Softener drain options

[Eliteconcept]

Hi all,
I bought my home in June this year and I was looking at stuff in the basement this weekend and developed a question.

BACKGROUND
House has a interior perimeter drain tile (dry basement system). 2 sump pit basins. Each with a battery backup.
I had the water softener replaced in July after moving in by a local very reputable company.

I noticed that on the sump pit where my softener line drains to. It has 2 pvc pipes coming out of it.
One appears to be for the primary pump - which drains into the routed PVC over head and into my septic
The other appears to be the battery backup, which discharges outside. I know this one is the backup because the mulch where this pipe terminates outside looks like it has never been disturbed by water running out of the pipe.

PROBLEM
By no means am I a plumber - but it would appear that having large amounts of drain tile water dumped into my septic system is probably just a bad idea. I get why they probably did this. Did not want to kill grass or greenery with salt from softener discharging. Still seems like a poor idea to put that amount of additional stress on septic system....?? maybe not.

My proposal
My thought is to reconfigure the main pump out of the sump pit so that it does not discharge into the septic. Again the sump basin collects water from the interior draintile (dry basement system). Take this main pump and Routing it directly to the left of this picture outside the home, where there is a gutter downspout that goes in the ground into corrugated tube and daylights near the back of my property line. I ran water from the house down this corrugated downspout tube and 100% confirmed where it daylights at and that it has a free flow.

Questions
That leaves the softener drain and what to do with it. Since I would still want to likely route that into the septic system as to not kill trees near where the inground corrugated tube daylights. Leaves me with some questions best left for you guys.

Would installing a p trap and air gap fitting this close to where the main sewer drain leaves the house advisable for the softener to drain to? I had read some other similar posts and people had suggested that a setup that close to the main drain line would be the first place that sewage would exit from and may take some time before it is discovered in the basement.
Or should I really try to find something more near the softener itself to do a p-trap and air gap piping on?

There is a laundry room basically above where the softener is. I may be able to tap into that pvc drain line and p-trap and air gap fit that? Doing something like this onto the pipe that runs from the laundry room drain,

Thanks
Ryan

 

[Reach4]

I expect laundry is feeding into the septic.

One solution that everybody likes is to use a "dry well" for the softener. But there are many who have no problem with the softener drain feeding the septic tank. See what it would take for somebody with a backhoe to dig that. Or find somebody who is good with a shovel.

Certainly you don't want foundation water to the septic tank, and a dry well would usually be a good destination for that. Foundation water is often drained right to the lawn, and foundation drains are not usually too active in freezing weather.

With your two pipes to the pit, are you confident that this is was not intended to be a sealed pit and that one of the pipes is a vent? An output pipe will have a check valve in line, and a vent would not.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[John Gayewski]

I wouldn't pump the softener to my septic.

 

[Eliteconcept]

I expect laundry is feeding into the septic.

One solution that everybody likes is to use a "dry well" for the softener. But there are many who have no problem with the softener drain feeding the septic tank. See what it would take for somebody with a backhoe to dig that. Or find somebody who is good with a shovel.

Certainly you don't want foundation water to the septic tank, and a dry well would usually be a good destination for that. Foundation water is often drained right to the lawn, and foundation drains are not usually too active in freezing weather.

With your two pipes to the pit, are you confident that this is was not intended to be a sealed pit and that one of the pipes is a vent? An output pipe will have a check valve in line, and a vent would not.

Both pit output lines have check valves on them. Im ok putting the softener water into the septic but again the foundation water seems like way more stress on the septic than necessary.

I've got in ground sprinklers and really the prospect of a drywell and backhoe digging isn't a appealing prospect. again the small amount of softener brine taht goes into the septic is not my main concern. I know the drain tile takes a lot of water that seeps in the foundation

 

[Reach4]

Some pipe the seepage water to a pop-up in the yard. A hose section emptying to the higher end of a slope away from the house should be good too.

I could see making a wye for a hose to the yard and the laundry sink. The laundry sink is higher, so the yard would get the water unless the hose froze shut.

 

[Eliteconcept]

Some pipe the seepage water to a pop-up in the yard. A hose section emptying to the higher end of a slope away from the house should be good too.

I could see making a wye for a hose to the yard and the laundry sink. The laundry sink is higher, so the yard would get the water unless the hose froze shut.

The foundation ground water is the easy part... but do i pipe the softener to the septic instead,?

 

[Reach4]

The foundation ground water is the easy part... but do i pipe the softener to the septic instead,?

Vs to the lawn? Yes.


The fancy way for new installs is to inject that after the septic tank into the leach field.

There are differing opinions on the softener draining into the septic tank:

Should I Use A Water Softener When I Have A Septic System? | Water-Right

www.water-rightgroup.com