Does a water softener discharge enough condensate to fill the trap?

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Does a water softener put out enough condensate to keep the trap of a 3" ABS pipe filled (the seal intact)?

[klott]

I don't know about that Kenton. How are you? Have you made any progress with the Log Home Inspection course yet? Merry Christmas, Ken

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Doing well thanks, Ken. Four-page rough outline, a honkin' big pile of downloads, books here and on the way, photos to organize/find and a dozen people to call when as the time comes. The slower you write, the faster the piles and lists grow and the bigger the project gets. It's a race. The faster you try to write, the more the phone rings for inspections. Not complaining about that, though!
Spose to be done by the end of December, but I don't know about that...

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Most of these systems produce large quantities of waste water, especially the RO type.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

I don't think any of these were RO, RO requires a separate tank to store filtered water, and that tank to the left is the pressure tank for the well. It was impossible to tell for sure what they were. One was certainly a silt filter and one was probably a charcoal filter, neither of which produce any extra water, so it all has to come from the softener.

[klott]

Originally Posted by kshepard

Doing well thanks, Ken. Four-page rough outline, a honkin' big pile of downloads, books here and on the way, photos to organize/find and a dozen people to call when as the time comes. The slower you write, the faster the piles and lists grow and the bigger the project gets. It's a race. The faster you try to write, the more the phone rings for inspections. Not complaining about that, though!
Spose to be done by the end of December, but I don't know about that...

take your time,better to be done right than fast, if there is anything I can do to help let me know, I'm looking forward to it.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by kshepard

Does a water softener put out enough condensate to keep the trap of a 3" ABS pipe filled (the seal intact)?

Yes they do Kenton. Each cycle: ( Backwash, Brine, and Rinse) Sends multiple gallons of waste water down the drain.

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Yes they do Kenton. Each cycle: ( Backwash, Brine, and Rinse) Sends multiple gallons of waste water down the drain.

I have one in my house so I agree with Mikey!

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by fcarrio

I have one in my house so I agree with Mikey!

OK Frankyboy

My dad installed water softeners for what used to be Lindsay(now Ecowater) for years. I used to ride along and learned to install and repair them too.

[Jack L. Gilleland]

Is (and it looks like it) this 4" line indirectly discharging into the trap? If so the line should have a trap where the waste water enters the sanitary. Since it is indirect is there anything else dumping into it?

[Michael Larson]

There should also be an air-gap at the drain line discharge to waste connection.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Black rubber (1" I think) flexible tubing went from water softener to the ABS waste pipe (which I thought was 3") and was just stuck into one end (see photo). Waste traveled to above-ground septic and had a trap installed in-line just before it entered the tank.

Not knowing what kinds of water filters (in photo in post #6) were installed, I was afraid the softener might not discharge enough to keep the trap filled.

So it's not condensate but by-product of backwashing filters?

[Michael Larson]

Yes. SEE THIS

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Yes. SEE THIS

Thanks Michael, I understand that negatively-charged calcium and magnesium bond to positively-charged plastic beads in the mineral tank, but it looks like sodium is required to make them release their hold on the beads so that they can be backwashed away down the drain.

The sodium comes from a brine tank, but I didn't see a brine tank connected to this softener (same situation with other homes here occasionally). Just the softener and 4 filters. Is it possible that the mineral tank gets backflushed with fresh water from the well and that's it... no brine involved?

[Marcel Gratton]

Originally Posted by kshepard

The sodium comes from a brine tank, but I didn't see a brine tank connected to this softener (same situation with other homes here occasionally). Just the softener and 4 filters. Is it possible that the mineral tank gets back flushed with fresh water from the well and that's it... no brine involved?

Its two tanks in one; the brine tank is on the outside of the pellet tank where the chemical reaction occur. It uses use about 75 gallons of fresh water to regenerate and some say that discharging into the septic could cause the septic to fail prematurely. The jury is still out on that one...