Low Water Pressure - No Ice

[drumste]

This is my first post so hello everyone. I am looking for some advice on a topic that has been bugging me for the last week. It may seem a bit daft, but bear with me.

I have an american style fridge freezer with a built in ice maker which was bought when i stayed in the city and had a mains water supply. Since then i have moved out to the countyside and now have a gravity fed water system, which is obviously low pressure. Last week i decided, after 2 years in this house, to plumb in the fridge freezer so it can start making ice again, only to find that nowt much happened. After digging out the manual and having a read it turns out that the minimum recommended water pressure is a whopping 20psi and I recon i've got 5psi at best (0.433psi/ft x 12ft).

I've got 2 possible solutions:

1. Buy a 12V booster pump like they use in caravans and a 12v transformer. This can be connected up and boost the pressure to the fridge freezer. Easy. Total cost i recon £75.

OR

2. Take a feed from the cold side of the shower pump and plumb that to the fridge freezer. I know the flow won't be enough to activate the pump but i have a solution. Ii will put a check valve in the line with an accumulator on the fridge freezer side. This means when the shower is run every day the accumulator will be charged and the check valve will retain the pressure. This will limit the amount of water available to what's in the accumulator but it will work. Total cost i recon £50.

What do you think ?

Before anyone says it i know there's a secret option 3. Use ice cube trays, but that is not an option because that's no fun.

Thnaks for reading

Steve

 

[SimonJohns]

Try to make the pipe going from cold water pipe to fridge as short as possible. With it being small bore 6/8mm. This will restrict the water alot

But if manufacturer says you need 20psi. You may struggle.
What is the water pressure like where you live?

 

[heliotrope]

If you have a low pressure water supply at your taps then I take it that you have cold water storage tank
at high level to feed the taps.

Question is, how does the water get up into the tank?

 

[drumste]

Thanks for the replies.

SimonJohns: I've got 15mm pipe running right to the fridge freezer. The small bore pipe atached to the fridge freezer is small bore, procably 4mm ID so i chopped that down from 10ft to about 3ft. That piping will run through the guts of the appliance so it's still going to be a fair restriction. I recon i've got 5psi pressure.

Heliotrope: There is a well at the bottom of the garden with a submersible pump suspended in it. It pumps the water into the tank in the loft space. I see where you're going with this . . . tee into the pressurised line which feeds the tank and use that to feed the fridge freezer . . . that is a fantastic idea. I'll have to go check to see what pressure that line is at, there's a gauge on the accumulator in the treatment system above the well. I'll do that tonight when i get home from work.

Steve