,500 gallons a month (a front loading washer makes a big difference). We had our city water tested and it's fairly hard but not that hard. Our softener is set to recycle every 750 gallons, or about three times a month. We do have a big softener. Buy the softener for the house not the current usage.

Sorry, back on track, that comes out to about four 40lb bags of salt a year. To make a long post longer, we need more info. As stated, how much water is used, how hard is the water, and how big is the softener all comes into play.

[hockeybc69]

Water is actually quite "good". We built this house in 2001. I had Commers out to do a water test, because they were bugging all the new homes being built. They checked and I remember him saying the water was quite good.

When I saw their bid for a softener I went elsewhere. My dad had a couple friends that did softener installs on the side for 20+ years.

Without knowing the size of it offhand, I am going to assume they "sized it righ".

It is a well.

2 adults, a 14 year old and 9 year old. So a very average family useage for sure.

I have always used the expensive stuff. Never once have I put in rock salt or solar salt.

[BobT]

Different softeners use salt more efficiently too. I installed my Waterboss and was amazed at the savings in salt. Our water hardness is over 30ppm with very little iron but I like to use the iron pellets anyway. I too have found that the Mortaon System Saver pellets last the longest and the water softener does a better job. We do laundry, dishwasher, household of four. I've been keeping track for the past two years and it has been averaging a little less than 40lbs. of salt per month.

[Craigums]

Ok guys this is one topic that I've definately got covered.

Many of the replies here are spot on, Plain and simple we need more information specifically:

1: How much hardness is in your water?

2: How much ferrous iron is in your water?

3: What is the capacity of your water softener?

4: What type of softener is it (demand or solid state)?

That being said most solid state systems have gone by the way side (except in special applications) due to high efficiency models that can function at differant salt doses and only recharge when needed.

My general line to people who don't have any information is about 1-2 40lb bags a month. Although I may be over shooting a little bit to save face. I have a 30,000 grain system in my home with 4 people (although we only use about 200 gallons a day), 18 gpg, no iron, and I use just under 40lbs a month.

Hockeybc69 - What brand/model softener do you have and how long has it been installed? if you need your water tested send me an email I could probably help you out.

[Tom7227]

Once you get the data and find out that the thing is kaflooey go to this place and learn the DIY on tuning them up

http://www.kenmorewater.com/HSOforum/animations/product-animation/ts_index.html

[LightningBG]

Its set to cycle every other day if I am looking at it right.

There are only 2 people in our house, but we set ours to cycle once a week.

If you dont want to go as far as testing, you could notch down the cycle schedule and see if you notice any adverse affects on the water quality.

[hockeybc69]

I will get the model and more specific info when I get home.

I seem to be going through at least 4 bags a month. And it sure doesnt seem like too many years ago, I wasnt buying salt all that often.

More specific data to come this evening after work.

Thanks

Great info so far.

PS - I will see if possibly I have the water results stuffed in my home owners info pile in the closet.

[Billy_Burbout]

my problem was the other way. it wasnt going through the salt like it use to do. thought about it for awhile and figured out that the problem all started around the time we had some goofy power issues in the middle of the night. the power would turn on, then off quick and this happened several times. called "the man" and he said he i wasnt the only one that it happened to during the power deal. he had me just reset the numbers on my unit and now it works great.

[CAMAN]

CAMAN, I'm also in Savage and use less salt. Are you on city water? How old is your water softener and how much water do you use?

Granted we are DI NKS and only use about 2,500 gallons a month (a front loading washer makes a big difference). We had our city water tested and it's fairly hard but not that hard. Our softener is set to recycle every 750 gallons, or about three times a month. We do have a big softener. Buy the softener for the house not the current usage.

Sorry, back on track, that comes out to about four 40lb bags of salt a year. To make a long post longer, we need more info. As stated, how much water is used, how hard is the water, and how big is the softener all comes into play.

Yes we are on city water, the softener is about 3 years old with 3 sometimes 4 adults under the roof. Don't remember the number of gallons we use but the softener is set to a mandatory regeneration every Wednesday night and will also regenerate at night if usage spikes. It seems to work better that way. I check it once a year to make sure nothing has changed and it has always been around a hardness was 18, so not too bad but it was noticable when the old 15 year old softener went out. I could have been over estimating the salt usage in my previous post, it's hard to remember the exact length of time between refills so it could be 60-80lbs every 4-5 months, I should write it down to see the exact usage. I just check it once in a while and refill when I notice it getting low.

[Craigums]

Just for fun...

-1 cubic foot of resin ~ 33,000 grains of capacity.

-Average person uses roughly 75 gallons of water/day.

-Even the least efficient of the water softeners out there shouldn't be using much more than 12 lbs of salt per cubic foot to recharge.

So you can do a very primitive calculation here to see how much salt you should be using. I'll use my home as an example:

-I have 18gpg hardness in my water.

-A 30,000 grain softener.

-Use 150 gallons of water per day.

18gpg x 150 gallons a day = 2,700 grains of capacity per day.

30,000 total capacity / 2,700 capacity per day = 11.1 <--days between rechages

Calculates to about 3 recharges a month @ 12lb salt dose = roughly 36lbs of salt per month.

*That calculation will get you in the ball park, but keep in mind any good softener these days will recharge more often and at lower salt doses as most of them are demand systems.

[hockeybc69]

Craigums,

Do you have some system thats monitored and runs when needed??

Or do you have yours set to run that seldom based on the calculations?

[Craigums]

I've got a demand system. My system actually recharges about every 4 days but at a much lower salt dose. I just threw that formula up there do give you a general idea of how much salt you could expect to use.

I work in technical support for a company that makes water treatment products so I deal with the stuff every day.

[hockeybc69]

I didnt find any info on the unit other than serial number and model number.

No info regarding size or capacity. [PoorWordUsage].

I dumped in another 80 lbs just now.

Maybe I need to fill it to the brim and put a stopwatch on it to see how fast it empties.

I am cornfused.... (not a typo)