Block Salt – Regular and Curve

Harvey Bowden of Harvey Water Softeners invented block salt for softeners in the 1990s, and its popularity has grown considerably ever since.

Older softeners would have used granular salt, and later came tablet salt, but these types of salt create a less pure brine solution, meaning that softeners running on them require more regular servicing. Granular salt can scratch the valve of a water softener, reducing the life of your water softener.

Block salt in its traditional 4 kg rectangular Harvey block has become so popular that companies abroad have started to manufacture it themselves, often using whatever type of salt they can get their hands on.

Over the past ten years, imported block salt has begun to impact the operation of softeners as the purity of the salt has become increasingly more of a concern.

In 2015, the two leading manufacturers of block salt softeners, Harvey softener and Kinetico, introduced guidance that stated that if block salt that did not meet British standards were used in their softeners, this would invalidate the warranty of the product.

Unfortunately, this puts the onus on the customer to know what salt they are buying. As a result, Harvey Softener launched a new shape salt called the ‘Curve’, which they could subsequently patent and, in the process, guarantee salt quality. The use of curve salt does not increase the price of your salt and still gives plenty of places where it can be purchased. Check prices and buy from our online shop

Traditional block salt

The Minimax M3 runs on Harvey block salt and removes the hassle of refilling your water softener. Unlike the traditional salts that come in heavy 25kg sacks, block salt is packed in convenient 8kg bags, which consist of two 4 kg blocks.

Curve block salt

The 5th generation of Harvey’s softeners, such as the Minimax Innova, runs on the new guaranteed premium quality salt, the Curve. It takes four blocks of 2.15 kg curve salt, delivered in recyclable bags of 2 blocks per pack, so that’s just 4.3kg to lift, rather than 8kg. Much lighter, much easier and much better!

‍All Harvey blocks are easy to handle and create a pure brine solution. It is common to go to a block salt softener years after installing it and find the tank clear of debris and build-up.

‍The manufacturer of the Minimax, Harvey Water Softeners, typically states a block of salt per person per month. However, our experience is very different. It is common for customers in our hard water area to use 3/4 of a 4kg block per person per month. Of the smaller curve, this is typically 3/4 of one smaller pack of block salt per person per month. This equates to a running cost of about £2–£3 per person per month.

Amazing!

You can see how much salt you are likely to use in our Learning Hub.