This post by Gary the Water Guy discusses Water Softeners for Cottages.

If you are on a well in Cottage Country, chances are your water is hard and you need a water softener. Using a water softener in your cottage is pretty much the same as using one at home except I have a few suggestions that will make your water softener do a better, more efficient job and last much longer.
The first thing to make sure of when you're investing in a water softener is that it is a metered water softener with an electronic valve. Metered water softeners make sure they regenerate or clean themselves based on your water usage, which in a cottage is all over the map depending on how many people are using the cottage. A water softener with an electronic valve can be setup with a default regeneration time of 14 days so if you do not use up its capacity within 14 days it will regenerate anyway to keep the media at peak performance.
Some cottagers shut off all the water and sometimes the hydro too when they leave for longer periods of time. If that is your situation, you need to realize that the water softener will not clean itself or regenerate while the water or the hydro has been shut off. So when you arrive at the cottage after the water has been off for more than 2 weeks be sure to turn the water and hydro back on and then immediately regenerate the water softener by starting a regeneration cycle. Try to use as little water as possible during this regeneration.
Water softeners cannot be winterized! So if you have a water softener in your cottage over the winter, be sure to leave at least enough heat on that it doesn't freeze. If there is no heat on during the winter, be sure to remove the water softener and store it in a warm spot for the winter.
Power failures occur much more frequently in cottage country so, if you don't have a generator for backup, be sure to check that the time displayed on your water softener is current. If not, reset it to the current time. I have other videos in this series that show you how.
During time periods where you are using a lot of water you can keep the salt full in the brine tank but during times when there is very little water usage it is far better to keep the salt level at or slightly lower than the water level in the brine tank. Also, be sure to stir up the salt before adding a new bag to keep it from forming a salt bridge in the brine tank.
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