How to Bypass Your Clack Water Softener (Video)

Need to take your softener out of the loop for a few hours or a few days? Steve Parker of Clear Water Filtration walks through it in about a minute. The written steps below match the video, so you can follow along at the unit with your phone in one hand and the handles in the other.

A bypass is the softener's off switch for the house. Water keeps flowing to every tap, it just skips the treatment tank on the way. Here is why you would use it, exactly how to do it on a Clack valve, and when the right move is a phone call instead.

Why You Would Bypass Your Clack System

There are two everyday reasons to bypass your Clack water softener. The first is a problem with the system. If you spot a leak, hear the unit cycling when it should not, or notice water where it does not belong, bypassing keeps water flowing to the house while the softener waits for service. Nothing has to be shut down at the main.

The second reason is that you want raw, untreated water somewhere in the home. Filling a pool or hot tub, watering the garden, or washing the car does not need softened water, and running thousands of gallons through the softener just uses up salt and resin capacity. Bypass for the afternoon, then put it back in service.

Step by Step: Bypassing a Clack Water Softener

1. Locate the control valve. It is the head on top of the softener tank, the part with the display and buttons.
2. Go to the back side of the unit and find the two red bypass valve handles. In normal service both handles point in the direction the water flows, in on one side and out on the other.
3. Turn both red handles so the arrows face each other. The system is now bypassed and every tap in the house is getting untreated water.
4. To put the softener back in service, turn both handles back so the arrows point in the direction of flow again.

That is the whole job: no tools, no power-down, and no salt handling needed.

What Bypass Does and Does Not Do

Bypass sends raw water to every fixture in the house. Expect hardness spots on dishes and fixtures and some scale while it lasts, especially on hot water. The softener itself is not harmed by sitting in bypass, whether for an hour or a week.

Bypass does not stop a leak inside the valve body or the brine tank. If water is still escaping after you turn the handles, shut the house supply and call. Regeneration will not run while the unit is bypassed, so the resin bed simply sits as it was until you put it back in service.

When to Call Instead of Bypassing

Bypass is a holding move, not a repair. Call for water softener service and repair in Vermont when a leak continues in bypass, when there are no red handles or the valve is an older model you cannot identify, when the salt level is not dropping or has bridged into a crust, when the unit regenerates constantly, or when hard water comes right back after you take it out of bypass. Our technicians work on all makes and models and can usually schedule same-day. The Clack WS1TT service manual is on our manuals page if you want to read ahead, and you can request service online or call 802-496-5544.

Which Systems Use These Handles?

Aqua Bubble softener and filter systems installed by Clear Water Filtration use Clack control valves, including the 5-button, 3-button and WS1TT twin valves listed on our product manuals page, and many other softeners built on a Clack valve use the same two red handles. Kinetico systems use a different bypass. See our more how-to videos page for the Kinetico backwash and K5 filter change clips.

If bypassing was step one of a bigger problem, a free in-home water test and a service visit from our Waitsfield shop sort out the rest. We serve homes across Vermont and explain what we find before we leave.

Service Locations:
Vermont: Washington, Lamoille, Addison, Orleans County, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Orange, Rutland, Windham, Windsor