Should There Be Water In A Water Softener Brine Tank?

This is one of the most common questions regarding the regular upkeep of a water softener. Most likely it’s because the majority of the water softeners on the market today put water in the salt tank at the end of their regeneration cycle, so people will see water when they add salt to their system.

A standard water softener brine tank should have water in it all of the time except when it uses to regenerate its water softener resin. Some premium water softeners have the ability to only add water to the brine tank 4 hours before the water softener regenerates to help prevent salt bridging.

How much water and when water is put into a water softener brine tank can depend on your water characteristics and the type of water softener that you have. Let’s find out if you should be seeing water in your brine tank.

How much water should be in my water softener brine tank?

Depending on how your softener is set, the amount of water that will be in your salt tank will vary but for the most part, the water in your tank will be about one-quarter to one-half of the way up the tank.

The actual level of water in your brine tank is determined by what brine dosage is needed to regenerate the water softener resin inside of your water softener.

A lower dose of brine will regenerate less of the water-softener resin while a larger dose of brine will regenerate more water-softener resin.

So if you have let your salt run down lower than usual and see water in the tank, don’t worry if it is around one-third of the way up the tank. This is perfectly normal and most likely has been set for that level since it was installed.

For optimum water softener performance, you should be sure to keep your salt level above the water level which is usually about one-quarter full, but do not overfill it. You should never fill your tank more than about a six-inch from the top, this can encourage salt bridging and does not benefit the system in any way.

Why is there water in a water softener brine tank anyway?

To the average homeowner, seeing any water other than the water that comes out of a faucet or showerhead can be alarming until they understand why it is there and what it is used for.

The salt tank of a water softener is the point where the enclosed water system that is used to soften the water that is used throughout the house meets the salt that it needs that is provided by the homeowner.

You can think of the salt as the cleanser that the softener uses to clean itself of the hardness that it has removed from the water.

Here’s a quick video showing why there needs to be water in your water softener brine tank.

While a water softener only uses the saltwater (commonly known as brine) in the tank for a short amount of time, usually about 90 minutes. Most types of softeners add water to the salt tank at the very end of their cleaning process.

The system does this so the water can sit in the salt for a long period of time and become saturated with dissolved salt. This salt-rich solution is called brine, and it is what the water softener uses to remove the hardness that has built up in the water softener’s resin bed.

When should there NOT be water in a water softener brine tank?

In most cases, there is water in the salt tank almost 100% of the time.

But most people don’t know this because they don’t let their salt level get low enough to see the water, which is good, keep it up.

The only time that there is no water in a common water softener salt tank is during a short rinse cycle after the brine solution has been used by the water softener to regenerate its water-softening resin.

During the softener’s regeneration cycle, the brine solution is drawn from the salt tank and flushed through the softener’s resin bed, cleaning it and then rinsing the brine away.

After the brine has been used up, the system will need to replenish the water in the tank so it can become brine for the next time that the system needs to regenerate (clean itself).

So there will normally be water at the bottom of the salt tank if you have a water softener that uses this most common regeneration cycle.

The average water softener will have approximately three to six gallons of water in it at any given time. The amount of water in the tank will depend on the amount of brine needed to regenerate the amount of softening resin in the system.

How does my water softener know how much water to put in the brine tank?

The amount of water that a water softener puts into its brine tank is usually measured by the time of refill. The system will simply feed water into the tank for a preset amount of time to dissolve the proper amount of salt that the system needs for it to work.

Smaller systems may have a tank of only seven inches in diameter and forty-eight inches high with only about 1/2 cubic foot of resin in them and will use as little as about three gallons of brine to regenerate.

Other larger systems may have tanks as large as thirteen inches in diameter and are fifty-four inches high, these systems will have as much as 2 cubic feet of softening resin in them needing as much as six gallons of brine solution for their regeneration cycle.

It all depends on how large of a system is needed to handle the amount of hardness found in the water being treated.

Why don’t I see any water in my new water softener’s salt tank?

Water treatment is always getting better, and many of the more advanced systems now available use what is called a dry tank cycle.

This simply means that the salt tank will not have water in it most of the time, with the exception of some residual brine that may be left over after regeneration.

These newer systems will fill the salt tank with the required amount of water usually about four hours before the system will regenerate.

This will allow enough time for the salt to dissolve into a brine solution while leaving the tank with very little water in it the majority of the time.

Check out this quick video on how a “DRY” brine tank regeneration works.

This can be beneficial in situations when the system does not have to regenerate very often or if it only needs to regenerate part of the time, like in a guest house or if the home is only used seasonally.

Unlike a standard type regeneration cycle which will usually go through a backwash cycle, a brine draw, a brine rinse cycle, and then a brine fill cycle leaving water in the tank until the next regeneration.

This newer cycle order will fill the salt tank to the appropriate level and then let it sit for four hours and then do a backwash, brine draw, and brine rinse, leaving the salt tank with virtually no water left in it.

Why is it better to only have water in a brine tank right before it regenerates?

Some benefits of this newer cycle set-up are that the salt will not be sitting in water for extended periods of time which can cause the salt to clump and sometimes create salt bridges that leave an empty void at the bottom of the tank and the salt does not drop down.

Also, there will not be standing water for prolonged periods of time which can cause odors and sometimes the growth of bacteria.

No matter which system type you have the amount of water in the tank should only be three to six gallons or about one-third of the way up the tank.

If you find that the water in the tank has risen above halfway up the tank, the system is likely not using all of the brine that it is supposed to be, therefore not properly softening the water and you should call your water system service technician to have it checked.

What type of salt should I use for my water softener?

Another great question! You go to the store and you see a sign for water softener salt, and beneath the sign, you see green bags with red out, yellow bags that say pellets, blue bags that say crystals, and so on and so on. So what’s the difference between one bag and another?

Besides the price, the main differences between these water softener salts are quite simple.

Blue or blue and white bags are generally just salt crystals as the bag says. This salt has been mined from the earth, given a quick rinse, and then bagged for use.

This blue bag salt is usable for any water softening system although it does have a flaw that makes it not the most recommended salt for non-electric water softeners.

The reason for this is that it is mined from the earth, so it has some dirt, grit, and other debris in it.

This debris goes into the salt tank and can sometimes lodge in the salt tank fill shut-off mechanism, which can cause it not to shut off and overflow the salt tank. This is not common but it can happen.

Is pellet salt the best water softener salt?

Pellet salt is often, but not only, found in a yellow bag. This is salt that has been processed and cleaned.

This clean salt is often recommended for non-electric water softeners because it does not have any debris in it that can cause the water shut-off valve to fail.

But this pellet salt has a downside to it. The pellets are made up of salt and a binding agent.

This binder is non-soluble and will settle to the bottom of the tank. Over time, this binder will become several inches of mush at the bottom of the tank where the salt should be.

This build-up will not allow enough salt to be exposed to the water and therefore not provide a strong enough brine solution to properly clean the water softener.

This mush is not usually hard to remove but it can be quite messy so you might want to have a service professional do it for you so they can make sure that it is done properly, and be sure to ask them to make sure the brine float assembly is cleaned and set correctly as well.

What is the red out for in the green salt bags?

The green bag salt is salt that contains a small amount of an additive that helps to remove iron from the water. I only recommend using this green bag of salt if your water has a high level of iron in it.

Although this salt will help to remove the iron from the water, the iron is removed in the salt tank and will often settle to the bottom of the tank and remain there until it is cleaned out by hand.

A water softener that is set correctly will remove a substantial amount of iron without any help from any additives in the salt.

Also, these additives can cause odors in the water and sometimes clog of internal parts inside the water softener’s control valve, so avoid using any salt that is not crystals or regular pellets if possible.

For almost all situations I recommend using blue or blue and white bag salt without any additives and only pellets when using a non-electric softener system.

Should there be water in my brine tank when using potassium chloride?

The last type of water softener salt that you might find in your local hardware store is potassium chloride. Unlike regular salt (sodium chloride), potassium chloride is a low-sodium alternative to using regular salt in water softeners.

This can be an expensive choice as potassium chloride can be about four times the price of regular salt and a softener requires more of it to properly clean the system.

People that are concerned with limiting their salt intake may consider using potassium chloride for health reasons.

Unfortunately, when potassium chloride sits in water for a long period of time, the potassium chloride pellets have a tendency to clump together reducing the overall surface area in which to get dissolved by water in the brine tank.

This is why when potassium chloride is to be used instead of regular salt, it is recommended to use a “DRY” brine tank cycle rather than the standard “WET” brine tank cycle.

Should there be water in a “DRY” brine tank?

There will be water in a “DRY” brine tank to dissolve sodium to be used by the water softener to regenerate its water softener resin.

The difference between a “DRY” brine tank and a “WET” brine tank is that the “DRY” brine tank is only filled with water a few hours before the water softener is going to regenerate, while a “WET” brine tank is filled with water at the end of the regeneration cycle and the tank has water in it nearly all of the time.

If you have your system set correctly, using regular crystal salt will leave minimal sodium behind after regeneration and it is much cheaper than potassium chloride.

If you come across any salt in your local store that you are not familiar with, ask for help from someone in the store and read the contents on the bag itself.

Does water in a brine tank use all types of water softener salt the same way?

If the store employee says that they are all the same and you can use any one of them, check for yourself and find the one in the blue bag or the blue and white bag as they should be the straight rock crystal salt that will work fine for your system.

Or if you have a non-electric system, find the pellet salt with no additives that are usually in the yellow bag.

One last, but very important note on what type of salt to use. There are systems that use a softening media known as silica crystal.

This silica crystal comes in two different types and is a very unique media that is used for special situations.

The first type is only used when the pH of the water is below 7.0 (acid water). It is used when the water contains hardness, low pH, and has a high amount of iron.

This resin not only will soften the water and remove the iron, but it has the ability to raise the pH of the water as well. The second type of this resin is also for softening the water and high iron removal but works on water with a pH of 7.0 or higher.

It has been found that this special media can have a reaction with additives that are in water softener salts. Using any salt besides the blue or blue and white bag salt can cause odors in the water and over time can cause the media to lose its ability to soften water and remove iron.

So if your system says silica crystal on it be sure to only use the salt in the blue or blue and white bags.

To Sum Up!

So be sure to check your salt tank regularly and never let it run out of salt. My rule of thumb is to treat your water softener’s salt tank as you would the gas tank in your car. You don’t have to keep it totally full of salt all the time but you never want to let it get empty.

More articles you might like:

What Happens If My Water Softener Runs Out Of Salt?

Can You Use Pool Salt In Your Water Softener?

Does A Water Softener Add Salt To My Drinking Water?

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