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Salts for your water softener come in large chunks or pellets which are quite hard and can’t usually be broken down by hand. Crushing your water softener salt can easily be achieved by using a mallet, a blender, or by dissolving it into water.

Do You Need To Break Up Your Salt Before Using It In A Water Softener?

No, in general when you buy water softener salt you won't need to break up the pellets or blocks it comes in. However, salt has to be stored correctly or it will fuse into larger blocks simmalerly to when you overfill your water softener salt tank and salt bridging occurs.

When this happens or if you plan on using your water softener salt for other applications that require finer salt, here are some tips on how to crush your water softener salt.

Crush Water Softener Salt With A Cutting Board And Mallet

This is probably the simplest way to get the job done. Get a cutting board, place the salt on it and pound it with the mallet.

Acacia Wooden Cutting Board For Crushing Water Softener Salt
Meat Tender Mallet For Crushing Water Softener Salt

It should break off into smaller chunks and fine powder. You need to cover the salt with something before you start pounding to avoid shrapnel flying around the room.

You can use a cloth, paper or plastic cover. Cloth is probably best for this purpose since it won’t rip or tear like the other two. It is also very convenient to put the salt in two or three plastic bags and lay it down to pound into finer pieces.

This saves you the trouble of cleaning up and you can just pour the salt into a container when you’re done. The only problem is that the plastic might rip when you hit it with a mallet and cause a mess.

Industrial Strength Blender

If for some reason you have access to an industrial-strength blender, you can use it to break up water softener salt.

Industrial Strength Counter Top Blender For Crushing Water Softener Salt

It needs to be big enough to fit the salt chunks and have enough motor power to crush the water softener salt. The blades need to be very strong, otherwise they will break apart when they come in contact with the water softener salt.

It is recommended to test the blender first with a small piece of water softener salt before you start using it as your primary method of crushing water softener salt.

Kitchen Appliances

If you break down the water softener salt into smaller pieces, you can use kitchen appliances like food processors, meat grinders or coffee grinders to crush your water softener salt.

People often use Turkish coffee grinders to crush water softener salt. Unless you already have one, it is not a great method because they can be expensive.

Dissolve In Water

This doesn’t technically crush the water softener salt, but dissolving it in water to make a concentrated solution could be an efficient solution.

Hot or warm water is enough to dissolve the large salt pellets. Put the salt pellet in the water and shake it till it dissolves. When it stops dissolving the water is saturated.

Make sure not to put too much salt in as boiling water will not reduce the amount of salt in the solution. Let the solution cool down before using.

Crushing Water Softener Salt Is Easy If You Know How

If you’ve been pondering how to crush water softener salt, there are several methods you can use. You can use a mallet or hammer to crush it or use trusty household appliances to make a fine powder of the water softener salt.

Industrial strength blenders are also a viable option. However, make sure it can take the load of water softener salt pellets before you drop them in. You don’t want to damage the motor or break the blades.