Using washing machine water outlet for American Fridge...

Elvis07

Hi All - I recently got an American fridge freezer and have plumbed in the water line by using the cold water outlet that serves the washing machine. All is working but the question is whether the water quality for the washing machine is OK to use for Fridge ?ie safe for consumption? is the water in the kitchen tap any different? Cheers.

seamus

Depends on where the feed comes from. The cold water tap in the kitchen usually comes from the mains, and in many cases the washing machine is plumbed straight off this.

Which makes it fine for consumption.

However, if the feed is coming from the attic tanks - like it usually does for all the other taps in the house - then it's not recommended.

If you can't tell where it's coming from by just looking at the pipes, then an easy test is to disconnect the cold water outlet in question, put the open end into a bucket and open the tap (slowly). If the pressure is the same as the kitchen cold tap, then it's probably plumbed into the mains.

Outkast_IRE

Elvis07 wrote: »

Hi All - I recently got an American fridge freezer and have plumbed in the water line by using the cold water outlet that serves the washing machine. All is working but the question is whether the water quality for the washing machine is OK to use for Fridge ?ie safe for consumption? is the water in the kitchen tap any different? Cheers.

It depends on how your house is plumbed . Good guidance would say that Dishwashers and Washing machines should be plumbed off the CWS tank , but this is rarely done in practice and they are generally fed from MWS.

You would need to track the pipework back to confirm , or else turn off the incoming water main and check is there still water available in the pipe.

Subcomandante Marcos

seamus wrote: »

Depends on where the feed comes from. The cold water tap in the kitchen usually comes from the mains, and in many cases the washing machine is plumbed straight off this.

Which makes it fine for consumption.

However, if the feed is coming from the attic tanks - like it usually does for all the other taps in the house - then it's not recommended.

If you can't tell where it's coming from by just looking at the pipes, then an easy test is to disconnect the cold water outlet in question, put the open end into a bucket and open the tap (slowly). If the pressure is the same as the kitchen cold tap, then it's probably plumbed into the mains.

Or, turn off your mains water and of the water still flows out of the washing machine piping coming from the tanks in the attic.

Elvis07

Thanks all for the help and advice. I've got a suspicion water for washing machine its coming from the attic tank and not the main water supply since the pressure doesn't seem to match the kitchen tap pressure. I will try turning of mains to confirm fully. I guess should have checked this before connecting it up in the first place.

If confirmed its coming from tank, next challenge will be figuring out how to run a line from sink across a tiled floor!
thanks again

wexie

Elvis07 wrote: »

Thanks all for the help and advice. I've got a suspicion water for washing machine its coming from the attic tank and not the main water supply since the pressure doesn't seem to match the kitchen tap pressure. I will try turning of mains to confirm fully. I guess should have checked this before connecting it up in the first place.

If confirmed its coming from tank, next challenge will be figuring out how to run a line from sink across a tiled floor!
thanks again

Worth keeping in mind that the majority of fridges have a water filter built in.

(probably still best to get from mains though, I know I'd prefer not to drink water from my tanks, filter or not)

Mooooo

wexie wrote: »

Worth keeping in mind that the majority of fridges have a water filter built in.

(probably still best to get from mains though, I know I'd prefer not to drink water from my tanks, filter or not)

Filters wouldn't help if it's bacteria from stale water in the tank

wexie

Mooooo wrote: »

Filters wouldn't help if it's bacteria from stale water in the tank

Would a decent filter not catch them?

Learn something new every day

jimmycrackcorm

Elvis07 wrote:

Thanks all for the help and advice. I've got a suspicion water for washing machine its coming from the attic tank and not the main water supply since the pressure doesn't seem to match the kitchen tap pressure. I will try turning of mains to confirm fully. I guess should have checked this before connecting it up in the first place.

I stand to be corrected but I understood that you shouldn't connect the fridge to the mains directly due to the pressure.

Elvis07

wexie wrote: »

Would a decent filter not catch them?

Learn something new every day

There is an external filter on the line, Samsung filter (Samsung HAFEX), but agreed I'd be reluctant to trust the filter to do the job on tank water. Still trying to figure out how to turn off mains (without going out to footpath!).
Cheers.

Elvis07

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I stand to be corrected but I understood that you shouldn't connect the fridge to the mains directly due to the pressure.

It seems all instructions refer to tapping into mains under the sink. As it stands, when using the washing machine outlet, the water pressure isn't great for the water coming from the filter - filling a standard class can take ~ 20-30 seconds.