The additives used in Morton® Clean and Protect™ or Morton® Clean and Protect™ Plus Rust Defense™ are normally removed from the water system during the brine and rinse cycle of the regeneration process. Even though it is unlikely that the additives in the salt product could be the cause of the skin itch, you may wish to try a product with no additives, such as Morton® Pure and Natural™ products or Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets. It would be prudent to consult with a dermatologist.

With a water softener that is operating properly, the water should not taste salty. The salt should be totally rinsed from the system during the brine and rinse cycle of the regeneration process, except for the sodium which exchanges onto the water softener’s resin replacing calcium and magnesium. During the service cycle, hardness in the water is exchanged for sodium.

Yes, all Morton water softening products are safe for septic systems. In recent years the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a special facts sheet summarizing studies by NSF and the University of Wisconsin on home water softeners and onsite treatment systems. What they found was softener effluent has no deleterious effect on bacterial functions, increased volume of wastewater does not cause hydraulic overloading and that the calcium and magnesium actually improve soil stability and percolation in the leach field. A link to the EPA web page is given below:

https://www.epa.gov/ordntrnt/ORD/NRMRL/Pubs/625R00008/html/fs3.htm

No, Morton’s Water Softening Salt is not iodized. Our water softening salt does not supply iodide.

Yes, all of the products are compatible.

Yes, if you wish to reduce the sodium content of the softened water. The products can be mixed in any ratio you desire. We would recommend starting with a 50/50 ratio and see how that works for you. If mixing potassium chloride with salt, it is important to note that softened water will contain a higher ratio of sodium to potassium at the beginning of the service cycle and a higher ratio of potassium to sodium near the end of the service cycle.

No, Morton does not recommend adding either Morton® Clean and Protect® or Clean and Protect® Plus Rust Defense® directly to fish ponds or aquariums. Both products contain additives that are specific for water softening, so they are not appropriate for direct addition into a fish pond or aquarium. For the same reason, we would not recommend adding other products like Morton® Table Salt directly to ponds or aquariums.

Many people choose to either leave the water for outside taps unsoftened, or bypass the water softener when watering the lawn because the volume of water needed will deplete the supply of softened water quickly; the water softener will need to recharge more frequently, thus using more salt. Since the lawn does not need softened water, this may be the best course of action.

If you do not want to bypass the system, you should be aware that normally the small amount of sodium that is discharged into your water from the water softener is not a problem for most lawns. However, if your soil already has a high content of sodium, that may not be advisable. In this case and because potassium is a major and essential plant nutrient, some people use potassium chloride to recharge their softener.

No. Morton® Potassium Chloride is only available in pellet form. Blocks are not available

No. Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets do not contain any additives. Therefore, you will not get the benefit of the resin cleaners found in Morton® Clean and Protect™ Pellets or Morton® Clean and Protect™ Plus Rust Defense™ Pellets.

As the #1 Water Softener Salt brand, we test our products to ensure they meet our high quality standards before they reach our consumers. Our products are produced at many manufacturing locations and processing sites. Each site is slightly different in how they manufacture our products, which causes a slight variation in color and size of the pellets. These visual differences will not impact the functionality of the pellets or negatively impact the water conditioning systems.

You may have hard water if your soaps and laundry detergent don’t lather very well, or if glasses and dishes are left with spots, or colored clothing looks dull. Tubs and bathroom fixtures may be covered with an unsightly film.

You can have your water tested by your water dealer or you may use a home water testing kit. Get a free test strip by clicking www.mortonsalt.com/testyourwater/

No, you do not have to empty the water softener. When you are ready to add more salt, simply pour the potassium chloride product on top of any remaining salt product.

For details on how water softeners work, please click here.

There are no detrimental effects on plumbing or septic systems if Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets or any of the Morton sodium chloride-based products are used.

The amount of sodium in soft water is directly proportional to the hardness of the untreated water, and for most water supplies it is not very high. For each grain per gallon of hardness, multiply by 7.9 to convert to milligrams of sodium per liter (a liter is slightly more than a quart). For instance, water with 15 grains/gallon hardness will contain118 milligrams of sodium per liter after softening. Thus, 2 liters of water per day provides less than 250 milligrams, which is small compared to the normal daily intake. If you have any health concerns about consuming or cooking with salt-softened water, please consult your physician.

Yes, the Morton product is mined the same way as salt.

Yes, softened water is safe to drink for people that are not on sodium or potassium restricted diets.

Yes. Potassium is one of the 16 elements necessary for plant growth. It also helps plants resist disease and optimize moisture utilization.

If your pet suffers from heart disease, diabetes or kidney disease, consult your vet as to whether or not your pet can drink potassium chloride softened water. For healthy pets potassium chloride softened water is safe to drink.

The benefits of potassium chloride-based products include:

• Reduces sodium contribution to soft water by 99%
• Provides a means to increase potassium, an essential human and plant nutrient, through softened water
• Reduces chloride discharge by up to 20% as compared to sodium chloride softened water

The level of potassium contributed from potassium chloride softened water is safe for normal healthy people. For healthy individuals, potassium from the diet is absorbed slowly from the gastrointestinal tract and the excess potassium is excreted. However, in certain individuals with medical conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure, the body may not excrete excess potassium. Individuals with these conditions must consult a doctor prior to consuming potassium-softened water. If you have any questions as to whether your health condition allows you to use potassium based water softener products, please consult your doctor.

High pressures are used to formulate Morton® Clean and Protect™ Pellets. No glues or binders are used in any of our water softening products.

Using potassium chloride in your softener will contribute approximately 32 milligrams of potassium per 8 ounces of water for each 10 grains of hardness softened.

You can use our ‘Contact Us Form‘ section, call us at 800-725-8847 or write us at:
Morton Salt
Consumer Affairs
444 W Lake
Chicago, Illinois 60606

Each water softening salt product has a unique formula, and is tailored to different water softening needs based on mineral levels in your hard water. Please check each product description on the website for further details.

The yellow color or cloudiness is likely to be colloidal iron, but it could be manganese. Without an actual analysis, we can only speculate. If you have iron in your water supply and have never used salt formulated with resin cleaning additives, your first use of Morton® Clean and Protect™ Plus Rust Defense™ may loosen rust deposits that have accumulated on the water softener resin. If the amount of rust released is excessive, it may not all be rinsed out during the rinse cycle of the regeneration process and may enter the household water supply. For this reason, we usually recommend conducting several consecutive manual regenerations. This should clean up the resin and rinse water allowing clear, softened water into the household. Another possibility is if the softener was dormant for some period of time, the soluble iron on the water softener resin may have oxidized to rust during this time frame. Then, as water is run through the softener, the rust will slough off into the softened water. If the softener will sit dormant for an extended period of time (three weeks or more) you may wish to conduct a manual regeneration just prior to leaving for your extended absence.

Use of Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets will not harm the resin beads. However, if your raw water has a high iron content of over 2 ppm, you may want to use Morton® Clean and Protect™ Plus Rust Defense™ Pellets. This product contains a resin bead cleaner which will help prevent fouling of clean or new resin beads. Morton® Clean and Protect™ Pellets also contain two food grade resin cleaners that keep resin beads from fouling if your water contains less than 2 ppm of iron.

Yes, you can use Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets in any softener that uses sodium chloride (salt). We do not know of any brand of water softener in which Morton® Potassium Chloride Pellets would not work.

No.

If your raw water is 22 grains of hardness or higher, a metallic, bitter taste may be noticed. If you find this objectionable, you may wish to switch back to a sodium chloride – based product, such as Morton® Pellets with Clean and Protect™ Formula or use bottled water for drinking.