Water softener install.

From that pic it looks like you do have a bypass valve on it already. What is above this picture? Where your cold water comes down on the right (blue arrow) it also goes up. That would tell me that if you shut off that valve below and perhaps there is another valve on the line on the left, the water softener is bypassed. Also those gate valves rarely are not serviceable. I would get a wrench and crank that valve. Chances are it will work. Just be ready to turn off the water just in case.

Either way I would put in a bypass. Looks like there is plenty of room for one. You can use gate valves you don't need to use those crank valves you have in the other picture.

Quote from dealgate : From that pic it looks like you do have a bypass valve on it already. What is above this picture? Where your cold water comes down on the right (blue arrow) it also goes up. That would tell me that if you shut off that valve below and perhaps there is another valve on the line on the left, the water softener is bypassed. Also those gate valves rarely are not serviceable. I would get a wrench and crank that valve. Chances are it will work. Just be ready to turn off the water just in case. Either way I would put in a bypass. Looks like there is plenty of room for one. You can use gate valves you don't need to use those crank valves you have in the other picture.

Ya the very back of the water softener has a iron bypass on it. My new unit came with a plastic one to do the same thing. Above the picture just goes to the house. The input line is a T for the Cold (The other side goes to the outside spigots), and out of the softener goes to the water heater I believe or something like that.

There is only the one valve you can see. I wanted to use a ball valve so that it would work reliably in the future and not freeze open like the one there. There is probably less than 3.5 inches between the input and output pipes, and when I looked at the ball valves at the store yesterday they were probably 3" at a minimum.

So even with the plastic bypass the new unit came with, you would go to the effort to plumb a copper one above it?

The whole point of a bypass valve is to be able to service that unit/section of plumbing without shutting your water off until you are done. The integrated one really just lets you bypass the softener I guess if it gets dirty or needs a filter change/salt cleanout. It doesn't allow you to remove that unit. It isn't there for the purpose I would want it; to totally be able to isolate that section of plumbing. But it has been in this long without one, so you certainly could get by without it.

What I do see a lot is that the water main to the house might leak once you start turning it on and off a few times while you are sweating pipes (out where the handle shaft is like above). Also you are in the basement at the lowest point. It will take a LONG time to drain out your house where you can work on the plumbing every time you have to shut off the water. Make sure you have several large buckets ready to catch the water in the pipes and open all of the faucets in the entire house.

Once you have the "real" bypass in place, you can work at your leisure to finish the rest of it.

But again just give that valve a crank with a large wrench. Chances are it will free up. It may leak at the hole where the handle goes into the body. If so, just crank that nut down that is surrounding the hole until the leaking stops. It is frozen due to copper/brass corrosion which is not like rust corrosion on steel. It will free up with a little effort.

BTW: I agree that ball valves are the way to go when you do the new plumbing. You want those on and off - no in between. Gate valves are for precise water control.

Quote from jmolayal : My wife and I just tackled this same type of install. OP, you might want to take a look at your softener before you go buying parts for a bypass. Our Kenmore came with it's own built in bypass valve. And SHARKBITE For the win. We used sharkbite fittings, a length of PEX tubing, and a tube cutter. Less than an hour to replace the old softener with the new. 2 weeks later, not a drop of water spills out. Sure sharkbite was more expensive, but it made the job fast and basically idiot proof. Good luck OP!

If you use sharkbite, is there any need of primer or CPVC cement to be used in any joints. I have kenmore ultra 400 softener and comes with plastic by pass valve but bypass valve has sealant ring and fit-on snaps to be connected to inlet and outlet of softener and also for your home inlet and outlet CPVC pipes. So with sharkbites, there is no place to use primer and CPVC cement. Am I right?

Quote from chamsea : If you use sharkbite, is there any need of primer or CPVC cement to be used in any joints. I have kenmore ultra 400 softener and comes with plastic by pass valve but bypass valve has sealant ring and fit-on snaps to be connected to inlet and outlet of softener and also for your home inlet and outlet CPVC pipes. So with sharkbites, there is no place to use primer and CPVC cement. Am I right?

Correct. No primer or cement is used with sharkbite fittings.

Quote from chamsea : If you use sharkbite, is there any need of primer or CPVC cement to be used in any joints. I have kenmore ultra 400 softener and comes with plastic by pass valve but bypass valve has sealant ring and fit-on snaps to be connected to inlet and outlet of softener and also for your home inlet and outlet CPVC pipes. So with sharkbites, there is no place to use primer and CPVC cement. Am I right?

On my kenmore that I just bought I am using the bypass supplied with it, and then there is an additional piece that goes in the top. It has an oring on it with a plastic safety ring that locks it into place, and is then threaded on the top. I got a copper threaded reducer that I am then going to sweat a small stub of copper pipe onto the top of to then connect my sharkbite on to, for one side. The other side I am hooking up with pure copper because by the time I install a new valve I only have 5" of clearance and its too short for a sharkbite. I also needed to adjust for the new width.

Quote from chamsea : If you use sharkbite, is there any need of primer or CPVC cement to be used in any joints. I have kenmore ultra 400 softener and comes with plastic by pass valve but bypass valve has sealant ring and fit-on snaps to be connected to inlet and outlet of softener and also for your home inlet and outlet CPVC pipes. So with sharkbites, there is no place to use primer and CPVC cement. Am I right?

The only time you use primer on plastic pipe is when you're going to glue the pipe together, after applying the correct type of glue. And if you're joining plastic pipe made of PVC, CPVC, or ABS and it's not threaded, it best to use glue.