New water softener - no drain

[beanie376]

Hi are living in a rental house and we just purchased a Morton 30,000 gallon water softener. The house was not plumed correctly and we had to install it at the main water source. The problem is there is NO drain nearby it is 30 feet away. We were going to run PVC pretty straight 20 feet away and through the wall the last 10 feet to the drain next to the furnace.

Question is, is this the best way? Can we do it with any type of flexible hosing? That would be cheapet than the pvc?

Thanks.

[Gary Slusser]

You should soften all the water used in the house, so ya did good.

You should use 5/8" OD 1/2" ID PE (polyethylene) drain line, or 1/2" PVC or 3/4" CPVC. NO HOSE or Vinyl tubing, both are soft and pliable, PE is harder and stiff. Whatever you use should be supported every so far so it doesn't sag and kink the line closed.

[Gary Slusser]

Unless you use the next larger size, PEX is not a good choice, plus it is more expensive.

IMO trap yes, but what do you mean vented trap, what's that look like?

[Gary Slusser]

I can't see what you're describing but people aren't going to go through all that when a trap using larger ID pipe than the drain line, connected to a much larger ID pipe allows air into it as a vent does as the drain water (that is flow controlled to usually not more than 3-4 gpm for a large softener, most are no more than 2-3 gpm) goes through the trap. I.E. a 3/4" sch 40 PVC trap on a 1.5" or larger house drain pipe with a 1/2" stream of softener drain water going through the 3/4" into the 1.5". It doesn't need a vent to accomplish that but... everyone should follow their local code. :wink:

[beanie376]

Ok, it will be draining into the drain next to the furnace and water heater is. We have gotten some 1/2 inch PVC and I am assuming that will do the trick. Should we use 3/4 instead will it make a difference?

[Gary Slusser]

One of the main reasons our plumbing board promulgated rules for pump and filter installers is because they were not following the code.

Yeah a hard connecction without a trap is bad. Making a trap is more than adequate. But requiring the addition a vent that is in many cases impossible, is wrong. Making a trap with a stand pipe works fine and with an air gap is to most codes, or was and it works perfectly.

[Gary Slusser]

Ok, it will be draining into the drain next to the furnace and water heater is. We have gotten some 1/2 inch PVC and I am assuming that will do the trick. Should we use 3/4 instead will it make a difference?

Yes 1/2" PVC is fine. No need for larger unless you're going to use a dozen elbows etc..

[Gary Slusser]

Thousands of service calls and installations I've never seen it and I don't hear of the problem from any of my roughly 1.5 thousand online customers. Or from all the thousands of forum and newsgroup (Google Groups) posts I've read and/or answered about softeners.