Water Softener Drain

[Salguod]

Hello,

My water softener discharge drains into my sump pump and I've learned that this is hard on the pump and likely voids my pump warranty. I need to reroute it, but not sure how.

We are also on a septic system (aeration system with no leach bed that I'm aware of) and I understand that draining into the septic isn't good either.

Am I wrong in either of those understandings? If they are correct, where should I put my discharge line? I might be able to tie into the sump drain line after the pump, is that a good option?

Thanks.

 

[LLigetfa]

You are right on both counts. Dumping directly into the sump discharge line might be a bad idea. I don't know how you could do that and maintain a proper air gap. Without an air gap, the pressure from the sump pump can backflow to the softener.

I have mine dumping into the sump pit with a proper air gap. The chloride in the regen discharge is corrosive to the sump pump so after replacing two submersible pumps that corroded the motor housing, I switched to using a pedestal pump with plastic and stainless steel bottom end. Time will tell as I am into the fourth year with this pump. I do plan to replace it this year and tear down the old pump to see how well it is holding up.

I have contemplated running a dedicated drain line that is sloped to drain by gravity. As a safety measure, I would put an overflow at the head end that would go to my sump, should the dedicated line freeze, since it cannot be buried deep enough to be below the frost line. I have clay soil so there is no real low enough "water table".

 

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[Salguod]

My sump pump exits through pvc pipe in my crawl space into the under ground pipe for my downspouts. I was thinking of putting in a connection with an air gap in the crawl space, but I didn't think about how much pressure the pump might generate and where that might go. Maybe I can add a one way valve?

If the sump is no good and the septic is no good, I'm not sure what to do.

I get a lot of flow through my sump pump, so I have a multi pump system and I pay an annual maintenance on it to make it's fully functional. I had that installed several years ago, this year was the first time they mentioned the softener drain as a problem.

 

[Reach4]

Opinions differ.

https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/GMP-057-attachment1.pdf

Regarding the effect on sump pumps, I suspect that a sump pump that is handling a fair amount of ground water would have the softener drain water diluted more. Also note that a more efficient salt setting will put less sodium into the drain water.

See https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/GMP-057-attachment1.pdf page 4 of 103 column 2.

But a "dry well" seems, to me, like a best choice if practical.

 

[LLigetfa]

I get a lot of flow through my sump pump

There is a saying that "the solution to pollution is dilution" and for sure that applies to chloride so unless the sump pit has dry spells when there is no ground water to dilute and flush away the chloride, it should not cause corrosion issues.

If you are going to air gap it into the rain gutter drain system, do it up high enough and far enough away from the sump pump discharge so that water cannot backup into it.