Hi, Paul here from Calgary Alberta Canada. I have a Bosch dishwasher that requires salt. Less expensive water softening salt is great, and it works. Your Miele should be fine. RISK.. Money, I don't understand those who have posted their thoughts asking why you would risk your machine to save money on Salt. Spending money on a product due to the Brand Name is foolish and something as minute as the water softener is not going to damage the machine. Bosch strongly suggests Finish for the soap and it works for sure but the machine will not shut down if you happen to use a different soap, it may not clean as well.

We have about 35 grains of hardness (600 milligrams/gallon) in our well water. We used one box of Somat water softener salt (about 2.6 lb.) in a period of one month. I'm going to start using Morton System Saver II salt from now on, rather than the Somat brand. I've investigated the Morton System Saver II salt and called the company on the telephone. I am convinced that the Morton System Saver II salt is clean enough for the application and is of a particle size that will work fine. I'll save about $9 each month this way. Here's the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on the Morton System Saver II salt pellets. The pellets are all very even in size and they slide perfectly into the salt holder through the funnel provided with the dishwasher. The salt in the Somat box is supposed to be 100% pure sodium chloride...at least according to the box label. Morton System Saver II salt pellets have some impurities. Apparently, the two listed impurities are used to clean the water softener resin of accumulated impurities from the salt itself as well as from the water (e.g., iron oxide, magnesium salts, etc.) Personally, I think this is a better system that just using 100% pure sodium chloride. But a warning! DO NOT use any other Morton water softener salt other than the System Saver II Pellets. Lowes carries the Morton System Saver II Pellets in a 40 lbs bag for about $6

Bear in mind that when you do add a neutralizer the hardness of the water will rise. With higher hardness the correct sizing of the softener may change. You are kind of in the middle between the correct size for the water conditions (PH not withstanding) and water use and your "potential for peak flow rate to reach above 9 gpm" which you have not proven which a 1 cu ft softener with hi-cap standard 8% resin should accommodate. If it were me I install an acid neutralizer and then test the hardness over a period of time. Then correctly size the softener and be done with it. Even with the small amount of iron you have (you didn't mention any manganese) you'll want to use Iron Out or the like routinely and 8 days between regen with any iron is too long. In a 1 cu ft softener the advantages you see in the SST-60 lit will be negligible to none.

justalurker ...thanks for the quick reply Unfortunately the softener was here when I bought the house so I have no information on it except that it looks just like the picture of the Fleck 1500 on the link you provided (has a meter). The house is 24 years old so it could be that old. Trust me ...the brine IS being emptied out of the tank during regeneration I watched it go down and even saw a couple of small air bubbles in the clear plastic tubing when it got empty. Maintenance: I cleaned the injector and replaced the gaskets a few years back ...Thats it... never payed attention to the brine level until now. I am just looking for a ball park on how many gallons of brine would be typical in a softener so I can not waste salt. I can tell you that the timer is set for 8 mins. refill time and there is a 0.5 gpm flow restrictor on the brine line so the math tells me I should have approximately 4 gallons in the tank. Does this sound typical? I realize the exact amount of brine depends on the amount of resin (which I dont know) My guestimate is that there is about 10 gallons at the point where the safety valve shuts it off. My city water pressure is "killer" I guess that could be the root of the problem. If I can find a answer to my question I would just adjust the timer. Thanks again .....