Fridge water drain fittings

Adrian

Adrian

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Me Midlands, Boat Port Grimaud SOF
www.kydproducts.co.uk
One of my jobs in preparation for moving my boat to the med is to fit a drain in the bottom of our top loading fridge connected to the sink waste to allow bags of ice to drain.

Has anyone done this who can point me in the right direction for the fittings needed?

Cheers :encouragement:
 
You will need to put a water trap (with water in it) under the box to prevent the cold air escaping under gravity. It will also prevent bugs and suchlike climbing into the fridge.

This will be similar to the system we had on containerships for the cooling of blown air fridge containers - only we had to make sure there was calcium water in the trap to prevent it freezing up and blocking the trap.
 
I was thinking to do the same having built my fridge with 75mm foam and F/glass

worried that the water will seep into foam even after sealing, when hole has been drilled
at bottom of fridge ( cos water will always find a way )

Due to this I might not bother and use a sponge instead

open to ideas tho
 
conventionally fridges just drain in to the bilges - I'm not sure the drain hole will be at the right height for it to drain externally - it would need to come up to around the height of your galley sink plug holes. If it joined the sink plumbing you'd have to ensure that emptying the sink would not fill up the fridge! If it had its own external outlet you'd want the skin fitting to have a sea cock (again you'd not want the sea to fill up the fridge - again take into consideration the boats heel and 'head' of water.

If you don't want to drain straight in to your bilges have you thought about just draining into a plastic bottle of some kind? Its got to be the safest/least complex/cheapest solution (together with the sponge of course!)
 
alteredoutlook said:
conventionally fridges just drain in to the bilges - I'm not sure the drain hole will be at the right height for it to drain externally - it would need to come up to around the height of your galley sink plug holes. If it joined the sink plumbing you'd have to ensure that emptying the sink would not fill up the fridge! If it had its own external outlet you'd want the skin fitting to have a sea cock (again you'd not want the sea to fill up the fridge - again take into consideration the boats heel and 'head' of water.

If you don't want to drain straight in to your bilges have you thought about just draining into a plastic bottle of some kind? Its got to be the safest/least complex/cheapest solution (together with the sponge of course!)
Click to expand...

That's a good idea, it would only be needed every few days, could attach a plastic bottle when needed.

Edit
Just found this, looks ideal
http://www.sheridanmarine.com/product/nylon-drain-skin-fitting
 
Last edited:
alteredoutlook said:
conventionally fridges just drain in to the bilges - I'm not sure the drain hole will be at the right height for it to drain externally - it would need to come up to around the height of your galley sink plug holes. If it joined the sink plumbing you'd have to ensure that emptying the sink would not fill up the fridge! If it had its own external outlet you'd want the skin fitting to have a sea cock (again you'd not want the sea to fill up the fridge - again take into consideration the boats heel and 'head' of water.

If you don't want to drain straight in to your bilges have you thought about just draining into a plastic bottle of some kind? Its got to be the safest/least complex/cheapest solution (together with the sponge of course!)
Click to expand...
That's how it is on my Dufour 30 Classic. It's an ice box rather than a fridge, which must be drained when the ice has melted. It has a 3/4' tube with a screw -off cap at the bottom. The problem is that has become quite stiff and is just a little too long, hence I intend, this winter/spring, to replace it with something a little more flexible and slightly shorter so that it will be easier to get a receptacle underneath for emptying. I do intend to keep that arrangement however as it's very simple, one less thing to go wrong. Must find some kind of flexible but tough sort of bag that will hold a shop-bought bag of ice cubes...
 
When I fitted mine to my small F/F , I used one of these or similar
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3210...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

Cut the thread off and put it in the lathe to just dish the inside of fitting to allow a slope to aid drainage. I set it in the base of the freezer just a little below flush.
Plastic tube /pipe connects to tail and half way to the bilge I have fitted a small plastic inline stop cock which people use in irrigation applications.
When defrosting /draining the freezer open stopcock to drain, and once drained I partially fill drain pipe with Dilute Zeflora disinfectant. Freezer smells’ sweet, stopcock acts as a water lock so no nasty niffs, freezer contents drains into bilge.

Only a small F/F and only defrost maybe 2 times during the season. Works for me

Philip
 
As AlteredOutlook said, if you just plumb your fridge to the sink drain you will almost certainly a) half-fill the fridge with seawater and b) empty the dirty washing-up water into it. Not a very clever idea.

I wouldn't suggest draining freely to the bilges unless you never keep milk in the fridge :)

Our boat's fridge drain consists of a short length of PVC hose which goes from the bottom of the fridge into the locker under the sink, where it turns upwards and is secured in a clip near the top of the locker wall. Cold air, and water, will not climb up the vertical section of hose to escape. When it needs emptying, I simply pull the hose out of its clip and direct it downwards into a bucket placed in front of the locker.

You don't want a simple skin fitting for the drain because the external flange will prevent the last few millimetres of water draining away. A "deck drain" is similar but designed to allow the last dregs of water to run into it.

Pete
 
Jeanneau fit something like this in the bottom of the fridge -

http://www.sheridanmarine.com/product/straight-sink-waste-drain-plug

It drains into the bilge sump but also has a plug that can be closed once the fridge is drained so that the cold air doesn't escape or bilge smells can't find their way back into the fridge.

As already mentioned, the risk of sink or sea water flooding the fridge if connected upto the sink waste sounds a bit high risk. Also, not sure about your setup but I believe the bottom of our fridge can't be far off, if not below, the sink outlet seacock.
 
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