Conservatory in Phoenix taught me to always check the drain line slope first

Back in 2015, I got called to a commercial ice machine at a conservatory attached to a museum. Thing was down every three weeks like clockwork. Previous guy kept swapping parts. I crawled under and found the drain line had a low spot about 4 feet from the machine. Water pooled, froze, backed up. Repiped it with a straight drop and never heard from them again. $45 in parts, saved them thousands. After that, I started checking drains before I even pull a panel. How many of you have found something similar that was the real root cause?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade_perez10d ago

Man that drain line slope is one of those things you dont think about until it bites you. Ive seen ice machines and walk-in coolers act up from the same exact issue more times than I can count. A buddy of mine had a reach-in freezer that kept tripping the defrost timer, turned out the drain line had a slight dip that let water sit and freeze into a block. After he fixed that slope, the unit ran like new. Its amazing how many techs jump straight to replacing brains and compressors when a level and a piece of pipe could solve it. I swear half the commercial calls I take are just bad drain installs from the get go.

wright.taylor10d ago

Used to think drain slope was overblown but @wade_perez you completely changed my mind on that...