Mine goes to the
shower sump as well, which I swear if it's not a kitchen trash can, it sure looks just like one, AC's drain there as well, nothing except the
packing gland and
water that comes down the
mast when it rains gets into the
bilge.
I would never remove the drain, defrost time I just take a garden hose and spray the cold plates until ice is gone, takes ten min or so and I'd guess ten gallons of water or so, but with the drain, its real easy.
Without the drain it would take at least 24 hours for both cold plates to defrost, and what do you do with frozen
food then?