Plumbing for a water softener and bypass

[alanmeyer]

It is not pressure you lose but rather volume of flow,
i know a lot of plumbers do it this way but in my opinion i would keep the 1"
supply going to all the fixtures this helps all the plumbing last longer,
a softener running to water heater only just wears the water heater out sooner !
The reason is heaters use a sacrificial anode rod that soft water wears out
about 10 times as fast as normal then the water rusts out the tank
i have seen this happen on water heaters just one or two years old

Thanks for the input. Can you elaborate on your comments some more because I'm a bit confused? I can understand your comment about the 1" pipe and that the volume of flow is reduced. However, regarding the plumbing connection, I'm wondering what the issue is. I believe that HJ's suggestion is to "T" the softener output into the cold water input of the water heater. This would feed both the water heater, and feed the rest of the cold water lines in the house.

So, why would the sacrificial anode rod run out any faster if plumbed this way? I mean, the amount of my hot water usage is going to be the same if I plumb at the main or at the water heater. So, the amount of total water flow thru the water heater would be the same. I would expect that whatever wears out will do so at the same rate overall... Or perhaps, are you suggesting that I should not have the water heater downstream from the softener at all?

Thanks

 

[hj]

If you are concerned, but it would probably not be a problem, just run 1'' to the heater than connect with a 3/4 x 3/4 x 1 "bullhead" tee which would split the load between the hot and cold systems. This is the way I usually install softeners when there is no "preplumbed" loop for it. In face, one customer had a softener installed the way you intend to and had a problem with a pressure drop. I converted it to the way I described and eliminated the problem. But let's look at it logically.
1. It appears that your regulator is 3/4" already.
2. If the distribution manifold is at the water heater, which is often the case, after you do your thing the water will have to go from the regulator to the heater area, back to the regulator's area, and then return to the water heater area, then to the house.
3. My way, the water goes from the regulator to the water heater area and then to the house eliminating about 40' feet or so of piping along with its fittings.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[alanmeyer]

1. It appears that your regulator is 3/4" already.
2. If the distribution manifold is at the water heater, which is often the case, after you do your thing the water will have to go from the regulator to the heater area, back to the regulator's area, and then return to the water heater area, then to the house.
3. My way, the water goes from the regulator to the water heater area and then to the house eliminating about 40' feet or so of piping along with its fittings.

All good points.

1. Regulator: Really? Well, that further reduces the importance of the 1"
2. Distribution Manifold: I wish I knew where it was. If I knew for a fact that it was near the water heater (say, just inside the wall near the water heater), then I'd probably just go into the wall directly. However, if that was the case, then why wouldn't there be a pre-plumbed loop?
3. Extra 40': Reading between the lines, the extra length defeats the 1" benefit.

Overall, I think that it's a clever idea. I'm seriously considering it.

 

[hj]

quote; However, if that was the case, then why wouldn't there be a pre-plumbed loop?

1. It costs more time and money.
2. They may not have thought you needed it.
3. If they had, then they might have had to add piping to the outside faucets so they would not use softened water if one was installed, thus even more money.
4. Their bid was the cheapest one for the plumbing so they were not going to add anything to the job without additional charges.

 

[alanmeyer]

As a follow-up to this thread, I wanted to share some of the details of the installation.

Bypass: I ended up installing a 3-way bypass, placing 2 of the valves at the main valve, and one at the softener as it back-feeds into the cold water input side of the water heater.

Line To Softener: The main valve is on the other side of the garage as the water heater and the softener. It's about a 30' run. I ended up running the line up towards the ceiling, and then along the ceiling, and then down to the softener. I decided to go with Pex simply due to the flexibility needed along the path (90 and 45 angles).

Water Softener: Went with a 1.5 ft^3 resin tank with a resin that's suiting to resist chlorine better, and a Fleck 7000 valve. The softener is located where the old water heater tank used to sit (prior to going tankless). The old platform was a bit too small for both the resin and brine tanks, so I extended the width of the platform a bit to accommodate the 2 tanks plus still give access to the tankless WH sitting behind the softener.

Here are some pix:

Main Valve:

Line running from main valve to ceiling (still need to patch the drywall)

Line running horizontally across the garage ceiling

Installed Softener

Thanks again for everyone's help!