How to Install a Water Line for a Refrigerator

I’m Cher from Designs by Studio C and am thrilled to be the DIY contributor to I’m Topsy Turvy!

My boyfriend, Matt, and I have been remodeling a house affectionately known as “The Rebel House” named for the street where it resides. We are at the tail end of the remodel, finally, and needed to install a water line from the sink plumbing to the refrigerator for the ice maker. This is such an easy process and so I created a tutorial on how to install a refrigerator water line. The instructions apply to replacing an existing water line, as well.

What You’ll Need:

• Refrigerator Icemaker Kit
• An Adjustable Wrench or Pliers
• Utility Knife

First and foremost, if an existing water line is being replaced, turn off the water to the line. It will be located under the sink! More information may be included on the instructions that are included in the icemaker kit, so make sure to thoroughly read those first!

Carefully move the refrigerator out from the wall, and remove any kickplates installed on the lower part of the cabinet (on the floor). We built the cabinets in the Rebel house using furniture legs to elevate them off of the floor, and the kickplates had not been installed yet. If the line is just being replaced, unscrew the brass nut on the valve for the old icemaker line under the sink, and remove the line.

I removed the existing line from the refrigerator by unscrewing the brass nut holding the water line in the valve. The line is generally located at the lower right edge of the back of the refrigerator. It would be easy to add a coupler to tap into the existing line but doing so adds an extra place for a leak to occur. Plus, that part of the line would be located under a cabinet and it may leak for awhile before being detected thus ruining the floor or cabinets.

The icemaker kit will come with a water line, a coupler, a new valve, and a few brass parts such as nuts and ferrules. Remove the parts from the packaging. Install one end of the line on the refrigerator by threading the line through the nut, adding one of the brass ferrules to the line, and screwing the nut in place on the refrigerator valve. Do not “crank” the nut on the valve with a wrench or pliers. This can cause a leak. Once the nut is hand tight, a half turn with a wrench or pliers should do the trick! Do not cut the line, yet!

Loosely run the line under the cabinets leaving enough slack so there is no tension on the line. This will keep the line from pulling out of the nuts at the valves, and make it easier to move the refrigerator out from the wall in the future. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the cabinet under the sink using a ½” paddle bit so the line could run through and attach to the cold water line.

If the line is an entirely new one (where a line has never been installed before), a valve will have to be installed on the cold water line under the sink. The icemaker kit includes a valve and a clamp. Position the valve on top of the cold water line with the clamp on the bottom. Tighten the screws. Then turn the handle on the valve counter-clockwise to pierce the line. See the installation instructions for more information.

Cut the line to length; add a nut and a ferrule to the end of the line then tighten the nut on the valve. (Remember – after the nut is hand-tight, use the wrench or pliers to turn the nut a half turn!)Turn the water on and check for leaks. If there are leaks, tighten the nuts on the valves a half turn at a time with a wrench or pliers until the leaking stops.

If the line is just a replacement, Follow all of the same steps with the exception of drilling the hole in the cabinet and adding the valve, then screw the nut with the line on the existing valve.

So there you have it – a tutorial on how to install a refrigerator water line! It is really easy to do and is a quick installation job! If you have any questions, contact me at cher {at} designsbystudioc {dot} com!

I have a few other posts that may be of interest: Build Crown Molding Shelves, How to Drill Pocket Holes in Mitered Corners, and How to Use a Shelf Pin Jig.