# Where to run water line for fridge?



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

Depending on where you are located (profile doesn't say) running a water line in the attic could result in freezing and bursting.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

If you are in a warm climate, make sure you insulate the line. Condensation will drip and get some nice mold growing up there.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

I'm near Detroit.

Well, I had to pull the fridge out tonight for other reasons (it didn't seem to be cooling well enough) and I found there was a line back there already. Seems the previous owners never bothered to hook it up. The fittings were incorrect (the supply line looks like 3/8, fridge is 1/4) so I'm guessing they just gave up. 

It seems they ran it how I wanted to, up into the attic and down the wall behind the fridge.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

It's a gamble running a water line in an attic. Ideally it will be under the insulation to protect it from freezing. Insulating it as it runs above the attic insulation will NOT protect it. It needs the heat from the building which is on the bottom of the attic insulation. Any short section exposed to the attic air will freeze... especially in Detroit weather.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

I'll pop up there and see how it's run. I need to check out that side of the attic anyways. I'm pretty sure the joists run the same direction as the water line, so keeping it all insulated shouldn't be an issue.


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## diyorpay (Sep 21, 2010)

Most common way would be to run line (plastic or copper tubing) from below sink, then behind or through wood cabinets. It could be bottom (below countertop) cabinets or upper cabinets, depending upon if oven or dishwasher or similar is in the way. Some cabinets do not completely go to rear wall, may have a channel behind. You might first run a fish, then pull back a line to connect to tubing and then pull that through. If tubing showing on floor of cabinet bothers you, glue over with cove molding. 

If attic is only pathway, it may be for summer use only and should be disconnected and drained for winter at under sink tee. If it freezes and causes major damage below, insurance will not pay out.

If you believe you may have a water quality problem, all filtering can be in sink cabinet, then to above countertop and fridge for water and ice.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

What are some appropriate methods for insulating the water line? It's flexible hose coming out of the wall and at the sink connection...I'm assuming that's how the entire run is made. Beyond ensuring it's below the attic insulation I'm tempted to run some additional on the hose itself to make sure.

It'll run the ice maker and we use a pretty decent amount of ice...plus the fridge has a water dispenser as well. I'm hoping it'll get enough use in the winter to be OK.


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## dj3 (Apr 27, 2020)

When you figure it all up and ready to go...install an in line water filter in an accessible spot that's easy to reach and replace the filter.
You know those built in refrigerator filters are too darn expensive.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Joeywhat said:


> What are some appropriate methods for insulating the water line? It's flexible hose coming out of the wall and at the sink connection...I'm assuming that's how the entire run is made. Beyond ensuring it's below the attic insulation I'm tempted to run some additional on the hose itself to make sure.


When the water line is between the attic insulation and the sheet rock, adding insulation to the water line is depriving conditioned room heat from reaching the water line.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

it "may" have been disconnected becausse it was leaking. even if its not, i would run my own inside the cabinets.

lets see pics of your kitchen.


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## JBoot (Jan 15, 2019)

I was thinking along that line. It may have already burst or for some reason never worked correctly.

I would try to avoid the attic with water pipes if possible. If I had to run the pipe through the attic, the _correct spray foam_, not fiberglass insulation would be my choice. If possible, I would first replace the pipe since I would be drinking from the contents.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

It's more or less a galley style kitchen, with sink on one side and fridge on the other. There are no means of getting a water line there outside of the attic.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

If you were able to keep it directly on the drywall and wrapped with refrigeration line foam insulation, covered with the fiberglass, I would imagine it _might_ be OK. It would be warm on the ceiling side of the attic insulation. This is not that air bubbly hard foam you find at the apron stores.
(well, up here that is. Down there, you can probably buy anything at a retail store)


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

No way would I run a water line in the attic in Detroit. Unless the attic was heated.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm reading that folks still don't understand insulation so please allow a simple example.


Your back side is backed up to the ole wood stove on a cold winter day in the shop and it's feelin purty good. Then some big dude that thinks he's the boss insists you step away a couple of feet so he can slip a piece of sheet metal or plywood between you and the stove. Now how does it feel? Different? Cooler? I'm betten it does. He just insulated the heat source from your body.


That's equal to insulating the attic water pipe or any other water pipe where heat transfer through the dry wall sheet rock or whatever is desired to keep the water pipe above freezing when the structure is heated.


Edit: Edit:


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I'm in MI too, and running that line through the attic is a real fine line. Right now, typical summer, you're dealing with high humidity, so the condensation alone this time of year is a huge concern, although I do believe that using a product like Pugsy suggested could alleviate that one. The other end of the spectrum though is the cold, and that's a tougher one to deal with. The seemingly obvious solution is insulation, but insulation does not generate heat, it simply reduces the loss of it, so while insulation will help, initially anyway, it alone is not going to get you through a typical winter. I grew up in a Levitt house, in Michigan, and insulation was not of much concern when those were built, so was very common for pipes in general, but particularly the ones to the kitchen sink to freeze. And my dad was a tradesman, but like many men at that time was also a guy friends and neighbors would call on for help, and I would usually tag along so saw the inside of a lot of houses. People would stuff insulation (newspaper sometimes!) between the pipes and the outer wall, and that would help. Sometimes that wasn't enough though, and I remember a lot of times in the winter people would leave the cabinet doors under the sink open so that heat from the house could get in there. And a few times, when it got real cold, I remember that not being enough, so once the sheet rock was cut open to unthaw the pipes they would leave the hole in the wall under the sink to keep them from freezing the next time. Times were different, building materials and everything else has changed, but the laws of temperature and humidity are the same now as they were then, and finding that balance between a warm house with just enough heat loss through the drywall to keep that line from freezing is pretty tricky.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

I'm tempted to run rigid copper up there, insulate it, and run some heat tape along with it.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Joeywhat said:


> I'm tempted to run rigid copper up there, insulate it, and run some heat tape along with it.


 That heat source is the preferred way if insulating the pipe and works well usually unless the elect. power fails in a ice / snow storm.


In fact our house has a water lines to the laundry that should have been heat tape/traced but the builder was also ignorant of the insulation fact and failed to place the lines between the drywall and insulation vapor retarder.


Edit: Edit:


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

If laying it on the drywall, add about 3" styrofoam across the top covered with the fiberglass. The pipe will now be residing in conditioned space, (kinda). Heat from the house will conduct into the cavity created.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Ceiling lights can be an overlooked sources of heat loss when they are not properly sealed, so if that line happened to run through the same pair of joists as the kitchen was in, and if the insulation in that space was held up from the drywall just a 1/2" or so, it seems like that area might stay somewhat close to room temperature.


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## ratherbefishing (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm of the mind that thinks plumbing in the attic is a bad idea. All it takes is for the heat to go off for a few days and your house is flooded.

Galley kitchen? So the challenge is crossing a doorway? Think outside the box. Use 1/4" copper. How about routing a groove in an oak threshold? Or running the line over the doorway, inside the house and enclosing it in either molding with a groove in the back, or even Wiremold? My wife suggested polishing the copper and making it a design element in the kitchen.


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