RO air gap without a faucet?

Doob · Jul 2, 2019

Good day all,

Looking for some insight from the RO experts here. I have a new fridge on the way and plan on running the RO line from the drinking water resevoir tank right to the fridge for water and ice, and eliminating the faucet on the sink. The only standalone air gaps I can find are for dishwashers and way too big. I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here somewhere.

sstanley223 · Jul 2, 2019

Doob said:
Good day all,

Looking for some insight from the RO experts here. I have a new fridge on the way and plan on running the RO line from the drinking water resevoir tank right to the fridge for water and ice, and eliminating the faucet on the sink. The only standalone air gaps I can find are for dishwashers and way too big. I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here somewhere.

You can connect them together via 3/8" to 1/4" adaptor. But then you have to add a check valve to the waste line before the drain.

Doob · Jul 3, 2019

sstanley223 said:
You can connect them together via 3/8" to 1/4" adaptor. But then you have to add a check valve to the waste line before the drain.

A check valve is a sufficient alternative to the air gap?

sstanley223 · Jul 3, 2019

Yes, it will keep waste water out of your RO system if the waste pipe/drain were to back up or become full. I bypassed the air gap on mine because it was noisy. My setup has a tee fitting to run water to the faucet and fridge.