Salt for Water Softeners
Salt
A water softener using salt is probably the oldest green technology known to us. The process utilises nature’s way of balancing the natural environment.
What causes hard water?
Water hardness is caused by a high concentration of minerals in the water including calcium and magnesium. These get into the water when water peroclates through rocks and deposits of these elements.
How is water softened?
Calcium and magnesium are removed with the aid of sodium (salt), the most abundant mineral on earth. By eliminaing the calcium and magnesium, you are removing the content that causes limescale, which will save you money on cleaning products and not having to repair or replace appliances as often.
Salt Quality
The quality of salt used in a water softener is extremely important. There are many cheap imitations which do not take account of the impurites that might be in the salt. These impurities can cause blocked filters, salt sludge and, in some cases, damage to the softener itself. Always look for the purity of the salt on the packaging before you purchase it, or buy your salt from a water softener dealer so you can be sure of its quality.
Should we use salt tablets or salt blocks?
All softeners take salt tablets or salt blocks. Some very old softeners still use salt granules, but the industry steered away from them when they realised that granules can stick together in the way that frozen peas do, and this can cause something known as the “cave effect” where the salt is stuck to the sides of the softener cabinet and does not drop down into the water at the bottom when the salt below is dissolved.
What shapes of block salts are there?
There are now 2 different block salts shapes. Harvey invented the block of salt, a 4kg almost square block and more recently, Harvey’s has re-invented it by changing its size and shape in order to maximise the amount in the softener.
Our Stock
Modern water softeners use salt tablets or salt blocks. We stock Salt Tablets in 10kg and 25kg packaging. We always have Hydrosoft as it is the best UK brand available, and it is 99.96% pure salt. We are only interested in quality and have a number of brands that we can call on.
We stock Block Salt in 8kg packs from Kinetico and in the new Harvey Curve size.
We also stock Salt Granules in 10kg and 25kg packaging, which are suitable for older water softeners.
Types of Salt
We stock clean, white, sustainably sourced de-icing salt all year round, in 25kg packaging.
We supply this to all kinds of customers for a wide variety of uses, for example:
- smoking food
- breeding fish
- adding to water in portable toilets so that they don’t freeze
- weed and slug control
- and de-icing, of course!
We can also source spreading equipment, both small and large scale.
Collection and Delivery
Our salt is for sale on a collection basis. If you need it delivered, please purchase it from our online salt shop, thesaltman.com.
We use nationwide courier and pallet hauliers, as well as our own vehicles, to deliver salt but we do not deliver to a deadline, so if your need is urgent, we always advise that you collect.
