Rob,

Many of us have done away with the drain off the refer with no issues. If you use the ice box as an ice box, a drain makes some sense. As a refer compartment it is a source of foul smells from sea and sink drain water backing up into the refer.
If left to drain to the bilge it is a source of cooling loss in the compartment and a source of a foul smelling bilge if you have a spill in the fridge.

I always leave my refer open to air out when not in use and clean it when there are spills. I have had no issues with no drain.

I also found mysterious water in my fridge that I did not know where it was coming from. The solution was to clean the sink drain that connects to the through haul. The sink water was backing up and going back down to the ice box. I am assuming that your ice box drain is connected to the sink drain at about sink level. This is above water line and you should have no sea water going back to the ice box. From you comments it appears that the ice box drain is connected at the or near the through hull. Also use the sink so that there is not much water init - other wise it will go bak to the ice box.

I like having the drain and pump, since I often put a bag of ice in there for cold drinks. I found a quick fix to the water in the fridge problem. If I operate the foot pump until I get plenty of bubbles from the sink drain, I don't get water in the fridge. Seems like purging water from the line breaks any possibility of a siphon. Not sure, but I think I put a siphon break in there some years ago, too. I'd have to look, sometimes I think of doing something, but don't actually get around to it;)

I moved the drain just below the sinks well above the water line because I got sea water into frig. Works good no smells

I removed the tee fitting and ran sink drain directly to the thru hull. Then bypassed the foot pump and check valve running a hose from frig drain into the bilge. Added rubber stopper at bottom of frig to reduce cold air loss and give us the option of releasing a spill to the bilge or mopping it up

Long ago my foot pump stopped working. I just disconnected the hoses so that any water drains to the bilge. There has not been a problem. Just don't spill anything really smelly. Only on occasion do I use ice, which does melt to the bilge. I believe the end old drain hose has to be up high to prevent back flow from the sink drain hose when on a heel.

A couple of possible problems. First, sometimes food or junk gets lodged in the valves within the foor pump. Second, the drain line is not high enough under the galley, so both sea water and/or water in the sink runs back into the fridge.
I installed a new legth of drain a number of years ago, ensuring it looped higher than the drain connection to the thru hull so when pumping the fridge, I get a good airlock to stop water running back. Not had a problem since. BTW the front panel of the galley is only held in place by a few screws on the MKll, so it is an easy fix.
John Meyer
Hilbre

Rob

The rubber stopper I described using is placed inside the fridge and works well. Purchased at the hardware store for about $1

Hello, I have the same issue: water comes up from the bottom of the ice-box/fridge.

After reading the posts, looking at my sink drain underparts, and giving it some thought, I think I'll:

Install an in-line petcock type valve on the icebox drain tube, near where it approaches the vertical sink drain large tubing, and can be reached easily from the cabinet panel.

Will stay closed until time to drain icebox. Open the valve, drain the icebox via footpump, close the valve. End of problem.

-Rick

My guess is that one of the internal pump gaskets pulled off the plastic pin holding it in place (see the schematic in my post linked below to see what I mean).

Two easy solutions are just to either a) replace or b) rebuild the galley pump. The rebuild kits are about $25; a new pumps runs about $80 if you buy online. Pulling the pump out and either rebuilding or replacing is pretty easy.

If you replace, they're warrantied for five years by Whale.

I've started a good thread on replacing the pump here:
[url]http://www.c36ia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1814[/url]

On our boat the line from the refer foot pump goes to a small spout mounted just above the sink. Since we usually load up the refer with block ice when cruising, we end up with a fair supply of melt water that we sometimes use for the first run of dishwashing (followed, of course, by a final freshwater rinse from the onboard tank supply). Having the refer water exit above the sink means there is never sea water backing up into the refer.

I thought this was a standard installation, but reading this thread I now realize that a PO must have customized this.
(I had thought it was factory, but from this discussion I realize its not). It looks like the spout that's on our boat is the one available at Catalina Direct (photo attached as well).