No drain near softener - looking for idaes

[Peter Griffin]

sure you can ( you shouldn't) but you can put a check at the softener and still drop the drain pipe into an indirect receptacle.

[zl700]

A check with an indirect drain would be a waste of time, if you use a air gap, nothing could back up the line if the softener was removed as previously suggested.

Fleck states:
Never connect the drain line directly into a drain. Allow an air-gap between the drain line and waste line to prevent possibility of back- siphon

[Akpsdvan]

The one that gets me is the Sears book that shows either the drain line going to the floor drain or into a laundry tub....

[Skip Wolverton]

Di you mean to say 8" (inches), or 8' (feet)?

Thanks Gary. It is 8 feet.

[Peter Griffin]

The one that gets me is the Sears book that shows either the drain line going to the floor drain or into a laundry tub....

Both are acceptable by national codes. I wonder if he can just let it dump outside? which may or may not be acceptable depending on what, and where you are dumping it. ( really pisses the missus when you kill her bagonias )

[Tater]

Thanks Gary. It is 8 feet.

In my case I can't dump it outside due to freezing.

[Gary Slusser]

Follow my instructions and you'll be fine.

[Tater]

In my case I can't dump it outside due to freezing.

Thanks Gary and everyone else that helped. I thought I would add to this thread rather than starting a new one since it explains most of the issues.
I now need a recomendation for a Softener. There are two and a half baths but one full bath is in a spare bedroom that is never used. It's only me and my wife here.
The units I've looked at in Home Depot and Sears have a barbed shaft for the wastewater discharge. It looks like about a 1/2" tube would fit over it. A 3/4 inch PE was recomended earlier in the thread but would I have to add a special fitting to upsize and is upsizing necessary?

I'm extra worried about getting this right because I have to pick out and buy a Softener first and have a friend come over (hopefully next weekend) and run the waste line up and through the ceiling. Once the Softener is in place I need to have a Plumber come over to cut into the main and hook up the Softener so everything needs to be in place and working.

Thanks in advance.

[Peter Griffin]

I try and stay away from equipment sold at big box stores. The valve bodies are poorly designed and manufactured and those units seldom last much longer than 5 years or so. If you are going to install it youself then look for either Clack ( the WS-1, not the EE ) or a Fleck valve. You have to decide on demand metered or not but I highly recommend a demand metered valve. They save salt and are very easy to program and service. If you don't like electronics then a Fleck 5600 will serve well. There are a whole bunch of online dealers that will be more than happy to help you out.

[Akpsdvan]

Sears, GE, Polar Star are All The Same Units,, package might be different, but the valves are The Same..

[Gary Slusser]

Thanks Gary and everyone else that helped. I thought I would add to this thread rather than starting a new one since it explains most of the issues.

I now need a recomendation for a Softener. There are two and a half baths but one full bath is in a spare bedroom that is never used. It's only me and my wife here.
The units I've looked at in Home Depot and Sears have a barbed shaft for the wastewater discharge. It looks like about a 1/2" tube would fit over it. A 3/4 inch PE was recomended earlier in the thread but would I have to add a special fitting to upsize and is upsizing necessary?

I'm extra worried about getting this right because I have to pick out and buy a Softener first and have a friend come over (hopefully next weekend) and run the waste line up and through the ceiling. Once the Softener is in place I need to have a Plumber come over to cut into the main and hook up the Softener so everything needs to be in place and working.

Thanks in advance.

The Kenmore, the GE at Home Depot and the Whirlpool at Lowe's are all made by the same company and have many interchangeable parts except for the cabinets. They are not a good choice because they do don't last very long but none of them is going to work with you drain line situation. Only Clack and Fleck and some Autotrol valves will.

I suggest a correctly sized softener based on the family size, number of bathrooms and the type of fixtures in them. It should have a Clack WS-1 CS version valve. If you bought it online from me it should ship Monday and be anywhere in the lower 48 Tuesday to Friday; shipped from a warehouse in the east, midwest or west.

[Tater]

Thanks, I forgot to mention that the water in my town is horrible. Very hard and lots of lime. I will be bringing a sample in to Sears, they will test it for free and I'll post the results.
The water in this town is notorious though so I expect the worse.
Assuming it's really bad, do your recommendations still stand or do you need test results?

[Gary Slusser]

You need test results to size and program the control valve.

[Akpsdvan]

From what you have told so far a 1.5 cubic foot unit with a quality valve will do nicely for your house.
Any thing over 1.5 is over kill unless you have 5 bathrooms and 8 people.

[Tater]

I'm not familiar with the term "control valve". Sorry for the rookie questions but I haven't seen that list on the units I've looked at.