Wow. Galvanized pipes. Too bad you can replace them. :) If your water conditioner is working OK, you shouldn't have a problem with the excess salt damaging the pipes. Galvanized pipes are bound to fail at some point anyway. They will corrode and build up scale inside the pipe - but the water softener (again, working right) should help keep that build-up to a minimum - as long as iron isn't your problem. If you have high iron, the WS won't help that much. An iron filter is the only way to go with that issue. Regarding the sump.... if you have a submersible sump pump, you will eventually have a problem with the salt water corroding up parts in the pump and the pump failing. We had to replace a submersible pump in one of our homes due to the w/s draining into it. If you have a stand-up pump, you'll have less of a problem. Good luck!

Most problems with adding a softener to plumbing with galvanized pipes is there had already been scale build up in the pipes. The softened water may have a tendency to 'clean' out the pipes causing staining, etc., down the line.

My suggestion is to replace as much of the pipe as possible as soon as possible.

Understanding iron will determine if a softener will be effective at removing it even at "high" levels.

Have you had your water tested? What model Kinetico did you get? What number is the disk at the top? There can be many problems when getting used equipment that wasn't intended for the new water source.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

I just learned that the salty brine from water softeners is corrosive to sump pumps and can void the warranty on the sump pump.
The brine is not good for your lawn/plants.
Frequent recharge of the softener might be bad for a septic tank. Cities might not want that brine in sewer.

So best discharged to the storm drain or a dry well.

an old trick used on old leaking boilers,by older boiler makers and boiler techs..is to dump a box of salt into the lines..its a fact [among maintaince techs] that salt will corrode over a small leak, and stop the leak..
so ....using a brine tank with gal. piping will cause it to rust the pipes up..I am not a scientest,,,just common sence

I agree that salt water would probably cause the galvanized pipes to corrode. However, even though there will be some residual sodium in the softened water, I am not certain that this will cause corrosion in the pipes. My main concern is how to pump out the brine from the softener recharge.

Is it necessary to have an air gap between the end of the hose and a pipe? If not, I could look at taking the line up through the floor to the kitchen sink drain and patching into that line. However, even with a check valve, I fear that this would violate some building code. Suggestions?

yes a vacuum breaker is required on your hose
if you are planing to dump it into the plumbing system
where is your washing machine at..dump into the stand pipe of the washer..or..any floor drains in the basement