I was given a portable water softener for my RV that uses solar salt. We are getting a musky odor from it even though we poured a little bleach into it on the first use. Is there any way to get rid of this musky odor?

Is the solar salt in pellet form? And how old is the softener?

That smell can come from the pellet salt because what it is is salt held together with a glue like substance. So when the pellets sit in the water for an extended period they break down and the glue settles to bottom and makes a yummy mush like substance that attracts bacterias and some nasty stuff. I would recommend emptying the brine tank and clean it out with clorox. If there is not a platform in the bottom of the tank to keep the salt from sitting down all the way in the water I would suggest you buy one to put in there. Then I would tell you to use the extra course salt instead of pellets. The process and function are just the same and you won't have the breakdown and the muck in the bottom anymore.

If it's an all in one system, it get's a little bit more tricky but the same process can be done. Let me know if you would like more assistance

Thanks for the response to my question. This unit is an all-in-one system. I'm guessing that its at least 5+ yrs. Old. We have no manual for it either! Anyway, we just ran a little clorox through it. Should we have emptied out the canister and let the clorox sit in it for awhile before flushing?

I would empty it out completely. And scrub it really well with a disinfectant. Every time you go to store it and not use it for awhile I would run the softener through a regeneration cycle and then empty the brine out completely. Anything left in there for long periods will get stagnant and allow bacteria growth.