Water softener

Completely unrelated to Tundras, I am looking for advice from people who have water softeners. Many of you know I recently built a house and have figured out I have hard water. I bought a water softener and am getting ready to install it. Been reading a lot of how to plumb the discharge drain for the regeneration process, some say it's ok to run into your septic tank, others say it's not ok. Anybody here have a softener and if so, where does your dischars line go? If I had city sewer I would just run it in there but not really looking to screw up my septic system.

 

I had mine professionally installed. They drilled a hole through my garage wall and ran a pvc pipe to the drain pipe from the roof gutters.

 

It doesn't kill the grass?

 

This is what I planned to do but started reading posts online. I haven't involved any pros as I'm kinda one of those guys who like to figure things out on his own.

 

I have a softener. Built on 20 acres in 2000, so have septic system, of course. My septic is a regular with two chamber tank and drainfield. Not evaporative or anything like that. The softener is plumbed to the septic system. Has been 17 years, and the septic works just fine.....exactly as it should. Never needs pumping out, although I've had it pumped twice now, the most recent two months ago. Both times the guy who pumped it said it didn't need pumping, was nothing but water. No solids, no sludge. I do feed it once a month.

 

Honestly, I have no idea where that drain pipe runs to, but it's coming from the gutters on my roof. That pvc pipe runs down to the ground and then runs straight into that drain pipe.

 

We have french drains out to the pasture. Our softener is just plumbed into the downspout.

 

The only time it can cause a problem for a septic system is if the control valve breaks down during backwash to drain, this will cause water to run to the drain until you stop it. The salt content is very high, and it will kill surface vegetation - even delicate trees.

 

The discharge water can be used for irrigation IF you use potassium chloride instead of the regular salt. I can't imagine it could do any damage to the septic system with either salt.

 

The brine from the water softener unit can be drained via an existing floor drain. If not, you should check your local area codes to see if this kind of drain is permitted. The stringent regulations are in place to prevent sewage systems, waterways, and sump pumps from becoming contaminated.