My home uses a well for its water supply and I use a water filter and softner to condition the water. Both these units have a 1/2" discharge line that uses PVC pipe to a "dry well" outside the home. This is a White 4" PVC pipe that goes into the ground about 3 feet down. On really cold days like the minus 20C weather we have had this past week, the dry well fills with water and freezes. Eventually the discharge lines get plugged with ice and the filter and conditioner units stop functioning. Is there a recommended way for dealing with this discharge? We moved to a country home here in Ottawa (ON) from Toronto and are unfamiliar with these setups.
Answer:
Let's start at the beginning. Drywells are no longer legal in many jurisdictions and Ontario is one of them. A drywell I built some years ago (when they were legal)was at least eight feet deep and not less than eight feet in diameter. At the bottom there was a framework of concrete blocks (lots of them) to which I lead the 2" discharge line. Around the blocks I put in gravel (not less than two inch stuff) for water to flow easily and this went up to within a couple of feet of the surface where 'pit run' gravel took over for a few inches and then top soil to the surface. That was back in the late sixties and to the best of my knowledge, it is still working - as a drywell and not as a septic which many people mistook them for. We now drain all this into a septic system - by law.
