Water softener

Anybody know anything about these systems? Bought a new house that has one and I’ve never dealt with one before. Got a weird timer on top, doesn’t seem to be filling with water ever though….

Got a photo of it?

They aren’t supposed to fill completely with water. Maybe a foot of water at the bottom is as much as you will get and that should be covered with salt anyway. There isn’t much to them, but if it’s going through its cycles its likely working properly. Get yourself a water hardness test kit and check a couple faucets in the house, you’ll occasionally find houses with kitchen faucets not on soft water because it’s not the greatest for drinking.

Just because it might be advancing through all cycles doesn’t mean it’s working, that only means that the motor is operating and the piston isn’t hung up. Like Munchy said though, get a test kit from the hardware store and test the water. If it’s not softening then start troubleshooting. If it’s not adding any water the problem is likely a faulty brine valve in the head of the unit or possibly the brine check in the brine tank is stuck closed. Post a picture of the unit or at least a model # to see if we can help. If it’s a real old unit you may be better off replacing it.

Will do on the pic, thanks for the tips. I know it isn’t getting water into the tank at all.

Bypass is probably on. They can be a bear to move if they have been sitting in the same spot for while.