Water softener causing terrible buildup in drain pipe?

[MatBirch]

Is this a common problem? It appears to be salt? It has totally crusted even the walls of the drain pipe in vertical sections, and has virtually closed shut two seperate traps in the line. This is over the course of only about 5 years. What do I need to adjust to prevent this? The softener only regenerates once a week, and there are only two water users in the house. Minimal use, really...
I tried a search, but most things lead to clogging of supply pipes and fixtures.

 

[Crfdell]

Sounds. Ore like hardness. Salt is water soluble so it shouldn’t deposit.
Sample a piece and drop some acid on it like HCl if it bubbles likely not salt. Recommend a good pressure cleaning and inspection of your lines.

 

[bob15]

Use PVC. Been using mine for 15+ years and I have going through an 1-1/2 PVC pipe (also a sump pump discharge pipe) with no issues.

 

[glentre]

While not directly related to your problem, many water softeners have two recycle settings. One recycle is set on a timer as yours seems to be and the other setting works on amount of gallons of water used. With only two people in the house, setting the recycle on amount of water used would be a more economical approach and also cut down on your scaling problem.

I agree with the post above. During recharging, the salt is mixed with a lot of water and should not cause any deposits in your piping at all. Are you sure your softener is actually working properly?

Glen

 

[MatBirch]

Plumbing is all PVC. House was built in 2016. I'm pretty sure the softener is about the same age. I think the next step is to get the softener company over to see what's going on.

 

[Bretny]

Dont drain the softener output into your drain lines.

 

[MerlinsBeard]

This reminds me of no water urinals installed in an office building I was in a few years back. Sure seemed like a great water savings idea at first, until the deposits from urine blocked the drainage pipes. They have then switched to "low" water flushes.

 

[rburke65]

No expert here, but I wouldn’t think that brine water would clog a pipe.

 

[MatBirch]

Dont drain the softener output into your drain lines.

Where do we drain it then? The regen water needs to go somewhere...

 

[nadogail]

I am of the opinion that your Water Softener Company needs to have a look at the unit.