The line, the valve and the pressure
Can a Sub-Zero ice maker run on reverse-osmosis water?
Yes, on the conditions Sub-Zero sets out. A model without an internal filter may be run from a reverse-osmosis system provided the pressure stays steady and sits between 35 and 120 psi. Where the unit does have a push-in or twist-in cartridge, Sub-Zero advises bypassing it. Denver Sub-Zero Repair Experts sees the pressure condition ignored far more often than the filter one.
Pattern
What we usually find
- A storage tank that has lost its charge. It refills slowly, so the ice maker takes whatever is left once the kitchen has drunk its fill.
- Copper run downstream of the membrane, which Sub-Zero warns against because the treated water leaches from it.
- The internal cartridge still in place, adding restriction to a supply that had little to spare.
- A booster never fitted, on a system sized for a drinking tap rather than for a tap and an ice maker together.
Most often first. Order comes from what the visits keep turning up, not from a count.
Why pressure is the whole question
A membrane system delivers into a small storage tank and refills it slowly. The ice maker asks for its water in short bursts, at whatever hour it chooses, and if the tank is low at that moment the fill ends early — the same short cube an undersized supply gives, from a different cause.
Who owns each part of it
The booster, the tank and the membrane belong to the reverse-osmosis supplier or a plumber, and Sub-Zero points owners back to them for anything to do with pressure. The bypass, the inlet valve and the fill are ours.
Before you call
Two minutes, before anyone comes out
- Ask whether the unit's own cartridge was bypassed when the system went in.
- Draw a glass from the treated tap and see how quickly it recovers.
- Check what material runs from the system to the cabinet.
That is as far as an owner should take it. If what you find does not match this page, call Denver Sub-Zero Repair Experts on (720) 903-2603 and the water path gets measured end to end.
When it needs somebody out: Ice Maker Repair in Denver.