Water softener manuals & owner guides

Clack WS1 manual & instructions

The WS1 is the valve I install most. One-inch valve, five buttons across the front (some have three), two red arrow handles on the back for the bypass. If it's on your Aqua Pro install, this is your book.

Owners look up four things:

• The bypass — two red arrows on the back. Arrows pointing the way the water flows = service. Arrow tips pointed at each other = bypass.
• The clock — after a long power outage the time flashes and the unit cleans itself at the wrong hour. Resetting it takes about a minute.
• The hardness setting — the number that tells the unit how often to clean itself. Yours was set from your water test at install; it's written on the card at your unit.
• Salt — keep softener salt pellets in the tank, check it monthly, and know what a salt bridge is before it fools you.

Read the Clack WS1 owner's quick guide — the 10-minute version

Watch the Clack bypass animation · Softener emergency & bypass help

The full official manuals:

• WS1 & WS1.25 Drawings and Service Manual — the complete book: parts, service, and the bypass valve section (48 pages, PDF, Clack Corporation)
• WS1 & WS1.25 Operation and Instruction Manual (CS board version, hosted by Clack) — programming and user displays (20 pages, PDF)
• Clack's own one-page Quick Guide (form V3115-01) — bypass diagram, clock, hardness, manual regeneration on a single sheet (PDF). Staged note: a verified direct link for this one-page form was not in the source file at assembly time, so no link is printed here rather than a guessed one.

Straight talk from Clack themselves: their manuals are written for the dealer who installed your system — Clack's note in the front says the book is for the installer “to use to train their customers.” That's what the quick guide above is: the training, minus the parts catalog.

Fleck 5600 & 5600SXT manual & instructions

The 5600 is the valve half the county already has — Pentair's Fleck line, around for decades. Two flavors: the older one has a timer knob and a program wheel you set with a red button; the 5600SXT has a digital display and buttons. Both take the same bypass idea: a block on the back of the valve with a handle, a lever, or two knobs, depending on which bypass was fitted.

Owners look up four things:

• The bypass — on the metal bypass, swing the lever until the arrow points at BYPASS, stamped right in the body. Plastic bypasses: follow the markings on yours.
• The clock — on the knob version: press the red button and turn the 24-hour gear to the right time. On the SXT: it's a menu setting.
• Regeneration — how to start a cleaning cycle by hand (hold the Extra Cycle button on the SXT; turn the knob on the timer version).
• Salt — pellets only, per Pentair's own owner's manual; keep the tank covered.

Read the Fleck 5600 & 5600SXT owner's quick guide — the 10-minute version

Watch the Fleck bypass animation · Softener emergency & bypass help

The full official manuals:

• Fleck 5600 Service Manual (28 pages, PDF, Pentair)
• Fleck 5600SXT Downflow Service Manual (32 pages, PDF, Pentair)
• Fleck SXT Owner's Manual — Pentair's homeowner book: routine care, bypass, brine tank, setting the clock (8 pages, PDF)

Autotrol 255 & Performa manual & instructions

The Autotrol 255 (and its Performa brothers, the 263/268) is the other valve I run into all over Pinellas — Pentair's Autotrol line, usually wearing a Logix 742 or 762 digital control. Its bypass is the Series 256: two round knobs on the back, both get turned, and the body is lettered BYPASS on both sides so you can read it from behind the unit.

Owners look up four things:

• The bypass — two knobs on the back, turned together: “Not in Bypass” is service, “In Bypass” is bypass.
• The clock & programming — the Logix control's quick-start sheet is page 3 of the current manual; it walks the basic setup in order.
• Regeneration — how the control decides, and how to start a cycle by hand.
• Salt — the usual rules: pellets, keep it above the water line, check monthly.

Read the Autotrol 255 & Performa owner's quick guide — the 10-minute version

Watch the Autotrol bypass animation · Softener emergency & bypass help

The full official manuals:

• Autotrol 742/762 Control — 255 & Performa Series Service Manual, current edition, © 2024 (48 pages, PDF, Pentair)
• Autotrol 255 Valve / 400 Series Controls Service Manual — the earlier book, covers the 256 bypass drawings (20 pages, PDF, Pentair)

Hankscraft REV4 manual & instructions

The REV4 is the ceramic-disc valve from Hankscraft Runxin (Reedsburg, Wisconsin) — no pistons to wear the usual way; a ceramic disc does the switching. I run Hankscraft valves on sulfur systems, where they earn their keep. The bypass is a block on the back of the valve with one round handwheel on top — turn it, slowly, between service and bypass. Older REV4 systems were fitted with a push-pull bypass instead (part 41204): a flanged knob on the end of the block that slides in and out on a single piston — nothing turns. The ceramic handwheel is the current style; push-pull is the older-unit style. Check which one you have before you go by anyone's picture — including mine. The push-pull direction is being field-verified: Runxin’s own manual for the 41204 pictures service with the knob pulled out and bypass pushed in, while a Hankscraft dealer guide says the opposite — the push-pull animation flags the conflict on its face, so check the labeled positions on your unit.

Owners look up four things:

• The bypass — handwheel on the back, turned slowly.
• The display & programming — the REV4 runs modes A-01 through A-07 (meter, timer, and smarter compare modes); §7 of the manual is the map.
• Regeneration time — set it for 2 a.m., or whenever nobody's showering.
• Salt — same as every unit on this page: pellets, covered, checked monthly.

Read the Hankscraft REV4 owner's quick guide — the 10-minute version

Watch the REV4 bypass animation · Softener emergency & bypass help

The full official manuals:

• RevV4 Valves & Systems Service Manual (60 pages, PDF, Hankscraft Runxin) — link on hold: the only copy located so far is a print capture, not a clean dealer PDF, so I’m not linking it as the official book until a clean copy is in hand. Call me at (727) 342-0091 and I’ll get you to the right page.

Hankscraft doesn't post this book on its own website — dealers carry it. The manual link stays on hold until a clean Hankscraft dealer copy is in hand, instead of passing off a print capture as the official book; the version details are logged on my end. Push-pull 41204 owners (older units): watch the push-pull bypass animation. Hankscraft problem? See Hankscraft troubleshooting.

Hankscraft REV 2.5 manual & instructions

The REV 2.5 is the smaller, earlier Hankscraft ceramic valve — same idea as the REV4 in a smaller head, and here's the part that confuses people: it uses the exact same bypass as the REV4. Hankscraft changed the head between the two valves, not the bypass — the round-handwheel ceramic bypass (§6 in both manuals) bolts to both. So if you learned the bypass on one, you know it on the other.

Owners look up four things:

• The bypass — same handwheel block as the REV4, on the back.
• The clock & programming — §7 of the manual; regeneration time and mode.
• The hardness setting — set at install from your water test; it's on the card at your unit.
• Salt — pellets, covered, monthly check.

Read the Hankscraft REV 2.5 owner's quick guide — the 10-minute version

Watch the REV 2.5 bypass animation · Softener emergency & bypass help

The full official manuals:

• RevV2.5 Valves & Systems Service Manual, revision 1, February 2020 (37 pages, PDF, Hankscraft Runxin)

One heads-up so the cover doesn’t confuse you: Hankscraft doesn’t post this book on its own website, so the linked copy comes through one of its distributors and wears that distributor’s Genesis Select brand on the cover. The book underneath the cover is Hankscraft’s own RevV2.5 manual — same section 6 bypass, same programming.

Not a softener: your water heater has a manual job too

This shelf is softeners, but the other appliance in the garage has a once-a-year job of its own — and almost nobody does it. A tank water heater collects sediment on the bottom; the makers say to drain and flush it about once a year (every 6 months on hard water, per Rheem), and their warranties are written assuming the maintenance in the manual actually happens. A. O. Smith's warranty says it in plain words: coverage applies with the tank kept “free of damaging water sediment or scale deposits.”

Read the water heater flush owner's guide — the why, the warranty fine print, and the step-by-step

It's a garden-hose job with a few safety steps that matter (power off, scald risk, refill before power). Don't want to do it yourself? I do it as a service — see Other Water Services.