Water Softener Salt With Iron

polarbear65

polarbear65

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I now have a brand new Clack WS-1 up and running. My water hardness is 34 and the iron is 2.2. For simplicity, I would like to use Morton Rust Remover or Diamond Crystal Red Out pelletts. But I've heard that using these could harm the softener. I find it hard to believe, but I thought I'd ask for opinions. Thanks
 
And where have you heard that it would harm the softener?

It might shorten the life of the resin from say 20 years to 15, but the hardness is going to work the resin over more than the iron out will.
 
We sell the diamond crystals by the freekin boat load here. Sure, maybe a little less resin life but like LLigetfa said, iron will shorten it a whole lot sooner. BTW your choice of the Clack WS-1 was a good one IMO
 
The guy who installed it said that pellets have glue in them which could lead to fouling. He recommended using diamond crystals and wanted to install a res drip mechanism. I could easily install this thing, but then I have to continue buying the stuff that goes into it. The Morton rust remover pellets cost more tan regular salt, but I like the convenience. It's hard to believe that a company Like Morton, which has been selling this stuff for years, would be able to keep it on the market if it was harmful to softeners.
 
Do you have a particular brand of res drip system in mind? My water guy mentioned a drip system but when I pressed him for details on what makes it better than the manual Super Iron Out treatments that I do quarterly, he said the only benefit is convenience. I have an iron filter before my softener so I need to clean the resin less often.

From what I could see about the drip system, it doesn't really meter it to match salt consumption, meaning that it dispenses the same amount per day regardless of whether you regen more or less often. The cleaner additives in salt are metered by the amount of salt you use.
 
polarbear65 said:
The guy who installed it said that pellets have glue in them which could lead to fouling. He recommended using diamond crystals and wanted to install a res drip mechanism. I could easily install this thing, but then I have to continue buying the stuff that goes into it. The Morton rust remover pellets cost more tan regular salt, but I like the convenience. It's hard to believe that a company Like Morton, which has been selling this stuff for years, would be able to keep it on the market if it was harmful to softeners.
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I think that you are worried to much about nothing.

I am no expert but I have used the Morton® pellets for 15 Years and my softener still makes soft water.

Morton® pellets cost a little more but what LLigetfa® says about metered makes a lot of sense.

An Iron filter Before the unit may be of better benefit to You if you are worried about the resin Longevity.
 
The "glue" is a binder and it doesn't dissolve completely and it builds up as sludge in the bottom of the salt tank.

Solar crystal has no binder. It does have some invisible dirt build up that clings to teh inside of the salt tank which can easily be wiped out. And it costs less than pellets.

Using a 1/4 cup of Iron Out dissolved into a few gallons of water and poured into the water in the salt tank and do a manual regeneration that night is the best choice to keep resin and valve internals clean of iron. You'd do that like once every 2-3 months.
 
Gary,

Can you put the dissolved Iron Out in the tank and just wait for the next Regen time ?

Or does that create a problem ?
 
Some will also put a layer of Iron out between bags of extra course and call it good.
 
Usually when I do the Iron Out it's because I ran out of soft water as a result of the resin fouling so I'm doing two manual back-to-back regens, the first with Iron Out and the second without.
 
It is best to do the manaul regeneration. On a Clack you push the Regen button once and Regen Today flashes on the screen and it does it at the scheduled time. The extra water (salt) helps clean everything better than just the normal salt dose.

Until the IO gets dissolved and into the resin bed with the brine water, it doesn't do anything but weaken in the salt tank.
 
I have a bottle of Raze Out. Is that about the same thing as Iron Out? Raze Out is made by Morton. As such, do you think this the same chemical they use in the Rust Out pellets?
 
Look at what is in the Raze out and what is in the Iron out.... if they are in the same order then they are the same.
 
polarbear65 said:
I now have a brand new Clack WS-1 up and running. My water hardness is 34 and the iron is 2.2. For simplicity, I would like to use Morton Rust Remover or Diamond Crystal Red Out pelletts. But I've heard that using these could harm the softener. I find it hard to believe, but I thought I'd ask for opinions. Thanks
Click to expand...
The reason is, the acid fumes given off by the salt with red out, will cause the metal parts of the softener to corrode faster. On pkg.
 
Last edited:
Most use form of common acid. Citric, Methylene Phosphonic, muratic, etc. The idea is to lower the pH of the brine and this the regeneration cycle to aid in the removal of the iron from the resin.

No big deal, most are fairly safe to handle, just don't breathe the fumes from the brine tank please, :)
 
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