We just replaced our 60-year-old home's 1970s furnace with a 93/high-efficiency one. I was surprised by the water discharge--but I now understand how/why it's produced.

A corner of my home's basement had a sump pump pit (about 18" square) installed in the 60s. It isn't open to the ground below (i.e., with a gravel floor); rather, it exists only to accept water from two floor drains in the basement floor (installed at the same time) and to send that water outside.

I've determined that the new furnace, in winter's cold, is putting out something like 15 gal. of water in a day. I'd like to NOT send this all outside----especially when it either freezes within a discharge hose and/or pools up on top of frozen ground and creates a mini-lake.

Is there some code-approved way I could get this discharge into my main sewage stack (i.e., in the way that the basement water softener, and clothes washer do)?

I don't know much about backflow worries, siphoning dry, and the like--I just would like to deal with this in a worry-free way, doing what I can or simply hiring a pro to take care of it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope I described my situation clearly. Many thanks!

You can get a small pump that will pump your discharge up to where it can be dumped into the washing machine stand pipe. Some counties here like for that to be done. Other counties will not allow it to go in the sewer system. If you are on a private septic tank, I would try to avoid dumping this water in the system. It can usually be piped further from your house to where it doesn't make a mess.

the condensate from high efficiency furnce i s a by product of combustion and needs to be piped to the sanitary system, because of it acidity values it should be pretreated before discarge to the sanitary system by means of a small acid neutralizer

Wisconsin code Comm 23.156 requires this discharge to sanitary sewer because of the low pH, being acidic in nature.

The condenstae is not allowed, under any circumstance, to be discharged to a clear water site drain, a clear water sump, to grade, or to subsurface soils.

There are devices available that neutralize condensate. Essentially, they just hold the acidic water in a container with a material like limestone so that the water's PH gets raised before it flows out. It can be as simple as a large pail of limestone. The condensate line is fed to the bottom of the bucket and water flows off the top into a drain trap.

When the furnaces first came out they had neutralizing cartridges that needed changing every so often, but they have not been around for years.

Just telling someone to run the furnace drain line through a bucket of lime stone is not the correct thing to say; when this person is trying to meet plumbing code requirements.

Bill beat me to it. They haven't been around for awhile, and saying to run it through limestone sounds bad.

I used to install them, either provided with the unit or the guys at the supply house would say you're gonna need one. I think they did away with the requirement for them (out here) because I haven't installed a nuet cart for quite awhile and haven't been turned down on inspection for the lack of one. I think the acidity thing was overhyped to begin with so they let it go. Our inspectors are very thorough and if it was supposed to be there, I'd be getting boinked on inspection(s).

They use to think the low pH would eat away the cast iron pipe. Over the years they found out it did not hurt the piping because of all the other water used during a normal day and now most homes are installing plastic drain piping.

You may wish to reread my post because it is quite obvious that I didn't advise him to actually do anything. What I said was that there are neutralizers available and then went on to explain in very simple terms how they work. If you know of any that work differently, perhaps you could explain them.

As for my opinion, I would much rather have condensate going into a large bucket of limestone than going straight into my copper drains. Every jurisdiction is different but the condensate is still acidic and should be dealt with properly.

Thanks to *all* of you for your advice. The local installers merely ran the drain lines into the sump pit I described (that sends the water outside, onto the grade).

I appreciate the information about Wisconsin Code specifically.....even though I'm likely not to sell the house for many years, I want to do the right thing, both legally and in terms of avoiding potential corrosion problems. Speaking of which, our main stack is cast iron; I'd be tapping into it via a PVC branch installed in the basement--on a distant wall from where my sump pit is---that has the laundry standpipe.

I"ll take the whole issue to my city's code inspector, and get it right from there. Should I just run PVC (about an inch and a half) vertically off the sump pump, then horizontally across the (unfinished) basement ceiling, then down into the standpipe?

Again, my thanks......your time and kindness are appreciated. It's fascinating how un-uniform codes are!

You can install an 1 1/2" indirect waste pipe form the furnace to a properly traped and vented standpipe.

For information goto www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/code/comm/comm081.html

click on COMM 82 PDF, then to page 108 it is 36 of 90

Thanks, BillPlus (fellow Wisconsinite)---

I sent an inquiry to the local firm that did the installation (i'm in SE Wisconsin), and am waiting to hear from them.

The technicians who did the installation were efficient and nice about everything--but I think I have a right to expect a code-compliant installation. I'll see what happens (although it sounds as though this is something I could do myself--routing the 1-1/2 PVC sump discharge up across the basement ceiling (rather than outside)---over to the other side of the basement, where the laundry standpipe and stack are.

again, thanks!!!!!!

I could not find the State Regulations. This url may be of some interest,and my questions to them.
mechanical-hub.com
Subject: hydronics the-importance-of-neutralizing-condensate-produced-by-high-efficiency-gas-fired-appliances

I have been collecting this acidic water since February. We have very cold weather in Canada, in Dawson Creek, BC. I collected between 500 ml to 900 ml, per hour. My furnace is a 100 BTU Lennox Pulse, installed in 1994. I would like to install a 200 gallon rain barrel and use this created water, if it can be neuatralized to flush my toilets. I do not want to harm the mechanics in the flush system of the toilet. I do not want to harm any pet that may drink from the toilet. I do not want the water to harm a person,
should it splash on the skin or into the eyes. I have heard if this acidic water will corrode concrete bases around the house, if it is just released around the house on surface ground. I have heard it
corrodes brass. I have even heard that it may be created heavy water, which freezes with D20 at about 38.999 F, rather than to freeze like ordinary water at 0 C or 32 F. My vents freeze up very quickly and I go outside when it is very cold, below freezing and pour non-toxic antifreeze down the exhaust venting.
I detached the outside intake-air-venting as it, too would freeze up and draw back into the furnace water vapors. Now I draw the air, that is not colder than 50 F and no hotter than 80 F from my crawl space, which is about 1200 square feet. Result: My floors have never been warmer, and my house has never been warmer, as long as the venting system does not freeze. It is poorly insulated where the exhaust venting is, in an unheated crawl space. The venting systems were within six inches and at the same level, and that was per the instructions set by Lennox International, in their 1994 installation manual (1992).
The installer also installed the venting at a mere 15 inches above ground level, and this is dangerous for accumulated snow levels and drifting factors in my area, that snow can be over five feet. We have poor inspections in my area, Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, by the provincial BCSA, and the fire marshal and the city building inspectors know nothing about high efficiency furnaces, nothing, at all.



Edited 2 times.

Hello, [www.plbg.com]
Url of interest: [mechanical-hub.com]
I have been collecting this acidic water since February 2015. We have very cold weather in Canada, in Dawson Creek, BC. I collected between 500

ml to 900 ml, per hour. If there are 2000 homes doing the same, in 185 days of winter season, we can fill the local pool 5 times within six months. My

furnace is a 100 BTU Lennox Pulse, installed in 1994. I would like to install a 200 gallon rain barrel and use this created water, if it can be neuatralized

to flush my toilets. I do not want to harm the mechanics in the flush system of the toilet. I do not want to harm any pet that may drink from the toilet. I

do not want the water to harm a person, should it splash on the skin or into the eyes. I have heard if this acidic water will corrode concrete bases

around the house, if it is just released around the house on surface ground. I have heard it corrodes brass. I have even heard that it may be created

heavy water, which freezes with D20 at about 38.999 F, rather than to freeze like ordinary water at 0 C or 32 F. My vents freeze up very quickly and I

go outside when it is very cold, below freezing, and pour non-toxic antifreeze down the exhaust venting. I detached the outside air intake venting as it,

too, would freeze up and draw back into the furnace water vapors. Now I draw the air, that is not colder than 50F and no hotter than 80F, from my

crawl space, which is about 1200 square feet. The result: My floors have never been warmer, and my house has never been warmer, as long as the

venting system does not freeze. It is poorly insulated where the exhaust venting is. The installer also installed the venting at a mere 15 inches above

ground level, and this is dangerous for accumulated snow levels and drifting factors in my area, that can be over five feet. We have poor gas and

venting inspections in my area, Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, by the provincial BCSA, and the local fire marshal and the city building inspectors known

nothing about high efficiency furnaces, nothing, at all.