I just gave mine a kick, and heard them fall. Hope that works, cause I wasnt going though pellets, and my water was hard. Is there a way to know if its on? Its an old Kenmore, the clock is on, just dont know if that means the machine is running.
If it wasn’t using salt then you most likely had a “salt bridge” keeping salt away from the recharge cycle. You should be good now if you heard the salt fall. You’ll know soon by the softness of your water if indeed that solved the issue.
