Can water softener waste go through copper pipe ?

[Ian Middleton]

Can water softener waste (probably containing calcium/magnesioum chloride and may be some salt) be passed through copper pipe OK ?

Would it attack the copper ? I very much doubt it but worth asking.

[Mike]

Almost everything attacks copper pipe until it forms a protective shield of the various oxides and other Cu salts inside. Providing nothing is done to remove these at intervals the pipe should be okay.

But why not just use plastic ?

[Ian Middleton]

A colleague at work, after hearing about the wonders of my water softener decide he would like one too. The optimum place for it would be in a cupboard near the rising main and other pipework in his utility room. The waste drain would by via a nicely polished peice of 35mm copper pipe running under a large victorian sink. Doesn't want to change the copper pipe as its a feature, but worried that something might eat it away ???

[Rob Morley]

So stick some plastic pipe inside it.

[Ian Middleton]

He is just going to stick with the copper as he found numerous references via Google to US newsgroup postings about water softener waste and copper pipes. It appears copper waste pipes are much more common in the US than in UK and there were no reported problems.