Ice Maker Drain Plumbing

[kf4zht]

So I was gifted a used Ice Maker that the GFs parents ripped out from a bar renovation. Undercabinet model, makes the good ice. Building it into a corner bar in the dining room

I have water and drain lines running right past it to the kitchen sink. Supply is pex, so teeing off to a valve will be easy and I plan on adding a filter if there is room. The drain is another story. The unit is gravity drain only, just a barb for a hose. I can run it into the adjacent ~2" sink line but don't know what I would need. Assuming it would need a p trap and all to prevent backflow and gases, but concerned that the volume may not be enough to make it work. Other option is to run softline all the way out the side of the house and into the flower bed. Reading online that seems common, but also a lot of posts are referencing commercial setups and just put it over a floor drain.

Can I just come vertically out the drain pipe to an elbow then one of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/JONES-S...WV-Plastic-Condensate-P-Trap-P15075/202271223
and attach the flex line to the trap?

 

[surpip]

do you have the flow elevation to drop it in before your sink trap?

 

[aczlan]

do you have the flow elevation to drop it in before your sink trap?

If you do, get a dishwasher tailpiece for your sink and use that to connect it.

Aaron Z

 

[kf4zht]

do you have the flow elevation to drop it in before your sink trap?

No, sink trap is the end of the line and I would have to go under the joists, over 15ft and then back up.

If I tie directly into the line it will need to go through the floor, under the joists and over about 4-5 ft. As I recall the last time I was under there the pipe is about 4-5" from the bottom of the joist there. I can drill through the joists if necessary to maintain better slope.

Alternatively I need to fix my AC condenser drain. Right now its just a PVC pipe with about 2" of drop over 10ft. Technically ok but it gets clogged constantly. If I put a pump in there the ice maker could just run all the way to that pump

 

[ironman_gq]

I would definitely look at an air gap drain to prevent backflow on that thing.

 

[kf4zht]

I would definitely look at an air gap drain to prevent backflow on that thing.

Thats pretty tempting. Wouldn't be hard to work up If it did backup it would dump in the crawlspace, which could be a mess but better than it doing it into the ice maker or house

 

[Onebad68]

Can you just get one of these condensate pumps? There shouldnt be much water draining out of it. Just get one of these and you can pump it into a dishwasher style trap under the sink or pump it out anywhere else.

 

[Santa]

Can you just get one of these condensate pumps? There shouldnt be much water draining out of it. Just get one of these and you can pump it into a dishwasher style trap under the sink or pump it out anywhere else.

This is what we did in a science lab we added an ice machine to. Worked well.

 

[kf4zht]

Can you just get one of these condensate pumps? There shouldnt be much water draining out of it. Just get one of these and you can pump it into a dishwasher style trap under the sink or pump it out anywhere else.

That's my backup plan, but if I go that way it will probably pump into the rain barrels I'm planning on adding this spring.

 

[Spiritof76]

I would definitely look at an air gap drain to prevent backflow on that thing.

This. I was involved in a situation where a commercial icemaker didn't have an air gap, and there were major health issues that resulted. They never determined if a backflow occurred or not, but people almost died, and it wasn't pretty.

 

[MattS]

I would do any amount of work to NOT put it in a condensate pump. Unless you wire it properly and have it kill the ice maker when the condensate pump quits. Because it will and if you don't have it wired right water will be everywhere. I would look up the spec, ice makers actually drain a decent amount of water per day. You can't hook into a drain somewhere lower in the house? And yes you for sure need a p-trap or some sort of trap. You want your ice tasting like poop? Because it will absorb that nasty sewer smell.

 

[aczlan]

No, sink trap is the end of the line and I would have to go under the joists, over 15ft and then back up.

If I tie directly into the line it will need to go through the floor, under the joists and over about 4-5 ft. As I recall the last time I was under there the pipe is about 4-5" from the bottom of the joist there. I can drill through the joists if necessary to maintain better slope.

Alternatively I need to fix my AC condenser drain. Right now its just a PVC pipe with about 2" of drop over 10ft. Technically ok but it gets clogged constantly. If I put a pump in there the ice maker could just run all the way to that pump

So you have enough drop for water to flow to the drain, I would put a tee, a 90 (possibly a street 90), then go over and up. Then put in a trap and your icemaker with an airgap.

Aaron Z

 

[kf4zht]

So you have enough drop for water to flow to the drain, I would put a tee, a 90 (possibly a street 90), then go over and up. Then put in a trap and your icemaker with an airgap.

Aaron Z

Yeah, I think this is the solution. I may need to drill though the joists to get the soft line right but I can just drop it air gap into the trap

 

[aczlan]

Yeah, I think this is the solution. I may need to drill though the joists to get the soft line right but I can just drop it air gap into the trap

I would bring hard line up as high as you can so that if you get a clog it has to go higher before it overflows out of the airgap.
I would probbaly use a 2" to 1" tee, then come over under/through the joists, up through the floor, put in a coupling, a trap, then go up to 1.5" for your airgap.
Can use smaller holes through the joists that way and have less surface area in the trap for evaporation.

Aaron Z