Water Softener drain connection

[cjking]

Hi,

Previously the water softener has been plumbed into a sealed tundish, at the grey saddle you can see in the attached photo.
Once a year this tundish breaks, so I am looking for some advice on where best to connect this drain to.
It is supposed to be air gapped, but the vendor can only suggest to use a washing machine standpipe which is challenging under a sink!

Can anyone offer any suggestions, I don't mind rearranging some pipework if it can make the drain more robust.

Thanks!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Any option to fit standpipe to side of cupboard, (standpipe can be cut down if need be)? I'd be wary of the current arrangement, as if water backs up at any time when washing machine or dishwasher is pumping out, you'll have a cupboard full of water before you realise it.

 

[cjking]

Thanks for the reply - I could fit a stand pipe to the left side of the cupboard, and use a longer hose to reach it. Any thoughts on where to tee that in to the current setup?
Also, any idea how people generally go about achieving the air gap - is a regular tundish on top of a standpipe appropriate?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Standpipe will give you the air gap, if drain hose from softener will hook into it. Otherwise there are proprietary fittings made to connect the two, you'll want to connect it in as low as possible to the existing.

Have you looked to see if it'll fit it onto the unused spigot on the sink trap, the air break will be provided by the trap arrangement, and you can get rid of that self cutting waste.

 

[cjking]

I had thought of using a spigot but behind each spare one is a removable plastic stopper, and behind that is a load of nasty crud that’s built up over time!
I assume if the waste downstream of the sink is blocked then there’s a chance it will back up out of the spigots. Unless I’m misunderstanding or overcomplicating this, I believe this is the reason for an air gap to prevent backflow of waste into the clean water supply.