Plumbing – What are the options for installing a water softener on the opposite side of the house from the main water supply

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Background Info

My main water supply on my home is located on the east wall of the home, whereas my garage is located on the west side of the home. There is no water softener loop in the home, and in Arizona most water softeners are put in the garage on newer homes.

I would like to put in a water softener but I'm uncertain that I should re-plumb my water into the garage and back to the east wall into the house.

The way I see it I have two options:

  1. Plumb from the mains on the east wall, under the landscaping and into the east wall of the garage. Then into the softener and out, under the landscaping into the east wall of the house.

  2. Place the water softener behind the east backyard fence (outside), and plumb the east wall main through the fence and into the water softener. Then water softener to the east wall of the house.

My questions are:

  1. What is: more cost effective and/or more logical to do?
  2. What type of pipe should I use under ground, given we are located in Arizona.
  3. Taking Arizona weather into account (Phoenix/Mesa area) if I chose #2 and placed the softener outside, what weather concerns should I know of: freezing, extreme heat, etc.?
  4. Is there a specific type of softener I should look for?
  5. Given Option #1 is the right choice, do I need to worry about line pressure drop going that far of a distance and back? approx 15-20ft each way (total of 30-40ft).

Pictures of the home

This is a crude drawing of option #1.
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This is the location of the water main, as you can see its on the east wall in front of the backyard fence.
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Best Answer

Okay I will try my best on this one. Living in an arid climate does create quite the change in temperature, do you ever get below freezing there? Code up here is at least 18" underground and sleeved if the water line is not approved for underground. I would suggest PVC sch80 pipe as I believe that is approved. The pressure loss is also minimal for the length of pipe in PVC but the number of elbows you are proposing, which I am counting 9 is a total friction loss of about 38 feet of head which is 16 psi. Now I am not saying you'll loose that much off the piping but the calculation suggest it. That is the garage application. Now on average from a water softener you will also lose about 5 psi. I understand the aesthetics your house is important, but I would keep it outside behind the fence if you guys down there have weather that doesn't go below freezing. If you do I would box it and put heat trace on the softener and lines. I hope this helps.

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