Yes, any water softener will work with potassium chloride salts, however some loss of capacity between regenerations can occur. Please consult with your dealer. If your reasoning for using "potassium salt" is for health concerns remember that potassium chloride is also a salt. Consult with your doctor whenever there is a health concern about your water.
Potassium vs. Salt
Most water softeners remove hardness, (calcium and magnesium) and iron from the water through an ion exchange process. With salt pellets in the softener, as hardness and iron are held in the resin, sodium is released to the softened water. The harder the water, the more sodium is added. In addition, even more sodium may be naturally present in water.
With potassium chloride pellets, no additional sodium is added to the water during the ion exchange process, and native sodium is reduced, if not totally removed.
Water, softened with potassium would add no sodium to a person's daily diet. Instead, the person would receive a dietary bonus of healthful potassium: 427 milligrams (or 22% of the minimum recommended daily requirements of 1,950 milligrams of adult dietary potassium. Other dietary sources of potassium include bananas, oranges, lettuce, beans, peas and fresh vegetables).
The positive effect that potassium has on human health goes beyond its role as a salt substitute
.Your plants thrive better with potassium treated water, versus water treated with conventional salt systems. Additionally, bathing in water treated with potassium doesn't leave the "slick and slimy" feeling traditionally associated with salt based systems.
Potassium Chloride and the Environment
The key advantage of potassium over sodium is that potassium is a primary plant nutrient. Salt is not. This by itself greatly increases the potential uses for softened water and offers disposal options for waste brine. One good example is where the sewage sludge or effluent from a facility are being used for fertilization and/or irrigation of agricultural land. Both sewage sludge and effluent are deficient in potassium. Where sewage effluent is being used for irrigation of crops or lawns, sodium build-up in the soil is of concern to farmers and environmentalists.
Today, more and more, softeners are being targeted as one of the major sources of sodium and chlorides to the effluent. By using potassium as a regenerant, you reduce the amount of sodium present in the effluent and replace it with potassium. Potassium is less damaging to the soils and less mobile than sodium, especially in high-clay soils. Potassium is absorbed by plants; sodium is not. This reduces the potential for migration into ground water.
The use of potassium chloride as a regenerant will also result in a reduction of 12-20% in total chlorides being discharged to septic or sewage systems.