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So, I bought a Genesis Revolution upflow water softener to install in my first house in Laveen AZ. We have a water softener loop already plumbed into the house. The airgap is in the laundry room upstairs. This question is about the drain line. I have the 1" Sharkbite flex hoses for the inlet and outlet, not a problem. I'm having a huge problem figuring out exactly how to attach a drain line. The directions for the water softener only say to "connect 1/2 drain tube" with no clear indication on how to attach it to the copper drain pipe. Everything I've Googled or YouTube'd is about fitting it to an air gap PVC fitting, which I cannot do with my loop setup.

Everything I could find, said to use PEX and a Sharkbite connector. Easy enough, except that the drain on the Genesis valve head is a barb fitting and the 1/2 PEX tubing I bought does not fit on there. It's too rigid.

The other solution was to get "flexible PVC" tubing, using a tube clamp to clamp it to the barb. Easy enough, except I don't think that will work on the Sharkbite connector to the copper pipe, will it?

Does anyone know how to make this work? I'm at a loss after 10+ hours of being online, reading forums, watching videos. enter image description here enter image description here

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  • That's a 1/2" copper drain line? I didn't think anything smaller than 1 1/4" was legal per the International Plumbing Code or Universal Plumbing Code (2 of the most widely adopted standards). Then again, the copper that wasn't sanded down / roughed up looks like it could have predated the use of those standards...
    – statueuphemism
    Commented Dec 9, 2017 at 21:47
  • This house was built in 2003 with the loop and drain. Every single water softener guide, video, etc, talks about 1/2" drain lines, so I have no idea. I'm not a plumber. When I got a bid, the plumber who was here didn't even bat at eye at this. It's only for a water softener. Nothing else is hooked to this pipe.
    – Samuel Ryberg
    Commented Dec 9, 2017 at 22:13

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If you use flexible hose, and take the sharkbite fitting off the drain, the flexible hose will/should clamp right onto the 1/2 inch copper pipe. Or, you (or a plumber if you don't solder as I might expect for sharkbites) can solder a brass/bronze barbed fitting there, or I suppose you can build some sharkbite contraption that ends in a barbed fitting.

Hint, use enough hose onto the pipe to allow placing TWO hose clamps on the pipe, and put the screw-clamp part on opposite sides.

Alternatively, you could investigate what sort of threads you get if you unscrew the plastic barbed fitting, and look for a PEX fitting that matches that thread.

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  • Great, I think that's a fantastic idea. Thank you!
    – Samuel Ryberg
    Commented Dec 10, 2017 at 0:33

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