Condensate Pump for Water Softener

[Dunlapjc78]

Does anybody know if I can utilize a little giant condensate pump for a water softener for backwash and overflow? A sump basin seems like overkill, and there are condensate pumps from little giant which can more than handle the flow... Its corrosion I'm worried about...

Specifically I'm thinking of one of the VCL series pumps.

Obviously we don't have a drain in the basement, and I'm looking to pump this up and into a drain with a trap...

Any input or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
~Jon

 

[Jadnashua]

I don't know about the flow rate, but I don't think, if the flow volume can be handled, that you'd hurt the pump. Condensate is pretty nasty stuff - very acidic. A little salt shouldn't hurt it.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

pump

The output from a water softener will overflow the sump of a condesate pump in a matter of seconds.

 

[Leejosepho]

I once dealt with a washing machine in a basement by using a plastic, 55-gallon drum with a regular sump pump sitting down inside it, and you could do the same kind of thing if you have room for the drum or whatever container you might use. I do not know the volume of my own water softener's discharge, but I can imagine that a 5-gallon pail and a small pump would take care of it.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

run it upstairs


I see this done all the time

you could put the overflow drain on the brine tank into a
condensate pump, and that could take care of an emergency..


just run the discharge drain up out of the basement
out of 1/2 poly pipe
and drop it into the laundry room standpipe.....

run it about a foot or two higher than the drain and then
drop it down to the drain and then you can either make an air gap
so it falls into that drain,
or you can simply stubb it into the
hole a few inches so as not to get down to the trap below..



securely fasten the pipe to the wall so it can never dislodge itself
and flood your laundry room some day


it works under pressure when it regenerates and will
push the water up more than that far....

and the unit will function just fine..

 

[Gary Slusser]

The water going to drain is under line pressure. You can go up from the control valve 6-8' on most softeners but not all. You can go up and sideways up to 20-30' but in some cases you need larger ID tubing or to change the DLFC in the control valve. If you are going to go higher, you need to talk to the dealer to see if the DLFC needs to be changed. If so and you don't change it, the softener's resin will fail fairly quickly due to improper backwash and regeneration. The first sign will be hard water between regenerations.

This pump idea is usually not needed, and IMO is not a good idea. So far no one mentions the gpm or total gallons of water although some one is "sure" there's no problem. How would they know!.... It can be from 1.2 to 5 gpm and 40-125+ gallons in 60-90 minutes. I don't know condensate pumps, do they normally have that capability? If this pump quits some night, you'll wish you had another and fool proof way to get the drain water to a drain.

Usually we (softener dealers/installers) make a trap and stand pipe at the ceiling in a basement, on a drain from a tub, sink etc. or on the main sewer line. We usually don't connect a line to the brine tank overflow but a 5 gal bucket that is checked periodically, like once every week or two when you check your salt level, works fine to alert you to a problem.

 

[Leejosepho]

So far no one mentions the gpm or total gallons of water although some one is "sure" there's no problem ...

Where did you read that? I cannot find it.

 

[Gary Slusser]

Where did you read that? I cannot find it.

I don't know my thinking then but I found this: "I do not know the volume of my own water softener's discharge, but I can imagine that a 5-gallon pail and a small pump would take care of it.". Looking back I see that was you in your first reply. Can you find it now?

Should I have said we don't know the gpm or total gallons? ummm, I see I did say exactly that before I said what you are questioning....

I see another reference that it shouldn't be a problem, and I see HJ said it would be a problem. He's right, and he doesn't know the gpm or total gallons either. None of us do, including the OP yet he found a pump that would handle it; although he doesn't know what 'it' is. So I mentioned what 'it' can and will be. Do we know the output gpm of the condensate pump he might be thinking of using (without knowing what it has to be)?

Plus there is no reason IMO for a condensate pump. In now 21 years and thousands of installations, I nor my customers have had to use one.

 

[Leejosepho]

Looking back I see that was you in your first reply. Can you find it now?

I knew what I had said, but you had said someone had said something else.

In any case, I am still quite sure a 5-gallon pail and a small pump would work, but I am not talking about a condensate pump (I do not even know what one of those is), and now that you have mentioned the overall flow and volume possible, I would think a 55-gallon drum would be better if someone had the kind of system that could not push its discharge very far.

 

[Gary Slusser]

All softeners and backwashed or regenerated filters can push the water just about anywhere it has to go because they all use line pressure to do that. Years ago some used 3/8" drain line and they had less ability than Autotrol, Clack and Fleck control valves.