Run fridge auto ice maker from 5 gal bottle water?

It would need to be pressuredized to feed into the fridge.

 

Seriously???? Go back to the old fashion way and fill some ice-cube trays and freeze til frozen....

 

Welp... I'm sure you use pot holders or gloves to handle hot stuff, so... gonna hafta use some type of gloves to handle ice cubes, if that's the way you go. Or, and you'd have to run this by an appliance service guy, you might use a 12v pump to drive water from a 5 gallon tank into the icemaker intake line on the fridge. We use one on a 26 gallon tank on the 4x4 to water flowers all around our place. It has enough pressure to send the shower stream 15 feet no prob. Might be plenty for your op.

 

Check out Northern Tool's website. Look at their ATV water tank setups. That will lead you to their pumps too.

 

Only problem with a pump and an ice maker is the pump knowing when to turn on. You'd only want it on when the ice maker calls for water, or else you're going to have a pump running all the time when it only needs to run for a minute or so per cycle.

IIRC there is a electric solenoid/valve that opens when the ice maker calls for water. It wouldn't be difficult to figure out where that is and tap into it and make a circuit to turn the pump on, but it would take a lot more effort to do that than making ice cubes in a tray.

 

Why can't you just install a reverse osmosis filter system inline before the refrigerator to clean the untrustworthy water? They make them specifically for well systems with low water pressure. Then you'd have filtered water for both ice and water in the door.

If you want low tech I suppose you could try to rig up something using gravity ....... if you have a second floor. Run a line from an inverted 5 gallon water cooler jug to the fridge. The head pressure of the water on the second floor might be enough to make the fridge happy.

If you buy plastic anything for this purpose make sure it's food safe!

Josh

 

So you have an ice dispenser as part of the freezer? Would bagged ice from the store work with the dispenser...seems like it would be simpler.

 

Confused? - you have a shallow water well? or a deep water well that transfers to a cistern?

Is the area under your sink cabinet accessible from underneath (basement area). It would make more sense to put an RO unit under the sink and then run a water line from it to your fridge.

Ice makers are fussy with low/varied water pressure. I don't think a pump would make much sense to add in this case

 

Yes and was going to suggest. They have their own on/off switch when pressure is needed. I don't see why you couldn't plumb it with a suction line that drops right in the jug.