Auto Water Change Plumbing

[jakesweep]

Hey all. I'm planning an auto water change system and had a quick question about the plumbing. The plan is to use an Apex DOS to pump the "waste" water out of my tank via a 1/4" RO line down to my basement and over to my house sump. My sump pump is super active, so I'm not particularly worried about a bit of saltwater being added, but I am concerned about the waste line getting gunked up with salt deposits. The line won't be very accessible for maintenance or replacement if I go this route.

Has anyone experienced buildup (or any other issues) in their waste line?

 

[ryeguyy84]

Mine goes down the drain via a saddle clamp (is that what it's called?) No issues with deposits in the year I've run it

 

[jakesweep]

Mine goes down the drain via a saddle clamp (is that what it's called?) No issues with deposits in the year I've run it

Something like this? That looks useful, but all my drains are on the other side of the house. I'll have to run ~25 feet of RO tubing over to that drain, and that's where I am worried.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Yup that's it, mine goes over maybe 10 feet then up through the floor and into the drain. I don't think you'll have an issue with 25 feet, some people run the line up to the attic and across the house.

 

[User1]

Yup that's it, mine goes over maybe 10 feet then up through the floor and into the drain. I don't think you'll have an issue with 25 feet, some people run the line up to the attic and across the house.

Really? The dosing pump used for AWC can do that?

Note: It is ignorance on my understanding of how they work - thus my question. Not doubting you.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Sorry I wasn't thinking rodi for some reason. I use Cole parmer pump for mine, the waste goes the same route I gave earlier, then the water going into the tank goes up 6 feet, and over 20 feet through the floor and into the tank. Mine works fine with that, I can't speak for the dos

 

[Brett S]

I have had a DOS set up for AWC on my 300 gallon system for more than three years now. The tubing goes up into the wall and through the attic. The drain goes into my laundry room and into the same drain that my washer uses and the new water comes from a reservoir in my garage. It changes a little more than 2G of water each day. The overall tube length is a good 30 or 40 feet.

I have never had a clog or blockage in the drain line, however, I have had the new water line get clogged maybe four times over the past few years. I’m using standard instant ocean salt, which doesn’t have super high calcium or alkalinity levels, but it seems like there are still calcium deposits that build up over time and cause the line to get blocked, but only in the new water line. The drain line has never clogged.

When it happens I use my air compressor to blow out the line and clear out the deposits with high pressure air. However, the last time it happened I was unable to unclog it. Originally I ran vinyl tubing and I wound up running a new polyethylene tube to replace the clogged vinyl tube. It seems like polyethylene is a bit more ‘slippery’ and I’m hoping it will be less likely to clog. Additionally it is stiffer than vinyl tube and I was a bit concerned that the vinyl tube could get kinked in the areas where it turned to go down through the wall. The new tube hasn’t clogged yet, but it’s only been in there for 6 or 8 months.

I’ll also note that I go through about one head a year on my DOS. After a while the tube inside the head springs a leak and needs to be replaced. Given the fact that I am really seriously working the DOS pushing more than 2 gallons of water a day through 30-40 foot tubes I think that’s understandable. I have another DOS that I use to dose calcium and alkalinity supplements which has a much much lighter workload and that one is still going strong on it’s original heads even after more than 3 years.

Finally, one other thing that’s nice about doing AWC with the DOS is that it’s possible to configure it to add a different amount of water than it takes out. Obviously you would normally want to take out and put in exactly the same amount of water to make sure that salinity doesn’t drift, but over time I’ve found a few cases where it makes sense for them to differ.

For example, I’m using a 45G brute trash can for my new saltwater reservoir and like I said, I use instant ocean salt. I discovered that mixing the salt to 35PPT requires just slightly less than a full bag of salt, which made it annoying to measure out the salt each time I made fresh saltwater and it also meant that I needed to seal up and store a partially used bag of salt until the next time I mixed water. Instead what I’ve started doing is just using a full bag of salt each time. This means that my new water is higher than the 35PPT that I keep my tank at, but by configuring my DOS to remove slightly more water than it puts in the ATO will make up the difference with freshwater and keep my salinity stable.

So all that said, I think you should have no trouble with what you plan to do. I would suggest using polyethylene tubing over vinyl tubing, but even with vinyl I have had no problems with my waste line clogging in more than 3 years. However, I would be a bit concerned about dumping the salt water into your sump system. The sump pump is likely not designed for salt water and it’s quite possible that the salt water will cause it to corrode and fail. I also might be a bit concerned about where that salt water is getting dumped. Too much salt will kill plants, so if your sump pump discharges into the lawn or a garden you could kill the grass or plants near where it discharges.

 

[Tuffloud1]

I have had a DOS set up for AWC on my 300 gallon system for more than three years now. The tubing goes up into the wall and through the attic. The drain goes into my laundry room and into the same drain that my washer uses and the new water comes from a reservoir in my garage. It changes a little more than 2G of water each day. The overall tube length is a good 30 or 40 feet.

I have never had a clog or blockage in the drain line, however, I have had the new water line get clogged maybe four times over the past few years. I’m using standard instant ocean salt, which doesn’t have super high calcium or alkalinity levels, but it seems like there are still calcium deposits that build up over time and cause the line to get blocked, but only in the new water line. The drain line has never clogged.

When it happens I use my air compressor to blow out the line and clear out the deposits with high pressure air. However, the last time it happened I was unable to unclog it. Originally I ran vinyl tubing and I wound up running a new polyethylene tube to replace the clogged vinyl tube. It seems like polyethylene is a bit more ‘slippery’ and I’m hoping it will be less likely to clog. Additionally it is stiffer than vinyl tube and I was a bit concerned that the vinyl tube could get kinked in the areas where it turned to go down through the wall. The new tube hasn’t clogged yet, but it’s only been in there for 6 or 8 months.

I’ll also note that I go through about one head a year on my DOS. After a while the tube inside the head springs a leak and needs to be replaced. Given the fact that I am really seriously working the DOS pushing more than 2 gallons of water a day through 30-40 foot tubes I think that’s understandable. I have another DOS that I use to dose calcium and alkalinity supplements which has a much much lighter workload and that one is still going strong on it’s original heads even after more than 3 years.

Finally, one other thing that’s nice about doing AWC with the DOS is that it’s possible to configure it to add a different amount of water than it takes out. Obviously you would normally want to take out and put in exactly the same amount of water to make sure that salinity doesn’t drift, but over time I’ve found a few cases where it makes sense for them to differ.

For example, I’m using a 45G brute trash can for my new saltwater reservoir and like I said, I use instant ocean salt. I discovered that mixing the salt to 35PPT requires just slightly less than a full bag of salt, which made it annoying to measure out the salt each time I made fresh saltwater and it also meant that I needed to seal up and store a partially used bag of salt until the next time I mixed water. Instead what I’ve started doing is just using a full bag of salt each time. This means that my new water is higher than the 35PPT that I keep my tank at, but by configuring my DOS to remove slightly more water than it puts in the ATO will make up the difference with freshwater and keep my salinity stable.

So all that said, I think you should have no trouble with what you plan to do. I would suggest using polyethylene tubing over vinyl tubing, but even with vinyl I have had no problems with my waste line clogging in more than 3 years. However, I would be a bit concerned about dumping the salt water into your sump system. The sump pump is likely not designed for salt water and it’s quite possible that the salt water will cause it to corrode and fail. I also might be a bit concerned about where that salt water is getting dumped. Too much salt will kill plants, so if your sump pump discharges into the lawn or a garden you could kill the grass or plants near where it discharges.

I do the same thing, having my waste line go directly into the washing machine drain.

I run vinegar through both lines every couple years to dissolve all the built up calcium.

Been running 5 years with 0 issues.

 

[Jay Z]

If you going to the basement drain, I would look at a actual awc unit that comes with 3/8 lines.