I have a water softener and it hasn't been running its cycles. I plugged it in to another out let and the water has been running and ran for 2 hrs. or more. I checked the salt tank and no water is in there. The water pipe on the left was open, the center one closed and the one on the right is closed. I disconnected the electricity and the water kept running. I turned off the left faucet and it turns off the hot water in my whole house. My home is heated by hot water. Why would turning off this one faucet turn off the hot water in the whole house and will this affect my heat? Current weather in the 20's. Please help!

Before your water reaches the water heater it passes through the softner. If you close the softner then your water heater has no supply make up water. I think you may be referring to the by-pass manifold on the top of the softner. Correct position for "run" would be left open, center closed, right open. Your domestic hot water is a separate system unless your heat is supplied by a combi-boiler that does both jobs. Do you believe you have a combi or is there a separte water heater? Back to you.

There is a separate hot water heater and I do get hot water once I turn on the left faucet. I do not leave the left faucet on as I do not want a huge water bill.

The plumbing you refer to, the left is off, center is off and so is the right. The right faucet I cannot move to open. I do not know if I have a combi unit or the other one you refer to. I do get cold water in the kitchen and from my understand is because it does not go through the water softener.

I'm baffled.

You need to give us some more details. Where is the water running, out the drain for the water softener? If so, it must be stuck in its regeneration cycle. Are the left and right valves on the pipes to the water softener? The middle one is on another pipe running between them? If so, I would close both the right and left valves and open the middle one. This should give you water service to all the house including the heating system.

You then need to find the problem with the water softener and fix it. I have limited experience with them and won't try to tell you how. You may have to have somebody come work on it, perhaps from the dealer for your brand. If the system is very old, his honest answer may be that you would be better off replacing it. Another option would be to go to Lowe's and buy a new one and instal it yourself. Depending on what kind of piping, you have and how much needs changed, you could do it yourself.