I strongly recommend using rubber gloves and eye protection. In older homes with cast-iron drains, the drainpipe may have collapsed and can no longer be used. If this happens you can use a lift pump to drain the condensate from the air conditioner. The pump has a small reservoir and a float switch that comes on when the reservoir is full. The pump can be drained to a washing machine drain, a sink in the laundry or directly to the yard.
The water softener flushes more water than a small lift pump can handle. A sump pump installed inside a small plastic waterproof sump pit with a cover can be used to move the wastewater to another sewer drain inside the home. The pit can sit on the utility room floor or can be hidden under a bathroom sink. The sump pit can be used for both the condensate water and the water softener eliminating the condensate lift pump. Because the water softener drain is connected to the home’s (potable) drinking water, the end of the drains from the softener cannot be inside the sump pit’s rim.
The softener drains must be at least 1 inch above the top rim of the sump pit so that wastewater in the pit cannot contaminate the potable water in the softener. When condensate from the air conditioner drains to a floor drain or sewer pipe, there should be a one-inch air break between the two so that sewer gases cannot be pulled into the air system of the furnace. A condensate cannot be connected directly to a sewer pipe.
———
C. Dwight Barnett is a certified master inspector with the American Society of Home Inspectors. Write to him with home improvement questions at C. Dwight Barnett, Evansville Courier & Press, P.O. Box 268, Evansville, Ind. 47702 or e-mail him at d.Barnett@insightbb.com.
About the Author