Water conditioner salt

[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.