28 May 2015 If you are like most people, you probably keep your water softener in the garage. While it seems like a good idea, it can cause potential problems if you live in a cooler climate. Snow and sub-freezing temperatures can wreak havoc on your plumbing, including your water softener. Fortunately, you can prevent freezing by winterizing your water softener. Here are five quick, helpful tips to make that job easier: 1. Add Insulation Like the other
plumbing in your home, your water softener may benefit from insulation. It will help keep the water at a stable temperature and prevent freezing. However, insulation alone only works for those in mild climates—as those with sub-zero temperatures need a little more oomph. You can find insulation at most home improvement stores and it is easy to install. Purchase a piece of plumbing insulation that is large enough for your water softener system and bring it home. You may also want to get
additional insulation for the pipes going to and from the water softener. Cut holes for all the necessary parts and attach it with zip ties. 2. Add Heat If your water softener system is in the garage and you live in area with harsh winters, add some heat to prevent freezing. You do not need to install central heating in your garage in order to do this. Simply purchase a space heater and put it near your water treatment system. Turn it on when temperatures will reach
below freezing and leave it off otherwise. 3. Do Not Add Antifreeze You may have heard of people adding antifreeze to their water softener systems. While this works in theory, it is potentially dangerous and damaging. Even if you are advised to do it, skip it and do not put antifreeze in your system. 4. Run Water As you do with traditional plumbing, you can run water to prevent your water softener system from freezing. The running water
will keep the pipes working, which will make it much harder to freeze the water inside. You do not need to run the water at full force. Instead, leave the faucet at a light trickle. Just make sure you are running warm or hot water, as cold water will not help. 5. Drain, Disconnect, and Store If you will not be using your water softener system during the winter months, the best thing you can do is drain, disconnect, and store your water softener. This way your
system doesn't contain water that can freeze, and your system is stored somewhere warm. Follow the directions on your system and drain the water. Disconnect it from the plumbing, and store it somewhere warm—such as your basement—until spring. If these techniques do not work for you, or you do not want to take a DIY approach, enlist in the help of a water treatment service professional. They can perform an annual inspection, cleaning, and prepare your system for the cold winter
months. For more information, contact a business such as Aquatech Well Drilling & Pumps Inc.
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Sep 19, 2005 · 9,534 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Mar 16, 2015 For the first time in 10 years, we had a problem with the softener discharge outdoors. The softener drains into the crock, then has been pumped outside through PVC, into a buried barrel (vented). The run is about 40'. We've never had an issue until this year and I may know the reason why. Being so cold, we ran the air exchanger more than normal.
The exchanger pre-heats incoming air but, it also dehumidifies the home. The water from the exchanger goes into a drain and into the crock. I'm thinking...... maybe to much fresh water was sent outside, which caused the PVC to freeze and break. I used and still do, just a black drain hose after finding the issue. Should I be using a heat tape and if so, how long do they make them? I do have an outside electrical plug close to plug in the tape. Any suggestions????? Joined
Nov 20, 2012 · 2,584 Posts
I am assuming you have 2" PVC right now, if so change it out to 4" and run 2 1/2" pieces of PEX water pipe down the center for hot water. Put a bypass valve and a circulating pump in hooked up to your water heater and connect the Pex to it. When the weather is freezing open the bypass and turn the circulating pump on,the water will be safe to use since the
Pex is a closed loop. Joined
Feb 7, 2000 · 2,242 Posts
hommer23- That's a great idea ENCORE- How big of a barrell are you using and is there gravel in the bottom? Does the vent help with ground absorption? I want to put a softener in at camp and do not want it draining to the septic tank and was thinking of doing something similar.
Joined Sep 19, 2005 · 9,534
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Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 24, 2015
hommer23- That's a great idea ENCORE- How big of a barrell are you using and is there gravel in the bottom? Does the vent help with ground absorption? I want to put a softener in at camp and do not want it draining to the septic tank and was thinking of doing something similar. I used one of those large
plastic blue barrels. I dug a deeper than the barrel hole and filled the bottom with pea stone. Drilled a hole in the top just the size of the pvc pipe. I took a piece of 1" pvc pipe and put a junction in it, which would keep it from falling into the barrel, it sticks out of the ground maybe 5". The wife bought a fake rock, the kind that goes over a well head and that goes over the vent. That vent was a must. IMO I think I should have used either a larger barrel or, dug the hole even
deeper yet then added more pea stone. I'm not sure exactly what happened this year. Maybe the frost went deeper or, it could have been to much plain water from the exchanger that froze it up. I darn near had a real problem on my hands. It froze up and the pump couldn't remove any water, so it just kept running. The crock didn't over flow but, dang, was the water in it hot from the pump heating up! I just happened to notice a humming and that's when I found the pump running without it pumping the
crock. I have an emergency hose, that I just connected outside until about a week ago. I tried the pipe again and it worked properly. HOWEVER..... I have some summer work to do. If we'd have taken off to FL for a couple weeks, things could have gotten bad.
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
Frost was real deep this year. Once the soil is frozen, no water can pass into it. 48" is the standard depth to avoid frost. IMO, the hole should be much deeper. The top of your barrel should be 48" down or you always will have the chance of it freezing.
Joined Sep 19, 2005
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9,534 Posts
Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 24, 2015
Frost was real deep this year. Once the soil is frozen, no water can pass into it. 48" is the standard depth to avoid frost. IMO, the hole should be much deeper. The top of your barrel should be 48" down or you always will have the chance of it freezing. That's most likely my problem. The bottom
of my barrel is only about 5' down. We just didn't have enough snow to help insulate it this year.
Joined Sep 10, 2007
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640 Posts
Did you ever consider placing foam insulation on the top of the barrel? I would think that would be enough to keep the system working in the winter.
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
Foam insulation may help for a while. It really depends how much water flows through, how cold it is, amount of snow etc.
Joined Dec 25, 2006
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271 Posts
a lot of people had similar probablem this year. not enough snow for insulation and cold temps. the condensation from the water hitting the cold temps outside is what is freezing. not the discharged water itself. heat tape would be a waste of money and time in my opinion. i would have your softner discharge directly out of house into a pipe you bury and
run into a stone/tank like you have. softners discharge under pressure so you dont need to pump it. the softner does that. your tank and stone set up is just a mini septic system for grey water.
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
I know a septic pumper and many people had problems this year with freeze up. He said hundreds. I'd dig down and lay the barrel on the side with 3 holes on the low side to drain and route the inlet to the high side. Get it 48" deep too.
Joined Feb 7, 2000
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2,242 Posts
Thanks for the description ENCORE. That was what I was planning to do, but never thought about a vent. I was told by a friend who lives in Rogers City that the frost level reached 54" this year. We had almost no snow so like someone else said there was no insulation. I was and still am worried about my septic field and drain pipes heaving. I haven't seen
any damage yet, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.
Joined Sep 19, 2005
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9,534 Posts
Discussion Starter · #12 · Mar 27, 2015
Thanks for the description ENCORE. That was what I was planning to do, but never thought about a vent. I was told by a friend who lives in Rogers City that the frost level reached 54" this year. We had almost no snow so like someone else said there was no insulation. I was and still am worried about my septic field and drain pipes
heaving. I haven't seen any damage yet, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I just read in our 5 page newspaper yesterday about the frost going so deep in the area. In Alpena, they were having one heck of a time with the water lines freezing. Then there's been some kind of fight going on over new water meters and, the city told residents to let their water run, to help keep pipes from freezing, all the while rates were jacked up. Just glad I don't live in town. Although it was cold last year, we had more snow to insulate the ground than this year. I've come to the conclusion my barrel isn't deep enough. So it looks like I have some digging to do this summer. I may even have a buddy bring in his backhoe. The vent IMO was a must. Although I have the softener to recharge during the night, I've manually recharged it during the day and checked the vent. Amazing the air that thing releases. My wife had the idea of the fake rock over the
vent.......
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
Since nobody mentioned it yet: The water from the softener discharge is brine water/salt water and it has a lower freezing temperature than straight water. If you get your friend over there with a backhoe, it may be a good idea to put in a back up, just in case. I know people do it with drain fields.
Joined Sep 19, 2005
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9,534 Posts
Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 27, 2015
Since nobody mentioned it yet: The water from the softener discharge is brine water/salt water and it has a lower freezing temperature than straight water. If you get your friend over there with a backhoe, it may be a good idea to put in a back up, just in case. I know people do it with drain fields. Right, but I'm betting what didn't help me was the air exchanger and the fresh water it drained into the crock and outside.
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
Right, but I'm betting what didn't help me was the air exchanger and the fresh water it drained into the crock and outside. Agreed. Once the ground is frozen though, it will pass no water. I have an idea on what I'd do but it'd probably be way overkill, with a high probability that I'd never have to
mess with it again. If you do get a backhoe out there you may want to run a line or two out with some peas stone. That'll get the water distributed. Look up "leach field" and you may get some ideas.
Joined Dec 2, 2008
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365 Posts
We rep for a company called Briskheat. They make all sorts of heat tapes. They make heat tapes in all sorts of lengths, voltages and wattages. I am working with one customer to help him come up with a heat tape that he can place inside a sealed copper tube inserted into his shallow well for freeze protection. His well pit is heated and his well froze below
the well pit. In your case a heat tape could be wrapped on the pipe leaving the house underground and only used in the coldest time. You must use ground fault protection.
Joined Apr 11, 2002
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26,932 Posts
How do you replace it when it goes bad?
Joined Dec 2, 2008
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365 Posts
Usually dig it up and replace it. You could place it inside a copper tube that taped to the PVC pipe, the when it fails just pull it out of the tube and slide another inside. It would not be the most efficient run since it would be a straight line instead of a wrap but I am sure it would work. Or put a soft copper tube inside your PVC pipe with the heat
tape inside. As long as you exited your PVC with a compression fitting. The inside of the copper tubing where the heat tape would reside would be water tight.