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Fleabagx35 t1_j6k5ia3 wrote

The purpose of an air gap is to prevent a clog in the drain of your dishwasher (at the food processor for example) backing up into the dishwasher and then entering your clean water supply. This is water that you drink from, etc. it does this by having a literal air gap in the drain.

A high loop is still very effective at this, but isn’t as full proof as an air gap. That being said, I still removed mine and replaced it with an RO drinking water faucet.

The reason some houses have them and others have a high loop comes down to where and when they were put in. Some places require it to be up to code, others don’t. My advice: it’s your house, OP. Put your high loop up nice and high and I doubt you’ll ever have an issue.

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dominus_aranearum t1_j6l7bto wrote

>backing up into the dishwasher and then entering your clean water supply. This is water that you drink from

No. Nobody is drinking water from the dishwasher. It doesn't re-enter the water supply of your house.

Contaminated water could re-enter your dishwasher if it doesn't drain properly. The air gap does prevent this, but not for the reason you state.

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nhorvath t1_j6lkzhq wrote

There's no way for wastewater from a dishwasher to go back into the supply pipes. It's just to prevent siphoning wastewater back into the dishwasher.

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