Ice Maker Hookup
October 17, 2005
Okay, before I make a possible mistake, can anyone give me a good reason why I shouldn’t hook up my new icemaker with a polyethylene supply line? Most directions say to use copper, but there are many, many PEX kits available, and I can find no solid evidence as to why one shouldn’t use them. Just the occasional “they leak” statements.
Help?
pex might pinch behind the fridge or when you’re not expecting it. Copper is a bit more difficult to work with, but if there’s one thing i’ve found when working on house things, when the choice is between the quick-to-fix solution, and the more expensive, and more time consumig but proven method, spend the extra time, and the extra money.
True. It’s not so much about money, as to just what to do… Right now I’ve got two kits here, both with self-tapping saddle valves, one with PEX and the other a flexible line jacketed in braided nylon.
I was thinking that I would use a saddle valve and the PEX with a 1/3″ hole through the grout and subfloor, but I wonder if the truly best way would be to put a full tee and shut-off in the middle of a cold water line, then run copper over to it. Hrm…
I thought you meant the tiny copper line… like the one we have for our humidifier on our furnace.
There’s the same kind of saddle valve, but one with copper line coming out from it. I didn’t mean to run a full copper line up to it..
Oh, I know. I’d be doing 1/4 OD copper with the same kind of saddle valve, but I really think I should do it ‘right’. You know, like a toilet or sink supply.
Yeah, screw it. I’m doing copper. The same way that you can see in this photo running from the cold line to the humidifier.
yep. i think we even have the same humidifier. hehehe.
Hehe… I think that’s the best design made. I had one of the crappy rotating-cylinder-of-foam-in-pan-of-water ones before and I couldn’t help but think that stuff grows in there.
Just FYI, I found a bunch of info in newsgroups stating that the heating of PEX by the compressor tends to weaken it over the time. I was also finding that saddle valves often don’t allow the water to flow fast enough to seal the valve in the ice maker, causing it to leak?
I really think I’m going to have to do it with all soldered joints…
Polyethelyne can pinch itself- when heated, it gets a bit softer, so if you have it at an odd angle it can collapse in on itself (not the best explanation, sorry). Also, it’s fairly permeable- you might pick up odd flavors in your ice down the line.
And, it might leak. :)
thats what I was just thinking. copper lends a better taste to water than polyethelyne. I can’t actually drink water from the water cooler at work because all I can taste is plastic. Most people can’t but for people who can it’s very disturbing!
I wonder if your cooler actually has vinyl lines inside of it?
dunno, but it happens with just about anything plastic for me.. like if I refill a 20 oz bottle with water and then wait til the next day to drink it? it totally tastes like plastic.
Yeah, I’m going to be doing copper, it seems… I don’t want to splice into the existing cold water lines and wave a flame around near wood, but it’s what needs to be done.
It’s probably a code thing, while it’s highly unlikely to when filled with water PEX may burn or melt if in contact with the coils. Last time I used copper tubing (that time to hook a gas line to my dryer) I believe that 10 feet was dirt cheap and easy to work with.
Because there weren’t enough options…
Have you considered flexible stainless steel?
here’s a link to a company that make flexible hoses and fittings in Stainless,
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/flexes.html
This other page has links to local companies that may or may not be able to do it… though since it’s flex, mail-order may be ok
http://www.thomasnet.com/nsearch.html?cov=MI&which=prod&what=Fittings%3A+Stainless+Steel&navsec=search&heading=29990207
and an auto-shutoff might be worth investing in
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/floodstopsystems.html#icemaker