drainage for a water softener

10340 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by mmhendrie, Jan 28, 2016

mmhendrie

Discussion Starter · Jan 26, 2016

Guys, I'm planning on installing a whole house water softener. I have a spot in my garage with good access to the incoming water pipe which makes for a good install location, but there's no drain there. The otherside of the wall immediately next to the install location has a drain (a bathroom drain, shower and sink), and I have access to that drain via the crawl space. I went and took a look, and it appears to be reasonably new ABS - i think perhaps 4".

For the water softener drain, I have a thin flexible plastic pipe I need to point to a drain. The softener installation instructions make a point of saying the flexible drain pipe shouldn't be inserted into a drain, instead there should be a 1.5" gap between the water softener drain pipe and the drain. I assume I can modify the 4" ABS bathroom drain in the crawl space somehow to accommodate the water softener drain, but I'm not exactly sure what sort of adapter to install to safely accommodate the water softener draining tube, while maintaining the existing drainage pipe for it's function as a bathroom drain? Would appreciate any advice...

thanks,
Matt

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WhatRnsdownhill

· #2 · Jan 26, 2016

you will have to cut in a 4 x 2 y and run the 2 inch into the garage with a trap...then you can put a 4 x 2 coupling on top of the trap to make a small catch basin and then hang the drain line above that..

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mmhendrie

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 26, 2016

thanks - would this be a good representation of your idea?:

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oh'mike

· #4 · Jan 27, 2016

The trap must be at the end of the pipe --with the receptor pipe going verticle directly out of the P-trap.

Most water softener discharge tubes can be run a long way to a drain---

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Ghostmaker

· #5 · Jan 27, 2016

And the discharge must have an Air GAP. Unless you enjoy feces in your water.

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mmhendrie

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 28, 2016

thanks for the input, i've made changes based on your feedback and pasted in a new pic below - does this look ok now? I'm not sure if I would enjoy feces in the water - it sounds intriguing, and i'll give anything a try once. That said, i'm not sure my wife will go for it, so i best plan on the air gap. Is there a device/adapter that helps the softener flexible pipe attach to the end of the rigid pipe, maintaining the gap with a degree of stability, and perhaps even protecting the end of the rigid pipe from capturing other random debris?