It all depends on the very local jurisdiction. By that I mean, the authority in your town or the homeowner. Some homes are on town sewerage while others are on septic systems, seepage pits or cesspools. Sewerage dumping into town or city treatment tanks might dictate that all discharge from combustion appliances be neutralized before being discharged. Or, as in many communities in our area, the discharge of HVAC equipment into MWRA drains is strictly prohibited. So you can't even dumpt the clear condensate water from the AC units into the sewer system. For those clients who have a septic system, you'll likely raise their ire if you discharge the toxic water from the drain and kill off their anaerobic bacteria in the system. Even neutralized, they'll probably be unhappy with discharge into the drain. Seepage pits and cesspools might be a little less touchy about it but I'd play it safe and discharge into a ground drain to on top of ground. Neutralization will remove all liability but will also add a significant extra cost to the job. I think most are just shooting it out the side of the house.

 

Skippedover, doesn't the neutralization for a HE aluminum heat exchanger have to be performed at some point before discharge anyway? One of my concerns about aluminum HE is that the pH has to be tested all the time. Or is that for water before it comes from the condensate stage?

In my jurisdiction the condensate cannot be discharged into a sanitary sewer drain (like a washing machine uses). The reason (I've been told) is that it increases the total volume that municipality has to treat.

My sump pump has to discharge into the yard.

 

You just need to check local codes. There are several different codes in my area, depending on where you live. I did 2 calls last week where the drain discharged into the washing machine. I hate it, because sometimes it's hard to tell if you got it open or not.

 

In my area it has to be discharged into the sewer or septic system.
It can't go to a sump pit or directly on the ground.
Many installers wanted to run the discharge from my condensate pump to a laundry sink.
No mention was ever made of neutralising the discharge.

 

How is it neautralized. Does it have to be treated periodically?

 

I thought that the condensate water was very pure distilled water - never drank it though. Is it the travel over the aluminum evaporator coil that makes it less than pure?

 

Condensate from the AC coil is clean. Condensate from a condensing furnace is slightly acidic (like OJ or Coke), and will kill plant life and corode metal.