Dishwasher connection

I had someone ask me today about a dishwasher air gap that is on top of his sink. He is installing new marble counter tops and does not want to put another whole in the marble for the air gap part. New sink is an under mount. Is it alright to just use a new tail piece on the sink drain that has a dishwasher connection built into it and connect the dishwasher there? I have seen dishwashers connected with the air gap and also with out the air gap and it did not seem to make a differance. He does not have a garbage disposal unit. I asked him if he had one because I know you can hook the dishwasher directly to them.

Thanks,
Ron

Depends on were you live. they are a good idea everywhere, and are required in commercial kitchens. They are required in some places for homes. But, if not required, then yes, you can get by without one...run the hose all the way up to the bottom of the countertop, then run it down to the tailpiece.

Well, this came up Friday here at the homefront. My daughter and her husband have just settled into the completed remodel....added 500 sq. feet, and complete kitchen redo. He has a lot of brains and somewhat short on common sense. The general did all the structrual work, wall, etc, and subbed the electrical. But the kids went out on their own and separately contracted for kitchen cabinets and granite. No one ( except me!) told them they needed an air gap, and they didn't like the look, so the don't have one! Friday, the city gal came by for final, and hit the general up on a few issues, and hit them up on no air gap. He is going to try and softpeddle the fact that the new DW has a high loop built in, but I told him he might as well get the call in to the granite people to come back and drill another hole!

Thumbs up to that inspector

Safety in regards to public health and safety should never be discounted just because of personal preference of what looks good or not.

If those are the parents of your grandkids, they'll be safer.

My wife and I have lived for 30+ years with dishwashers with the drain hose simply looped as high was we can over the dw with NO air gap (not required locally).
It works fine. We're "still alive". LOL.
Do what you have to do to meet local code, but don't worry about not having an air gap if they let you get away without one. Most new dishwashers I'm told have valves that prevent back flow anyway, so they really aren't necessary on many of these newer models. Codes change too slowly to recognize improvements in technology.
Mike

Well, I did advise to install an air gap, way back when they were planning the install. So much for my influence. I downloaded a diagram of the maching from the sears website ( www3.sears.com) showing the loop with check valve. He will present that to the inspector and ask for forgiveness!