Ice maker drain

[jwilk]

Installing an under counter ice maker; is it possible (advisable) to use a gravity drain in lieu of pump to a floor drain knowing that it will need an air gap?

if the outlet from the ice maker is 5” up from the bottom of the machine and you need an air gap, without having a recessed floor sink I’m not able to see how it would drain without a pump.
This is in a house with slab on grade so no crawl space or lower level.
Anyone with any advice would be greatly appreciated. there’s not much information on the web for how ice makers are drained in this scenario.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Most of the time I use a condensation pump and pump it to a bar sink or a kitchen sink drain tee just like a dishwasher.

The ice maker is indirectly connected to the pump.

Some even come with a pump already installed

 

[matt.mena]

Almost every break room I plumb has some sort of ice machine. Hoshizaki’s are difficult, Follets sometimes are drainless.

TW is correct, ordering the optional pump (if available) is the easiest way to go. The drawback, which I’ve seen, is if the power cuts off, the ice melts, the pump won’t work & you end up with a huge puddle in the floor. Granted, it’s a bigger deal for this to happen in a commercial high rise than a slab home.

Here are some pump discharges I’ve installed to a wall box hub drain.


You should be able to tell which hose is coming from the ice machine. Doesn’t look like much of an air gap but there is one and they passed final inspections.

If you have 5 inches, you have room to work.

Here is a 1/2” gravity ice machine drain I installed with a union so the pipe can be pushed back into the cabinet to remove the ice machine. It’s still a B to remove

I installed a 2 cast iron service weight hub (cut 5’ dog bone)as a floor hub drain way before the VCT was layed.

I eventually found a grid drain cover that fits.

It’s not as high as the code says but it’s an air gap and it passes every time.

Last example

Granted, I am friends with my high rise inspectors. I soldered this after the photo.

do you think your inspector would pass this?

 

[jwilk]

This is great!
Nice photos and very helpful.
Answers the real issue; if doing a gravity, it has to be hard piped.
Which then raises the question of whether I put access behind the machine to hook up/disconnect for maintenance OR do something like you’ve done with the union (where I’d still need access since it’s in a kitchen where the potential drain would be in the back)

Interesting point I’ve not heard on the drawback of a pump; so if the power goes out the pump would not just stop and act as a plug holding the water in the machine?

thanks for all the info

 

[Twowaxhack]

No, the drain connects to the pump indirectly. A rubber hose dropped into the top of the pump container..

If the pump stops working you’ll get overflow.

If you install a floor drain for the ice maker and the branch or the main drain clogged up, you could get raw sewage flooding out of the floor drain. This is true for most floor drains wether an ice machine is installled or not.

Best case scenario is to have a gravity drain to the outside. I do this a lot since I work in a warm climate.