Another thread got me thinking about this question. As far as the functioning of the water softener is concerned does it matter what type of salt I put in the brine tank?

When I moved to my current home 24 years ago there was about 2 inches of sediment in the bottom of the large brine tank that I assumed needed to be cleaned out, about 1/2 of which were small pebbles. I'm assuming the previous owner used rock salt in the tank. I switched to "System Saver" pellets for a few years until a softener service guy recommended I use the more natural Solar salt.

But does it make any difference or should I just use whatever is cheapest--like the previous owner did?

 

Salt is salt but you see the result of using dirty salt.

You don't want to get dirt/crud into the system so just use the cheapest water softener salt.

 

Marq is correct up to a point. Depending on you needs you might not want to use Solar salt.

Look at this site for a more detailed idea of what you will need.

The Best Water Softener Salt To Prevent Mineral Build-Up