We’ve all let our salt tank run out of salt.  It happens from time to time.  For the most part, it’s okay.  What happens to your water softener and water when you run out of salt?  Does it ruin your water softener?  What will my water be like?

If your water softener runs out of salt, you may get hard water.  It depends if your water softener tried to make soft water without any salt in the salt tank.  When your salt tank runs out of salt, the water softener isn’t intelligent enough to know if there is or isn’t salt in the salt tank.  So the water softener will regenerate like usual.

The longer your water softener goes without salt, the higher the chance of a malfunction since hardness and iron will build inside the valve.  Running your water softener for an extended period without salt can cause harm.  How soon or if a malfunction occurs depends on the water quality supplied to your home.  The higher your water’s hardness and iron are, the more likely that buildup will appear inside the valve over time.

When you first notice you’ve been without salt, we recommend filling the salt tank with the proper salt, waiting a few hours for the salt and water to mix, and then manually regenerating your water softener.  If you have a Kinetico water softener, repeat the regeneration process 3 hours after the first manual regeneration.  Both softening tanks have regenerated, and your home is back to soft water.  Keep in mind if your water heater is filled with hard water at any point, it will take extra days to fill with soft water.

You can eliminate running out of salt with the Kinex Salt Monitor.  You’ll receive alerts on your phone to add more salt.  If you have any questions regarding this information, contact us or call 815-385-3093.