When the power returns after an outage, most people go straight back to their routine. The softener, though, may have lost track of time or stopped partway through a cycle, and nothing on the outside will tell you that. A short check right after the power comes back will catch most of these problems before they reach your water heater, your dishwasher, or your skin.
Write down when the power went out
Note the approximate time the outage started and when it ended. If you were away, check with whoever was home or with the utility's outage notice. This matters because a softener regenerates on a schedule, usually at a set time of day, and a missed or interrupted regeneration can leave the resin in the wrong state.
Read the display before you touch anything
Look at the control head. Some units show a flashing clock, an error code, or a status message after a power loss. Photograph the display or write down exactly what it says. If you call a technician later, that note saves time, and it is the kind of detail that belongs in a running record of the unit.
Reset the clock only if the manual says it is safe
Many softeners keep their settings in memory during an outage but lose the clock, while others have no battery backup and lose more. Find the clock setting in your owner's manual and set the correct time of day. Do not change regeneration frequency, cycle length, or hardness settings to compensate for the outage. Those are not repairs, and a wrong number there can cause problems that last for weeks. If the manual does not cover what you see, leave the settings alone and ask a technician.
Check whether a regeneration was interrupted
If the outage happened while the unit was regenerating, the cycle may have stopped partway. Watch the display for a few minutes. If it returns to normal operation on its own, note the time. If it stays in a regeneration stage, shows a code, or seems stuck, do not keep pressing buttons to force it through. Record what you see and call for service.
Look at the brine tank and the drain
Open nothing that needs tools. Look through the outside of the brine tank or its window, if it has one, and check that the salt is still present and has not turned into a solid mass. Check the drain line for a steady flow during and after any cycle you observe. A drain that stays silent after a regeneration you expected to see is worth reporting.
Test the water at two taps
Run a cold tap and a hot tap for a minute each. Pay attention to the feel of the water, any spots on glassware, and how soap lathers in the sink. Compare what you notice with how the water behaved before the outage. Hard water right after an outage is not proof of a fault on its own, because the tank may still be refilling with softened water, so give it a full regeneration cycle before you decide.
Decide what to do next
If the clock resets, the display clears, and the water is soft at both taps after the next regular cycle, you can file the outage note and move on. If the display shows a code, a regeneration stays stuck, the drain stays quiet, or the water remains hard, call a technician and give them your written notes. A clear record of the outage time and the display reading usually speeds up the diagnosis more than any guess about what went wrong.