Septic & Water Softener

anthonyk · Apr 18, 2005

hey ya'll. I'm actually an engineer with a water purification company which does this work, and can tell you that it is perfectly fine to dishcharge the backwash from a softener into either a standard or aerobic septic. In fact, the WQA (Water Quality Association) did a massive study on this and recently released a statement that it was safe. Just for your information, all softeners can work on either sodium chloride (rock salt) or potassium chloride. (The sodium is cheaper, so unless you have a very strict sodium limit in your diet, you should use it.) When you use a softener, you are trading the Ions of sodium for the Ions of calcium.
It's the calcium carbonate which causes that white scale buildup that damages appliances and makes people scrub out hard water stains. The softener collects the calcium on the Ion Exchange resin, then backwashes it out. There is no danger of damage to the system or bacteria.
I would not recommend discharging the drain onto a concentrated spot like the lawn. (By that I mean don't just run the drain off and let it dump into the grass.) The amount of sodium dissolved in the backwash is small, but if left to collect on a concentrated area over a very long period of time it can damage grass.
Other than that, there's very little to worry about.
Good luck,

Anthony

anthonyk · Apr 18, 2005

Just another note before I have to go to work: Some softeners clean with a timer, and other are "demand regenerated" Timer models are less efficient and use more water and sodium because they clean on a preset basis, whether they need it or not. In other words, the system is set up based on the degree of hardness in the water, then set to regenerate on that basis. Doesn't matter if you use more or less water. It's gonna clean when it's set to do so. If you go out of town on vacation, it'll still go through it's cleaning cycle even though you didn't use any water. You can also exceed capacity by using more water than was typical.
The "demand regenerated" systems actually are much more efficient because they keep track of the amount of water flowing through the system, and clean only when a preset amount is reached. If you use less water, it cleans less often. If your inlaws happen to drop in /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif, and you use more water, it'll clean more. Hope this helps. Now, off to the slave drivers!

anthony

jpr62902 · Apr 18, 2005

My Culligan discharges into my storm sump crock via the furnace drain in my basement floor. Is this configuration possible for you?

While we're on the subject (sort of), I've heard that watering the lawn with "softened" water is harmful to the grass. Is this true, or just bad becaue you're using the softener more?

Richard · Apr 18, 2005

( My Culligan discharges into my storm sump crock via the furnace drain in my basement floor. Is this configuration possible for you? )

I expect the answer is no as I have no idea what a sump crock is (unless it's just the pit for the sump pump?)

Anyways, my unfinished basement is our next project. My water tank is in the utility room. I will be finishing the utility room into a full bath (already has all drains for such).

I was thinking I could easily ( /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) add a softener and drape it's drain pipe around the room behind the wall/closet I'll be installing and let it dump into the shower stall drain (under the stall floor).

This is the only way I can give it an exit (circling the room) unless it goes outside to the driveway which isn't going to happen.

I'm installing a sink in garage on opposite side of the wall where I propose to put the softener so I'll have a drain going by ANYWAY. I was just concerned that the discharge might be a net negative for my septic system. If it IS, then for me, the lessor of the two evils I guess...is the hard water, verses buggering up the septic.

midlf · Apr 18, 2005

The softener regen will not bugger your septic. Actually it helps it. See: Link1 and Link2 and Link3

or google on uw septic water softener

MikePA: Cleaned up long URL. Please review your message before posting it. It's simple not to do this. Just insert a descriptive word or two between the {url=http://whatever}Enter words here{/url} instead of the entire URL. Replace parentheses with brackets in previous example.

dholly · Apr 18, 2005

Interesting topic and I appreciated the links. We have a septic system and softener in the house we just bot, and this softener stuff is new to me. After reading the last link, I think I'll leave my system discharge plumbed to the sump as is.

ByronBob · Apr 19, 2005

I expect the answer is no as I have no idea what a sump crock is (unless it's just the pit for the sump pump?)

Yes sir they are one and the same.

rswyan · Apr 20, 2005

( While we're on the subject (sort of), I've heard that watering the lawn with "softened" water is harmful to the grass. Is this true, or just bad becaue you're using the softener more? )
It's not harmful per se, but you are watering with water that has had minerals removed out of it which plants need. Sort of like a deficient diet.

The plumbing for the outside facuets at our home are all tied in before the softner for that reason. The downside of this is if you wash your vehicals at home, using soft water would be better because the detergent will suds up and rinse cleaner with it than with hard water. I plan on plumbing another line into the garage, or adding a valve in the existing outside line so I can switch between soft and hard water depending on the need.

I always find it to be a hoot when we have company come for stay that is used to hard water - they always complain after taking a shower that our soft water is slimey - it's not - it's just that it rinses clean and doesn't leave all the mineral deposits and soap film on their skin that the hard water that they are used to using does. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

bczoom · Apr 20, 2005

( I plan on plumbing another line into the garage, or adding a valve in the existing outside line so I can switch between soft and hard water depending on the need.)

Can you bypass your conditioner? Mine (and many others I've seen) have a push type valve right above the tank that allows bypass.

anthonyk · Apr 21, 2005

guys, the real reason you don't want to water your lawn with conditioned water has nothing to do with salt. It has to do do with wasting a ton of water on grass that can't tell the difference. A normal house might use 4 thousand gallons of water per month. A normal watering system can throw that much in a couple of nights if you've got multiple heads spraying. That means that if your system is "demand regenerated" it'll be cleaning every day, and if it's a "timer" type, you're likely to exceed it's capacity and run out of softened water.
That's the real reason. Hope it helps,

anthony