installng ice maker/water line without saddle valve


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Old 11-17-05, 06:24 PM
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installng ice maker/water line without saddle valve

Hi,
Read where the saddle valves are not the greatest to use, but what s the alternative.
I wll be buying a new fridge with ice maker/fresh water dispenser, and I see installaton kits, but they are all with saddle valves.
I will run up through the basement. I see on the back of the fridges the connector tubing is all 1/4" tubing. How do I connect this to a regular shut off water valve?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
George
 
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Old 11-17-05, 10:15 PM
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You could swap the cold angle stop under the kitchen sink for a 2 handle/2 outlet angle stop. That is, if you've got a 1/2" copper cold water line with a 1/2" x 3/8" angle stop you could swap it for a 1/2" x 3/8" x 1/4" angle stop & run the 1/4" tubing through the cabinets. The same configuration is available for IPS, if you've got galvanized piping in the kitchen cabinet. This scenario keeps the ice maker shutoff in the same room as the ice maker.

If you'd prefer to run into the basement, you could cut it a tee somewhere, install a valve, then find either a 1/2" x 1/4" compression union, or else a 1/2" x 1/4" bushing or reducer & solder it. It may be easier to find a 1/2" male x 1/4" compression adaptor, in which case you would solder a female fitting after the valve.

Either way is MUCH better than a saddle valve.
 
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Old 11-18-05, 03:06 AM
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I prefer to run it through the basement..............I can cut my cold water pipe and sweat in a tee, then do a couple of angles and run it about 10 feet before I bring it up through the floor. Would it be best to put a valve right before I run it up through the floor, and attach the copper ice maker tubing at that point and run it up into the fridge. No problems attaching the copper tubing to the plastic tubing from the fridge????
Also is t possible to run that braided hose from my valve to the fridge? Do they make it for those application?
Thanks
George
 
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Old 11-18-05, 11:30 AM
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I would lean towards the kitchen angle stop scenario, as the valve should be accessible in the same room as the appliance. If something goes wrong, you don't have to run down to the basement to turn off the water. Having said that, if you opt for the basement install, I would put the valve just after the tee. This is from habit as it allows me to turn the water back on sooner.

Most of the ice makers that I've seen connect directly to the solenoid valve. If you do have to connect copper to plastic tubing you would use a compression union, but the plastic side would have an insert and a plastic ferrule. Using a braided hose gets a little confusing, as I don't think that it should be run thru floors or walls. You could hard-pipe up to behind the fridge & use the braided supply from there, but you'd probably have to hunt down some oddball adaptor.
 
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Old 11-18-05, 05:06 PM
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thanks,
so there shouldn't be a problem connecting the plastic tubing of the fridge with the 1/4" copper spiraltubing? The important thing is to avoid the saddle valve, I guess.
The only reason I was thinking of the valve in the basement because if behind the fridge, it would have to be slid out of its space before I could turn it off. In the basement(townhouse) I would just go downstairs and turn it off.

By putting the valve close to the Tee, I 'd have to run the spiral 1/4" tubing about 10 feet, then up through the floor??
Any problems with that?
Thabks
George
 
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Old 11-19-05, 08:19 PM
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As long as you use the insert & plastic ferrule for the plastic tubing, you should be ok, if that's how you connect to your ice maker. The insert looks like this:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg...762306&ccitem=

Replacing the cold angle stop in the kitchen would allow faster access to the shutoff in case of problems. It would also be good place to put a ¼” inline filter.

If you run the piping in the basement it may be better to cut in the tee, install the valve, then hard-pipe over to the fridge area before adapting to 1/4" tubing, but the ¼” tubing, if properly strapped ought to be ok.
 
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Old 11-26-05, 04:00 PM
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project finished

Hi,
Thanks everyone.........Hewre's how I did it. I T'd into cold water line then ran(actually about 7 feet of copper pipe and soldered a turn off valve at the end. I drilled a hole in the floor and ran the copper 1/4" tubing up through the floor and strapped it to the wall. All looks like it will be o.k. I turned on the valve and flushed the line.....now am only waiting for the fridge to come.
George
 
 

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