humidity is the worst problem, followed by using pellets,
a couple of things to do is, once the salt is way down,
use a wooden rod to break ALL the salt down, as best
you can around the tube. bridging can be affected by
old salt that stays crusted onto the sides....another
helpful thing to do is keep it half full....sometimes the
bridging can get worse from it being too full. once a year
let the salt get down to the water, and clean the sides,
I have delivered salt to different brand softeners for over
30 years, and when I'm delivering, I always kick the side
of the brine tank right at the water level before putting
salt in it...it keeps the salt from crusting onto the sides.
one kick on both sides, and I NEVER get a salt bridge
in my customers softeners....
"KLE" wrote in message
...
The first year or so we lived in this house, the water softener worked
fine and used about 1 bag of salt per month. This past summer, after
dishes not getting cleaned properly in the dishwasher I realized there
might be a problem with the water softener and that we hadn't needed
to add salt in a while. It had formed a salt bridge, which we attended
to with a broom handle according to instructions found from various
sources, and water quality and cleaning went back to normal. Since
then, salt bridges have been forming on a regular basis. It's a
Kenmore softener, and according to the writing on the cupboard door
next to it, was installed 7/02, so theoretically it's just over 5
years old. Any idea why the appliance is now forming these salt
bridges regularly, and what to do to get things working properly
again?

Thanks for helpful suggestions,

Karen