Yikes! I never had salt bridging with our Water Boss softener. I use the cheapest brand of sodium chloride pellets without any problem. The brine sits in the tank for up to two weeks between recharge cycles, so there is plenty of time for it to reach the saturation point. The only downside I've found with cheap salt is it contains more dirt. But, with the occasional basement centipede or Asian beetle dropping into the brine, what's wrong with a little dirt to bury the corpses?
I scrub our brine tank inside-and-out every couple of years to keep it from getting too macabre. I'm sure most people never do that... especially with the bigger tanks. Even our empty Water Boss is pretty heavy to carry to the basement sink.
Is there any health hazard from leaving pickled centipedes / ladybugs and salt dirt in the brine tank???
My understanding about how resin exchange works is that almost none of the sodium or potassium chloride ends up in the domestic water stream. Almost all the sodium ions go out the brine discharge hose. So the health benefits of switching to KCl are minimal to none.
That's a totally different issue than using salt-substitute at the dinner table or for cooking. KCl in the salt shaker offers major health benefits to people with hypertension, nephrosclerosis, or congestive heart failure. (Dialysis patients should speak with their nephrologist before choosing a salt source.) Some people with hypertension can lower their blood pressure enough by switching to KCl at the dinner table that their physician can stop their BP meds. Though not everybody responds that well, being on two BP meds instead of 3-4 BP meds is certainly a worthwhile goal for people who substitute KCl in dietary sources. I've seen it happen. Success in stopping meds depends on what's the underlying cause of hypertension. FWIW, avoiding sodium is most likely to be effective at lowering blood pressure in people of African descent; but adding potassium may help lower blood pressure in all ethnic groups.
