I have a built in style refrigerator in my new home. There is a dedicated waterline shutoff but is located behind the refrigerator. Because this is a built in refrigerator which is non-trivial to remove from the wall, what this means in practice is that the shutoff is useless in an emergency.
Therefore, I would like to add an "accessible" shutoff valve between the built in shutoff at the wall and my refrigerator. This would allow me to shut off the water to only the fridge in an emergency.
The basement is already fully finished with drywall ceiling, not drop ceiling, so I cannot add a shut off in the basement and there is no way to get to the plumbing anywhere else in the kitchen (doesn't come from the same line as sink or anyplace else).
I was told I could add this somewhere near the bottom of the fridge, but I was thinking it should still work if I snake the extra tubing into the cabinet above the refrigerator as well.
What type of tubing, valves/shutoff, and other supplies do I need to do this properly? Any other considerations I should be aware of when putting this all together? specific parts, sizes, links appreciated.
Fridge model: 36UFDID/S
Where I want to put it:
What the connection at wall looks like:
Best Answer
I did a similar install and placed the shutoff in the cabinet next to the fridge. Your idea is pretty much the same, if only a little harder to access. If there is a cabinet next to the fridge consider that.
In any case, what I used was two, 10' braided steel "ice maker lines" (1/4" compression on both ends) with an inline 1/4" ball valve between them. A few cable clamps were used to hold the valve in place against the back of the cabinet which makes it easier to operate, but that's optional. One of the lines needs to be long enough to pull out the fridge and the other just needs to be long enough to reach from the existing valve to the new location. In other words, you might not need two 10 footers - choose your own sizes.
Ice Maker Line
1/4" compression valve
(Links were the first results I found with an amazon search and only show what I'm talking about. I didn't use those items but found identical items at a local home store.)