Installation service
Salt delivery
Scheduled delivery of softener salt, carried to the brine tank rather than left at the kerb.
Carried to the tank
A 40 pound bag of softener salt is awkward rather than heavy, and a basement or a garage corner is an awkward place to carry it to. We deliver on a schedule and put the salt in the brine tank rather than leaving it by the door.
While we are there we check the salt level against what we expected, look for bridging, and confirm the unit is cycling. That takes a couple of minutes and catches most softener faults long before they show up as hard water at the tap.
Delivery frequency is set from your measured usage. If it starts drifting from the expectation, that is useful information about the softener rather than just a scheduling detail.
Salt bridging and why the tank gets checked
Salt can form a solid crust across the brine tank with an empty space underneath. The tank looks full, the softener draws brine from a space that has none, and the resin stops regenerating. Hard water returns while the salt level appears fine.
This is one of the most common reasons a working softener stops softening, and it is invisible unless somebody pushes a broom handle through the crust to check.
It happens more in damp basements and with certain salt grades. Where a property has a recurring problem we will suggest a different grade or a lower fill level rather than simply breaking the bridge every visit.
Which salt, and does it matter
Solar salt and evaporated pellets both work. Evaporated pellets are purer and leave less residue in the brine tank, which means less cleaning over time. Rock salt is cheaper and carries more insoluble material, which accumulates as sludge.
Potassium chloride is the alternative for households reducing sodium intake. It works in the same way, costs noticeably more, and usually needs the control valve setting adjusted because it is slightly less efficient per unit.
We will supply whichever you prefer. If you are switching to potassium, tell us, because the valve setting should change with it.
What we need in place
These are checked at the survey rather than discovered on the day. Where something is missing it changes the scope, and we would rather price that honestly up front.
- Access to the brine tank
Typical duration. 15 to 30 minutes per delivery
Equipment this covers
- Water softeners. An ion exchange system that swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium, which is the only method that actually removes hardness minerals from the water.
Problems this service is usually booked for
Common questions
How much salt should my softener be using?
It depends on hardness and household size, but one to two 40 pound bags a month is typical. What matters more than the absolute figure is that it stays consistent. A sudden jump usually means the unit is regenerating too often or a setting has drifted. A sudden drop can mean it has stopped regenerating at all, which is worth catching before hard water returns at the tap.
My salt tank looks full but the water feels hard again. Why?
Almost certainly salt bridging. A solid crust forms across the tank with an empty space underneath, so the softener draws brine from a void while the level looks fine from the top. It is invisible unless somebody pushes a broom handle through the crust. It is one of the most common reasons a working softener stops softening, and we check for it on every delivery.
Does the type of salt matter?
Somewhat. Evaporated pellets are purer and leave less sludge in the brine tank than rock salt, which means less cleaning over the years. Potassium chloride is the alternative for households reducing sodium, and it costs more and is slightly less efficient, so the control valve setting should be adjusted when switching. Tell us if you change and we will reset it.
Other services
- Free water testing
- Whole-house filter installation
- Under-sink reverse osmosis installation
- Water softener installation
- Well water treatment installation
- Maintenance and filter replacement
Where we work
We cover New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York. Because water quality is a local fact, our service area pages carry the utility, source water, treatment method, and reported contaminants for each town, with the report they came from and the year it covers.
Next step