Water Softener Drain Line

Many of the home improvement stores sell big box water softeners and installation kits to get them connected.

Water softener drain line.

Typically the water softener or water treatment drain is taken to a building laundry sink or to a floor drain keeping the outlet of the drain line 1 2 abover the floor drain to assure an air gap and to prevent back contamination of the water system. Water pressure now seems worse than before we installed a water softener. If your water softener allows for a manual regeneration you can activate a manual regeneration cycle by pushing and holding the regenerate button to empty a water softener full of water. By code water softeners must be emptied into a laundry sink floor drain sump hole or properly trapped special outlet preserving an air gap of at least two times the diameter of the drain line but in no case less than 1 1 2 above the top of the receptacle used.

During regeneration your water softener automatically sucks all of the water out of the brine tank so activating this cycle can remove the water for you. Often the drain lines are run to a floor drain but you can also extend the drain line into the standpipe that also drains a washing machine or into a utility sink or sump pit. A softener drain line must not be connected directly to the waste system but must be emptied into a laundry tray floor drain or properly trapped special outlet preserving an air gap of at least two times the diameter of the drain line but in no case less than 1 1 2 above the top of the receptacle used. In most communities it is illegal to connect the water softener drain directly to the home drain system without an air gap.