advice needed about A/C condensate

[gregoryking]

Hello All,

I just re-routed my A/C condensate to drain into a waste pipe in my basement (rather than outside of the house). The water is now pumped about 25 feet instead of 10 feet. The only problem with this new arrangement is that each time the condensate pump does its job, about half of the water it pumped falls back through the tubing into the condensate collector. The little pump is now working a lot harder than it used to.

I'm looking for advice on how I can prevent the water in the tubing from falling back down (anti-siphon valve?).

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Greg King

[LazyPup]

To prevent the water from backflowing you can create a high loop near the pump that will serve as a backflow preventer. Configure the tubing so it goes relatively straight up from the pump to a point that is at least a foot higher than any other part of the line. When the pump stops their will be a minimal amount of water between the pump and the top of the loop, which may backflow, the remaining water in the line will flow down hill from the top of the loop to the discharge end.

The discharge end of the line MAY NOT be connected directly into a drain line. It is required to be connected by means of and indirect waste connection.

To create an indirect waste it can terminate into a utility sink, floor drain or other receptor, providing the discharge opening of the condensate line is a minimum of two inches above the highest flood level rim of the receptor.

The intended purpose of an indirect waste is to reduce the possibility of bacteria in the drain line from entering into the line and ultimately getting back into the air handler where the bacteria could be spread by humidity in the air flow.