Home Page link

Dumb Ice Maker Question?

Home| Search | About
Login Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here. 

Page 6 of 7       < 1 2 3 > last >> Bookmark this page:  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
Dumb Ice Maker Question? SMcK 01-05-2007
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Posted by krw on January 7, 2007, 10:57 am


NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com says...
>
> >NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com says...
> >>
> >> >hallerb@aol.com says...
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> > Use copper instead of polyethylene, which will eventually leak.
> >> >>
> >> >> copper kinks to easy and adds difficulty moving fridge to clean.
> >> >>
> >> >> my plastic line goes thru a plastic fitting in floor which allows the
> >> >> extra line to be in basement area when not needed for moving fridge
> >> >> out. plastic may kink but remove kink it works fine again, copper will
> >> >> need replaced.
> >> >>
> >> >I use braided stainless steel lines for the ice maker, dishwasher
> >> >and clothes washer (and toilets, and sinks, and...). The braided
> >> >stainless steel is the best of both worlds. It's quite flexible
> >> >and won't fail catastrophically. The icemaker and dishwasher lines
> >> >are pulled back downstairs and tied up with tie wraps.
> >>
> >> That sounds good. It's worth a few extra dollars not to have water
> >> spraying around the house, maybe for 2 weeks if it happens when one is
> >> on vacation. 3 months if your a snowbird or a world traveler.
> >
> >Were I a snowbird or world traveler all the water to unnecessary
> >rooms would be shut down. In particular any water to appliances
> >would be shut off, though even a toilet can crack.
>
> Well even being gone for 9 hours is reason enough to want hoses not to
> leak.

True enough. It's a matter of convenience vs. safety. Assuming
the chances of a failure are linear with time, it makes sense to
shut things off for long periods (little inconvenience, more risk)
than for short periods (much trouble, less risk).

Then there is the wear issue on shutoffs. Most aren't made to be
used every day, particularly gate valves (YOY do they use gate
valves for the main supply?).

--
Keith

Posted by mm on January 7, 2007, 11:16 pm



>
>> >> That sounds good. It's worth a few extra dollars not to have water
>> >> spraying around the house, maybe for 2 weeks if it happens when one is
>> >> on vacation. 3 months if your a snowbird or a world traveler.
>> >
>> >Were I a snowbird or world traveler all the water to unnecessary
>> >rooms would be shut down. In particular any water to appliances
>> >would be shut off, though even a toilet can crack.
>>
>> Well even being gone for 9 hours is reason enough to want hoses not to
>> leak.
>
>True enough. It's a matter of convenience vs. safety. Assuming
>the chances of a failure are linear with time, it makes sense to
>shut things off for long periods (little inconvenience, more risk)
>than for short periods (much trouble, less risk).
>
>Then there is the wear issue on shutoffs. Most aren't made to be
>used every day, particularly gate valves (YOY do they use gate
>valves for the main supply?).

YOY?

I get mixed up which are gate valves and which are the other? The
valves beind my clothes washer for instance have to be turned more
than one revolution to go from wide open to fully closed.

And yet I'm told the instructions for all washers say to turn the
water off after each use, and some people do laundry every 2nd day, or
even daily if they have diapers to be washed.

Posted by krw on January 8, 2007, 8:57 am


NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com says...
>
> >
> >> >> That sounds good. It's worth a few extra dollars not to have water
> >> >> spraying around the house, maybe for 2 weeks if it happens when one is
> >> >> on vacation. 3 months if your a snowbird or a world traveler.
> >> >
> >> >Were I a snowbird or world traveler all the water to unnecessary
> >> >rooms would be shut down. In particular any water to appliances
> >> >would be shut off, though even a toilet can crack.
> >>
> >> Well even being gone for 9 hours is reason enough to want hoses not to
> >> leak.
> >
> >True enough. It's a matter of convenience vs. safety. Assuming
> >the chances of a failure are linear with time, it makes sense to
> >shut things off for long periods (little inconvenience, more risk)
> >than for short periods (much trouble, less risk).
> >
> >Then there is the wear issue on shutoffs. Most aren't made to be
> >used every day, particularly gate valves (YOY do they use gate
> >valves for the main supply?).
>
> YOY?


Why, oh why.

> I get mixed up which are gate valves and which are the other? The
> valves beind my clothes washer for instance have to be turned more
> than one revolution to go from wide open to fully closed.

That's a gate valve. Ball valves are quarter turn. The valve I
used has a single lever that controls both the cold and hot water
to the washer. Unfortunately, down is on and right is hot.

> And yet I'm told the instructions for all washers say to turn the
> water off after each use, and some people do laundry every 2nd day, or
> even daily if they have diapers to be washed.

Yep. It's a good idea to take the pressure off the control valves
in the washer. It's harder for the hoses to leak when the water is
shut off too. ;-)

--
Keith

Posted by mm on January 6, 2007, 9:48 pm


wrote:

>
>
>> Use copper instead of polyethylene, which will eventually leak.
>
>copper kinks to easy and
>adds difficulty moving fridge to clean.

Yo're right. That would be a problem.
>
>my plastic line goes thru a plastic fitting in floor which allows the
>extra line to be in basement area when not needed for moving fridge
>out. plastic may kink but remove kink it works fine again, copper will
>need replaced.

This does't solve the problem that plastic starts to leak on its own.
Both my humidifier and a friend's ice maker. Mine was definitely not
kinked, not bent more than it was when it came with the humidifier,
and not abrading against anything. The hole was 5 inches from
anything. (I didnt' see the details of my friend's ice maker, but
it's fortunate she was having a party in her basement when it started
to leak. Sometimes she didn't go down to the basement from Sunday
night to the next Saturday.

Posted by Norminn on January 6, 2007, 2:06 pm


SMcK wrote:
> We're considering buying a used GE refrigerator w/ ice maker. Our
> current fridge has no ice maker and there is no water supply to that
> area of the kitchen. I was wondering how feasible it would be to rig
> up a connection to a big bottle of spring water on top of the fridge
> for use in the icemaker. Advantages would include improved flavor of
> the water and not having to run a water line down into the crawlspace,
> under the kitchen and up behind the new fridge. Disadvantages would
> include need to periodically replace the water bottle, and the overall
> kludgi-ness of such a system. Does this just sound like a silly idea
> or does it have merit? I guess the first, most important question
> would be: would the gravity feed to the icemaker provide sufficient
> water pressure?
>
> Thanks
> -Scott
>
My hubby and I hooked up the plumbing on our first ice maker. Saddle
valve, extra length of copper tubing to coil behind the fridge and allow
it to be pulled out without damaging it. It was our first plumbing job.
Nothing to it. That particlar kitchen was on a slab and a door
between the fridge and water supply. We laid the tubing against the
threshold across doorway. With all the traffic through that door, we
never had a problem with it.

Our most recent ice maker was hooked up by plumber. He advised hooking
it to the hot water line; said it makes for less cloudy ice. Works
fine. Same extra length of tubing, in a large coil, to allow room to
pull out the fridge without kinking tubing. This one has tubing passed
through side of kitchen cabine with small hole drilled for it. Water
heater is underneath a corner cabinet (condo) and wh accessed from
utility closet outside our unit.

Page 6 of 7       < 1 2 3 > last >>
Similar ThreadsPosted
Dumb question? March 31, 2007, 2:01 pm
Dumb question? August 27, 2007, 10:24 am
Dumb dryer question November 11, 2005, 10:47 pm
dumb hot air furnace question December 20, 2005, 3:50 pm
Dumb pump question May 7, 2006, 3:55 pm
Maybe A Dumb Female Question? June 11, 2007, 1:24 am
dumb question re: light switch July 9, 2006, 11:48 am
Dumb Window Screen Question April 1, 2007, 4:41 pm
Dumb plumbing supply question... September 4, 2007, 12:53 pm
Dumb question about copper piping October 30, 2007, 9:10 am

Contact Us | Privacy Policy

XML SitemapXML Sitemap