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Ice box drain

jav317

Member III
Does anyone know where the Ice Box drain hose runs? I have salt water coming up the hose and that leads me to assume the hose is connected to a thru hull.
 

Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
What boat do you have? Mine was connected to a thru hull and seawater would come up, nasty. I disconnected it from the thru hull and ran the drain hose to a hand pump faucet on the sink and just pump the ice box water into the galley sink when needed. Pretty bad design due to the bottom of the ice box being pretty much right at the water line.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
That "hidden" thruhull needs an accessible seacock, too. I know of one boat (a Tartan, not an Ericson) with exactly that ice box (forgotten) drain scheme that nearly sunk after a week long freeze event. The owner did not know what caused the major flooding event, until after the boat was pumped out and some searching found the problem.

On our model, the drain hose from the factory ice box went directly into our bilge. Not a good idea for other reasons! I put a plastic ball-valve on the end of that hose.

Edit: add detail- Our OEM drain hose is clamped to the exit end of the plastic "thruhull' type fitting in the molded-in little recess in the bottom of our ice box. The foam was cut away around the drain fitting.
I left the short hose in place because it was well attached, and then put a valve on the hose end. I also put some tape over the inside drain hole after installing the 12 volt refrigeration.
 
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Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
That "hidden" thruhull needs an accessible seacock, too
Don't know about the OP but my thruhull with seacock was accessible under the galley sink. I just closed it attached a 30"ish hose with a plug clamped in the end then zip tied it vertically to the bulkhead. Maybe overkill but makes me feel better anyway.
 

peaman

Sustaining Member
Does anyone know where the Ice Box drain hose runs? I have salt water coming up the hose and that leads me to assume the hose is connected to a thru hull.
On my 32-3, the ice box drains to a valve below the galley sink. That valve is connected to a tee, one side of which goes to a through-hull seacock while the other goes to a foot pump with outlet at the galley sink. Depending on the valve positions:

1. One can close seacock and open icebox valve to use foot pump to drain the ice box into the galley sink.
2. One can open seacock and close icebox valve to use foot pump to supply sea water to the galley sink.
3. If both valves are open, sea water will flow into the icebox, which may explain your situation.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Jav317 data (pls put boat model in signature line)

Ericson Yacht ModelEricson 32-200Ericson Hull Number838Ericson Model Year1990Your Boat's Name:MariahYear Purchased2021GenderMaleBoat Location - CitySan DiegoBoat Location - State/RegionUS-CALIFORNIAOccupationretired business & law enforcementOwnershipYes
 

Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
That valve is connected to a tee, one side of which goes to a through-hull seacock while the other goes to a foot pump with outlet at the galley sink. Depending on the valve positions:
That is an excellent set up, so there's the valve on the thruhull and another on icebox drain yes ? My boat doesn't have a seawater foot pump so I guess without that option you get seawater in your icebox or not use the drain unless your heeled over on a starboard tack.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
What I did is hook it up to a small ShurFlo electric pump to the ice box drain line, and then ran the output of the pump to a small spout I made from some plumbing bits and mounted into the top portion of the sink.
 

peaman

Sustaining Member
What I did is hook it up to a small ShurFlo electric pump to the ice box drain line, and then ran the output of the pump to a small spout I made from some plumbing bits and mounted into the top portion of the sink.
If the drain is near the galley sink drain, the pump could as well tee into the sink drain above the boat's waterline, to avoid any countertop modifications. But if that connection has no check valve, depending on how high on the drain hose it is connected, seawater could backup into the icebox when heeled, so careful evaluation is needed.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
If the drain is near the galley sink drain, the pump could as well tee into the sink drain above the boat's waterline, to avoid any countertop modifications. But if that connection has no check valve, depending on how high on the drain hose it is connected, seawater could backup into the icebox when heeled, so careful evaluation is needed.
Yes, I did consider doing it that way; that's how I had it on a previous boat. But I like this method. I can see visually whether the pump is working well, and it was easy enough to install. I did not have to modify the countertop. It did involve drilling a hole in the top part of the sink to mount the right angle fittings, but that was trivial.
 

jav317

Member III
What boat do you have? Mine was connected to a thru hull and seawater would come up, nasty. I disconnected it from the thru hull and ran the drain hose to a hand pump faucet on the sink and just pump the ice box water into the galley sink when needed. Pretty bad design due to the bottom of the ice box being pretty much right at the water line.
That's It! I'm having the same problem. Now I'll see if I can find where it's connected and do your fix. Very good Idea and you're right, a crazy design. Thanks
Joe
1990 E32-200
 

Second Star

Member III
In our 28+ the icebox drain line "appears" from a hole in the engine room port bulkhead and likely went into the bilge. The bottom of the icebox is very slightly above the w/l. There is no access to the bottom of the icebox and the line connection short of removing the icebox and the spray-in insulation. The seawater foot pump was removed by a PO and the drain line attached to the pump through hull (and valve). If the valve is left open underway, the icebox will flood with sea water when heeling or rolling. Either method is messy, smelly or both.
 

goldenstate

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
@jav317 Hugo - in the resources section there is a document with hand drawn diagrams of the 32-200 plumbing.


I inherited these from my boat’s previous owner who is an architect and pretty good at spatial drawings. The ice box/saltwater pump and valves are shown. You can choose one or the other.
 

Nick J

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Blogs Author
Just adding another data point. I'm in the middle of replacing the drain hose for the forward ice box. It hasn't been draining with the foot pump and I wasn't able to clear the obstruction. There is a kink under the sink, but straightening it out didn't help much. I'm reworking the cabinet in front of the ice box, so I thought it would be a good time to tackle the Project.

When I cut out an access I found over 6" of foam under the ice box, the drain hose was completely incased and the foam was wet. After 30 minutes of digging out the foam, I found the drain did not have any sealant around it. The plan is to replace the drain and hose, but I'm not quite sure if I should apply new expanding foam or use something I can more easily remove if I run into this issue again.
 

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KS Dave

Dastardly Villain
Blogs Author
What I did is hook it up to a small ShurFlo electric pump to the ice box drain line, and then ran the output of the pump to a small spout
Alan - did you use the existing drain line? Mine is pretty manky and I'm not sure if it even works (I have yet to use the ice box). Is there any access to it on the E26 without cutting a hole somewhere?
 
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