You are down in your basement when you notice that there is some water on the floor by your water softener. Oh great, your water softener might be leaking while it is regenerating. You want to start your water softener regeneration to see if it is leaking, but how can you stop it from regenerating once you have started the regeneration process?
You can stop a water softener from regenerating by bypassing the water softener, advancing the regeneration process to the end, unplugging the water softener, or not using water to trigger the water softener to regenerate.
You may want to stop your water softener from regenerating in the future because you are going away on vacation, or maybe you want to stop your water softener while it is in the middle of the regeneration process. Either way, there are a few ways that you can stop a water softener from regenerating.
How to stop your water softener regeneration.
How to cycle through your water softener’s regeneration process?
Depending on the type of water softener that you have, you may have to physically advance your water softener through its regeneration cycle or you may simply have to press a button or two to get your water softener to advance through its regeneration cycles.
Check out this short video about the regeneration cycles of a water softener.
How to advance the regeneration on a basic water softener with a mechanical dial?
On the most basic water softeners, it is very common that you will see a large dial that can be turned clockwise to advance your water softener through the different cycles of the regeneration process.
This dial is connected to the main piston of the water softener which controls where water flows through the control valve in order for the water softener to perform the cycles needed to regenerate the water softener resin inside of the water softener tank.
If your water softener has a dial like this and you need to stop your water softener from regenerating, simply turn the dial clockwise until the small window on the dial comes to the 9 O’clock position where you will see the words “In Service”.
This is the position where the water softener is not using any water for its regeneration process and the system should no longer have water rushing through it.
If there is still water rushing through your water softener when it is in this position, there may be an internal issue and you will need to bypass your water softener to stop water flowing through it.
How to advance the regeneration of a non-electric water softener?
You will need a Phillips screwdriver to advance a non-electric water softener.
Here is a quick video on how to manually regenerate a non-electric water softener.
A non-electric water softener uses an internal disc to advance the water softener through its regeneration cycles.
In order to manually advance the water softener through the regeneration process, you will need to insert a #2 (the most common size) Phillips head screwdriver into the “X” slot in the very center of the non-electric water softeners control valve, then press straight down firmly and turn the screwdriver clockwise while pressing down until you hear the water stop rushing through the water softener.
When you press down on the spring-loaded disc and start turning it clockwise, you may not feel like you are turning anything, but as you turn the disc, you will feel it stop as it makes contact with a tab that is connected to the disc that advances the water softener.
Continue to turn the screwdriver and you should hear some clicking sounds as you advance the regeneration disc inside of the valve. Once you have advanced the regeneration through the regeneration cycles, you will hear the water flow get quieter, and eventually, it will stop.
How to advance the regeneration of an electric water softener.
Most electric water softeners will have a button that says “Regen” or “Regeneration” that can be pressed to advance the water softener through its regeneration process.
This button is used to start the water softener regeneration process as well as to advance the water softener to the next cycle of the regeneration process.
By pressing the “Regen” or “Regeneration” button (sometimes you will need to press (and hold) the button down for a few seconds), you will be telling the computer of your water softener to start a regeneration cycle or advance to the next cycle of the regeneration process.
If you need to stop your electric water softener while it is regenerating, simply press (and hold down on some water softeners) to go through each of the regeneration cycles until the water softener comes to the end of the regeneration process and water stops rushing through the system.
Some electric water softeners require you to use a combination of 2 buttons to advance your water softener regeneration process. There are many possibilities, but it is often a combination of the “Next” button or a button with a circle on it and then the up or down button.
On many electric water softeners, the digital display will change color during the regeneration process and display what cycle of the regeneration process it is currently doing.
Once the regeneration process is complete, you should no longer hear water rushing through the water softener, and on most electric water softeners, the digital display will show the current time of day.
When you have reached this point, you have stopped your electric water softener regeneration process and put it back into the “In service” position. This is the position where the water softener is softening your water.
How to stop your water from going through your water softener?
If you are unable to get your water softener to finish its regeneration process by advancing it through the regeneration cycles, you may have to bypass the water softener completely.
Bypassing a water softener simply means that you are diverting your water from going through the water softener.
By turning a valve, dial, handle, a pair of knobs, or sliding a piston from one side to another, you can stop water flowing through your water softener or add water to the water softener brine tank but still have water going to your home.
If you have your owner’s manual for your water softener, look for the section about “How to bypass your water softener” for instructions on how to bypass your type of water softener system.
If you do not have your owner’s manual nearby, you may have to turn a series of three valves to bypass your water softener.
You may have to turn a single handle to bypass your water softener.
There might be a dial that you need to turn to bypass your water softener.
You may have to slide a piston from one side to another.
You may have to turn two knobs a quarter turn to bypass your water softener?
Once you have identified how to bypass your water softener, your water should stop flowing through your water softener and you will still have water in your home.
How to prevent your water softener from regenerating.
Let’s say that you are going on a short trip or an extended vacation and you would like to make sure that your water softener will not be using water while you are gone.
Shutting off your water at home is one way to stop water from going through your water softener, but there might be reasons that you would rather just have your water softener idle while you are gone rather than your entire home.
See my article “Should I turn off my water softener when I go on vacation?“
When you want to prevent your water softener from regenerating, a simple way to do that is by bypassing the water softener so that no water can flow through the water softener, but there will still be water available to other areas of the home.
Bypassing your water softener will only prevent your water softener from using water which means that it will not use any salt and will not waste any water, but it does not always mean that your water softener will not attempt to regenerate.
If your water softener is programmed to regenerate by time rather than water usage, it will go through its regeneration process whether it is getting water to it or not.
This will not normally do any harm to the water softener, and when you put the water softener back into service, it should go back to operating just as well as it did before it was bypassed.
But if your water softener operates based on water usage, that does NOT necessarily mean that it will not attempt a regeneration just because it is bypassed.
Many more advanced electronic water softeners will attempt to regenerate after a pre-set amount of time whether water has been used or not to keep the water softener resin fresh and ready to soften your water.
This is because many modern water softeners have an “Override” function which will trigger the water softener to regenerate no matter how much water has been used.
This “Override” function can usually be shut off in the programming of the computer, but in most cases, I recommend leaving it on to keep the water softener resin working properly.
Will unplugging a water softener stop it from regenerating?
This is a common misunderstanding about how a water softener actually works.
An electric water softener uses electricity to power its computer and motors to control the functions of the system. When an electric water softener is unplugged, it will simply stay in whatever function it is in when the water softener is unplugged.
If your water softener is in the middle of a regeneration process, unplugging the water softener will stop it from advancing through the regeneration process and NOT stop it from regenerating!
When an electric water softener will not stop regenerating, you can unplug it, but you will need to bypass the water softener or manually advance the water softener through the regeneration cycles or bypass the system to stop system from regenerating.
Can I stop my water softener from regenerating when I’m on vacation?
Most of the time when you plan to go away for a vacation, there is no need to do anything to your water softener because it will not regenerate due to the lack of water being used in the home.
But if you are going on an extended vacation or have a reason why you do not want your water softener to regenerate while you’re gone for ANY reason, some more advanced electric water softeners have a “Vacation” mode which tells the water softener NOT to regenerate regardless of water usage or override functions.
Not all digital water softeners have this function, but on many water softeners, you can press the “NEXT” button to advance to the “Vacation” function and turn it on or off quite easily. Check your owner’s manual to see if your water softener has the “Vacation” function.
A water softener is the hardest working appliance in most homes, and sometimes it may malfunction where you will need to stop it from regenerating.
If you can, advance your water softener through its regeneration process to stop it from regenerating, if you are unable to advance through your water softener regeneration, you may have to bypass the water softener to get it to stop regenerating.
Hello…recently moved to house with Culligan softener manufactured in 2009 with no manuals or paperwork…how can we get one???THANK.YOU FOR ANY HELP.
Hello Helen and thank you for the question.
Many times, large water treatment companies will not provide an owner’s manual upon installation of a water treatment system because it can encourage more questions from the customer and expose discrepancies in what the customer was promised, so there may never have been one there from the beginning.
If you would like an owner’s manual, you should contact your local dealer and request that they send you a manual. They may try to send a salesperson to you instead to try and sell you a new system so be sure to specify that you only want them to send you a manual for your water softener in the mail.
I hope this was helpful!
Paul
I need to reset how often my water softener to regenerate once a week per the person who serviced my system. I mistakenly hit the wrong thing when I set the clock and it regenerates every day! The instructions I have is a laminated sheet and it doesn’t tell you this information. I am the only person in my house, and I don’t use a lot of water. Thanks
Jennifer
Hello Jennifer and thank you for the question.
Without knowing the make and model of your water softener and the characteristics of your water, I am unable to help you change any settings on your system.
Try searching for an online owner’s manual for your water softener and make sure to include the make and model of the system.
Try a search like “ABC model 123 water softener manual” or “How to program an ABC model 123 water softener”
I hope this was helpful.
Paul
We are in the midst of a drought and our well water is low.
In order to conserve water, I’d like to turn off the regeneration mode as I was told it uses a lot of water.
Is this a good idea? We have the RainSoft system.
Hello Mr. Hohn and thank you for the question.
If a water softener does not regenerate, it will not be able to soften your water or remove dissolved iron from your water. If your water contains significant hardness or iron, you may get hard water spotting or orange iron spotting on surfaces where your water makes contact.
You could get permanent etching on glasses, dishes, faucets, and shower doors.
If you do not have iron in your water and your water hardness is relatively low (less than 7 grains per gallon) you may not experience much spotting and will be fine for a while but since I do not know the characteristics of your water, I can not predict exactly what may happen.
I suggest that you read “What Happens When A Water Softener Runs Out Of Salt” for more details about what you may experience if your water softener is no longer treating your water.
I hope this was helpful
Paul
Do you know if there is anyway to change a cycle to a pause or break period to allow water to replenish in the well. Our jet pump will run dry after about 35-40 minutes into the regeneration. I’d like to have say cycle 1 backflush for it’s time then instead of cycle 2 being down brine have cycle 2 just do nothing but countdown a timer for say an hour. Then cycle 3 is down brine and so on. We have waterrite f2cc valve the 5 button 3 above 2 below. I have been through all the settings and don’t see how to do this. as it stands I have to manually unplug the pump and softener once it sucks air and then wait an hour or so and let it finish.
Hello Jason and thank you for the question.
There are some water softeners that are highly programmable which allow you to add a “Pause” cycle between cycles or can even break up a cycle into 2 or shorter cycles.
Check your owner’s manual to see if you can add cycles to your water softener programming, if so, you should be able to add a “Pause” type cycle in between cycles to break up the regeneration process into shorter cycles over a longer period of time.
I hope this was helpful.
Paul