[Paul T]

Guys - I recently moved to a new house that has well water and a water softener very similar to this pic (except I have 2 of the blur tanks stacked on top on each other, with a control valve on top).

I have NO idea what to do with this thing. When we first moved in, I took a look inside the tank (brine tank?) and it was probably 2/3 full with what I assume was some type of salt. Fast forward 2 months, and I look in there and there is maybe 12" of grey, nasty looking salt remnants at the bottom and that's it. Now, we had our water tested before closing and it was in great shape. To what extent this contraption is responsible for that I don't know.

I was under the impression these were pretty low maintenence, but I have absolutey no idea what to do with this thing.

Anyone familiar with these? Do I just go buy some salt (I think there are different types?) and dump it in there every so often? Is it normal to burn through that much salt so quickly? The brine tank is probably 3-4 feet high so there was a fair amt of salt in there! I have not touched the valve - it looks like it's set to automatically "regenerate" every so often, whatever that means, I really have no idea. Appreciate any pointers anyone has, I'd rather not pay someone $150 to come to the house and dump salt in it if that's all it needs../.