>>3008380 I didn't do a good job of describing my question. My old water softener was entirely disconnected, pulled off the piping yesterday. But I was still getting water to my kitchen sink. So this MUST mean there is some sort of bypass around the softener, which means there is a mixing point downstream where both paths meet. What controls this mixing point to make sure that once I open the softener back up, I'm not just getting straight hard water still? What forces the flow through the soft…