I am not in the trade, but I also have a Kinetico water softener (MACH 40) and have quite a bit of experience with pumps and pipes and valves: designing, installing, troubleshooting, etc.

Is the toothed gear moving on the head of the softener? Kinetico softeners work without electricity, because they rely on the water flowing through the head to control the conditioning cycles, rather than an electric motor. There are several advantages of this, for example the cycles are based on how much water goes though the resin bed rather than some arbitrary time period. Kinetico has different toothed gears to match the average hardness of the water being treated. Ours has a #2 gear in it, which is printed on top of the gear. This gear moves very slowly, so you may have to mark where the number is positioned and come back and check on it after several hours of water use--if you don't use any water the gear won't move. If it doesn't move, something in the internals of the head is not funtioning, could be the little impeller paddles that cause the timing mechanism to work.

Hope this helps,

ProudPugParent, PE, PMP

More likely than not your have a salt bridge (big solid chunk) at the bottom of the brine tank.

How long has the softener been in service?

Have you ever cleaned out the brine tank?

Good thought Lurker, I thought of another potential today after sending off the previous post: Is the water softener "on-line" Oly, can you verify that the water softener is actually in the loop. Describe the position of the valve handles above the Kinetico unit.

Thanks,

P.

With certain Kinetico bypass valves the position of the handle doesn't always indicate bypass or service as they can be inverted to accommodate the installation..

When you hear hooves think horses, not zebras.

The OP most likely has a salt problem judging from his/her post so let's wait till he/she replies instead of confusing them unnecessary.