Pinellas County, FLWe teach you to run it
Every softener I install comes with a lesson. Before I leave, you run the bypass yourself, set the clock, and know what the salt's doing — about twenty minutes, your hands on it. Nobody ever showed you how your softener works? That's not an accident — untaught customers make service calls. I'd rather have your referral than your $150. I'll teach you the whole thing in about twenty minutes.
The lesson, step by step (20–25 minutes, your hands on it)
Total 20–25 minutes, hands-on: your hands do every step, my hands point.
- The bypass — your most important valve (5 min). Where it is, what it does (“this takes the softener out of the line — house still gets water, softener sits safe”), you work it both ways twice. Then: “Pipe bursts at 2 a.m.? Bypass first, main shutoff second, then call me.” We walk to your home's main shutoff too. Practice any time on the emergency & bypass page.
- Salt — the one thing you must feed it (3 min). How to check the level, what “half full” looks like, what a salt bridge is (the crust that fools you into thinking it's full), how to break one safely.
- The clock — when it cleans itself (4 min). What regeneration is, why it is set for 2 a.m., how to reset the time after a power outage (the number-one confusion after every Florida storm), you set it once yourself.
- The hardness dial — how often it cleans (5 min). What grains of hardness means, what your water tested, where your setting sits and the safe band on your card. What turning it up does (cleaner feel, more salt and water used) and down (saves salt, risks scale).
- What normal looks and sounds like (3 min). The sounds of a regeneration, the water in the brine tank is supposed to be there, the drain line drip during a cycle is not a leak.
- The hands-off list (2 min). “These parts you don't touch — not because it's a secret, because they're set to your water and a wrong turn costs you a valve. You see this card, you call this number.” One exception for hands-on Clack owners, below. Photo of the final settings, card zip-tied on, done.
Your zone and my zone
Green zone (yours to touch): bypass operation, regeneration clock, salt level, and hardness adjustment inside the range written on your settings card — I set it, write your tested value, and mark the safe band (for example: your water tested 15 grains; you may run 13–18; outside that, call me).
Red zone (call me): anything inside the valve head on Hankscraft and other brands' valves, brine and flow settings, and anything involving pump wiring or electrical beyond the ordinary power switch on a well system. I photograph your settings at install and at every annual visit, so there's never a “it was always set like that” argument.
Settings changed outside your card's range are a service visit, not a warranty visit — plain, fair, and agreed before anyone touches anything. See the warranty page.
The settings card — the lesson that stays in the house
A card zip-tied at your unit with your own settings, the bypass steps, and my phone number. Cost to me: a couple of dollars. Value to you at 2 a.m.: the whole lesson, in writing, at the unit. Your manual lives in the manuals library — find your valve there any time.
Go deeper, if you're hands-on
Clack WS1: the seal cage swap
About the only thing that wears out on this valve is the seal cage — and I'll teach you to swap it yourself, free, the day I install it. You'll never pay a service call for it. The part lives on my shelf.
Hankscraft REV4 & REV 2.5: troubleshooting
What you can check yourself — power, clock, bypass, salt — and what stays mine: boards, motors, and the inside of the valve. Error codes included: read it, write it down, call me with the code.
Not my install? I teach those too.
The Know Your System house call — $149: I come out, walk your exact unit (Fleck, Clack, Culligan, RainSoft, Kinetico, big-box brands), teach you the bypass, the clock, the hardness setting, and what normal looks and sounds like, and leave your settings written on a card at the unit. If that visit turns into a rebuild or a new system, the $149 comes off the job. It is not credited toward an ordinary service call — some of those run about the price of the lesson itself. Details on the emergency page.
Book the Know Your System Visit — $149
On the care plan? Every year I come out, check your settings, and re-teach anything you've forgotten.
“Every softener I install comes with a lesson. Before I leave, you'll know how to bypass it, set it, and feed it — because a machine you can't run is a machine that owns you.”
“Pipe bursts at two in the morning, you don't need a video. You need to already know where your bypass is. My customers do.”
Aqua Pro Services · Licensed & Insured · (727) 342-0091
Owner tips by email
Leave your email and I'll send the short owner tips — the checks, settings, and reminders that keep a softener out of trouble. No spam, and you can stop it any time.
Print the lesson
The settings card is the lesson that stays in the house — print it, fill it in, tape it at the unit. The recap sheet covers the whole lesson, including your zone and the hands-off list.