I noticed recently that potassium chloride is more expensive than sodium chloride. Both are salts, and both are designed for softeners. My question is: is the potassium chloride worth the extra money? Is it more gentle or something? More effective? At 3x the cost, I’m prone to keeping the regular softener salt I’ve been using.
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This seems a perfect question to query an AI with, but my basic understanding is that for people on sodium restricted diets, potassium may be a better choice even though the amounts in the water are pretty small and, maybe more importantly, if you are environmentally concerned, sodium is more harmful and potassium is more beneficial. And, as you note, KCl is 3x as expensive as NaCl.
Pete
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I don’t always trust AI. There’s no substitute for personal experience. I thought someone here might have such.
AI says NaCl is more efficient.
Most people only soften their hot water. Otherwise your cold water can be salty.
Your body requires both sodium and potassium to function. High levels of potassium can be toxic. You know what happens if you drink seawater.
Better to avoid use of potassium if you can. Most of it is used as fertilizer. Plants need it too.
The major advantage of water softening is removal of calcium which can cause soap scum, bathtub ring, and deposits in toilets, hot water heater, boiler, etc.
It works by exchanging calcium for sodium. The calcium is usually there as calcium bicarbonate. When heated it loses carbon dioxide and forms very insoluble calcium carbonate (ie limestone). So it gets converted to sodium bicarbonate. When you regenerate, calcium trapped on the ion exchange resin gets replaced w sodium from the salt. And the bed get thoroughly rinsed and usually fluffed to remove any remaining salt.
You can totally deionize the water to remove that sodium too but not many people do that. It requires regenerated cylinders delivered from a supplier who regenerates them off site. The chemistry required is not suitable for home owners.
I worte this over two hours ago - when I saw other replies I discovered I forgort to click “Reply”. Sorry
From a chemical point of view, they should be interchangeable molecule for molecule. To get chemically equal amounts you have to use more potassium chloride. 1 Mole of the potassium salt is 74.88 grams and a mole of sodium chloride is 58.44.
If I were looking for a difinitive answer to your question, I would look instructions/directions from the manufacturers of water softener – not the folks selling/installing the equipment.
Thanks for all the replies. I didn’t think about it in mols. It’s been a long time since I had to think like that (not a chemist, but I was a physicist). Makes sense.
So the only real advantage is that we can use the water to water the plants. FYI, the manufacturer and installer were the same. The plumbers we use build and install their own system.
I do not agree with some of the comments in this thread. Regarding potassium. Plants and humans require it to live. I don’t know about lethal levels for plants but expect they exist. For manuals, potasssium is also essential but must be within a concentration window. The cocktails used for euthanasia or executions ends with few cc of moderate/low concentration of potassium chloride. Low blood sodium levels are life threatening. Last year a neighor was not feeling well, doctor ordered a blood test, when the results came back a few hours later my neighbor received a call from the doctor instructing her to immediately go to the hospital – 5 days of IVs later she came home.
Serum electrolytes are routinely monitored in hospitals when patient has iv. And usually on arrival or during medical checkup. They are sodium, potassium, chloride, and CO2 combining capacity. When out of range usually not difficult to adjust.
When I bought my house six years ago it same with water softeners. Two, in series. I do not know why there are two, if they are the same, or intended to deal with different hardness issues. I suspect the resin pellets are two different kinds, but there are no markings or labels anywhere.
I have been using the pellets that Costco sells, Morton sodium chloride in 44 lb bags.
The discharge from the regen does not go into the septic, which is important. However in the winter it freezes, and the water in the tubs gets kind of high.
When you have only one resin bed, soft water is not available during regeneration. Most deal w that by regenerating after midnight.
With two beds you can regenerate one while using the other. So you always have soft water.
You can also have extra beds to increase capacity or to remove other contaminants like iron or sulfur, etc.
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IV potassium can be dangerous as very small amounts can be lethal. I have given it to patients who had low K and were on digoxin which is sensitive to K levels. Oral potassium is less so because our body will up or down regulate potassium retention through various mechanisms. Imagine the amount of potassium in a piece of meat. It’s a lot I believe since potassium is a major intracellular electrolyte. In the hospital we would give 20 or 40 micrograms of potassium over 2 or 4 hours for safety. A 3 ounce piece of beef has close to 300 micrograms which would be lethal if given over an hour IV.
As far as water softeners go, regular salt NaCl is cost effective and I don’t know if you all know this but Costco sells 50# bags of Culligans water softener salt cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot 40# bags (even with my 10% veterans discount) so I buy at costco.HTH…doc
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I guess the brand depends on where you live. Around here Costco has 44 lb bags of Morton. HD and Lowes have the identical bags - except 40 lbs not 44; Costco is 35% to 40% cheaper per lb. I had to find my last receipt, then looked up the rest.
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My local Costco carries only the KCl pellets. Which is why I posed the original question.
There’s a new business center opening soon nearby. Maybe they’ll carry the NaCl.
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You might want to check Amazon. I can get Morton brand NaCl for softeners in 30 # bags for $17.25 delivered to my house.