This useful video shows how your water softener is linked to your mains water supply and how the hard mains water is channelled into your water softener, so that soft water flows to all parts of the house. Should you wish, it also demonstrates that, by turning a couple of valves from on to off, you can by-pass the water softener and return to hard water, should you wish.

“But don’t forget to turn it back on!”
It’s fair to say that once people have soft water, they are very reluctant to return to using hard water!