Water softener question.

My grandmother’s house has a softener and she went to the hospital. We do not see anyone living in the house for about a year. I’m planning on stopping in 2 or 3 times a week but I don’t see running the softener with the lack of water that will be used. I’m planning on a shower from time to time and might get a load of launder every month. At this point we think it will be at least a year before it will be put on the market or someone will be living there.

It’s a newer softener that automatically runs every week weather it needs it or not. After reading the book I can not find a way to turn that off or move it to biweekly.

There is a water softener bypass assembly plumed in above the unit. I would unplug it and bypass the unit but I don’t know what troubles I would run in to if I every turned it back (was thinking bacteria and possible buildup of sediment or something.

What would you do?

Just my suggestion since I don't consider myself a water softener expert... get the brand and model off the appliance and do a google search for the operation manual. I'm sure the principle is the same for about all of them but their bells and whistles may vary. I've installed a few of them but have no real knowledge of how they work.

I watched the video on it today (and when I installed it). But I sat down and reread all the books that came with it and didn’t see anything on turning it off for any amount of time. There was info for turning it off for 3 days (I’m thinking for remolding your house in 3 days but you would need a good crew).

Next time I’m up there I’ll get the model number and other info off of it. I was thinking of getting it today but it slipped my mind.

I’m off for a side questions.
I turned the hot water heater all the way down (electric).
All out door water vales are off and drained.
I reset the heat to 60 up stairs and 55 down stairs.
Did I forget anything important?

Any security system to be concerned with?

Otherwise... depends on the climate of where you're at....outdoor pipes that can freeze, etc......

Unless you can come up with the brand of softener or its control valve no one can tell you how to change the settings.

Otherwise, unplug it and by-pass it but when you decide to use it again, you'll have to sanitize it first.

Cold falls and heat rises, so warmer downstairs or in a basement and cooler upstairs.

No security system but I’m I have a wireless setup with motion detectors I’m going to put in next week.

I’m not paying the bills the daughter is and she wants the heat set 60 up and 55 down stairs. But I would think 55 for both.

I know I would need the brand name and model number to see if someone could tell me how to change the settings but I was more instead in the part where how bad it would be to unplug it and to bypass or not to bypass the unit. The book says that you can’t change that setting but that means they don’t want you to.

As for the weather we get a cold late winter; normally the sun is out within 36 hours of ice or snow fall. The only out side pipe is the main. I cut off and drained all water hose things. They had a cutoff with drain screw (witch I left open) and opened the out side.

Leaving the water heater at the lowest temperature can encourage the growth of very bad things (e.g., Liegonella) in the water.

pour some antifreeze in all the sink traps and toilets etc.
Stops the trap from freezing if the heat fails and stops the trap from evaporating dry...

Legionella needs warm water to reproduce; neither hot (> 140 F) nor cold.

If you just unplug the water softener electrical system and don't bypass it, the occasional use of water will keep it from getting stagnant.

I would plug the softener in and push the manual regeneration once a month to keep the parts from getting gummed up. Most mechanical things have a higher failure rate from non-use than from occasional use.

BobNH, what parts do you think could or will get "gummed up"?