Refrigerator ice maker water valve
 

Of all the crazy things i've seen here in the Villages homes i can't figure out what they were thinking by installing the round Flowtite water enclosure and valve for the refrigerator ice maker/water. The problem is the hose from the valve to the Refrigerator will not last forever. Typically they need to be replaced every 5 years to avoid a hose failure. The way it's set up there is no way to replace the hose without replacing the valve and to do that it appears you need to remove the housing in the wall.

Has anyone replaced this yet and if so can you give me some tips on how to do this without damaging the wall behind the refrigerator?

For,"what they were thinking," simple cost. "Need to replace every five years," Ours is ten years old, no sign of leaks. Nothing lasts forever. It is sort of ironic, we live in the villages. Ponce DeLeon was looking for the fountain of youth in Florida. Our hose is plenty long and it has only gentile bends. I surely would not fold it. The more expensive hoses are actually just a woven metal shield over a plastic hose. Might have some value if you have a dog or cat that goes behind the refrigerator.

My house is 6 years old, and I have 10 hoses and valve connections under my sinks and toilets that look exactly like your photo, except they are not in a recessed box. They all look to be in perfect, like new condition. What makes you think they need to be replaced?

According to the Accor website, the plastic valve can be removed from the recessed outlet box by twisting the valve counterclockwise. So, if that works, there is no reason to damage the drywall or the outlet box to replace the valve and hose.

I'm replacing that exact same thing tomorrow afternoon in a house my sister just bought.

The problem with these flowtite valves is they can score the CPVC to the point a sharkbite may not seal perfectly.

They do just twist and pull, usually the black ring with teeth on it pulls out of the valve.

If the pipe is hosed, you'll have no choice but to open up the wall a bit below the valve. Pop a sharkbite coupler on the clean pipe below, add a small piece of 1/2 CPVC and attach a good sharkbite valve with 1/4 compression outlet to your new piece of CPVC.

Where is that located?

Behind the refrigerator ...... can't imagine anywhere else they would put the refrigerator water connection :D

I'd like to know who has NEEDED to replace theirs at all no less every 5 years. Our home it 11 years old and it's fine. If the hose itself gets cut or broken you can easily splice a new plastic hose in without dealing with the valve but if the valve is like the ones on all the other connections just twist it off. I have had to replace one in one bathroom when someone broke it with a mop. After the flood was gone :) it just twisted off. I chose to replace it with a glued on one and a new valve. Plastic pipe is easy to work with if you are inclined to DIY.

Some things are installed so people feel they need to call a plumber to repair/replace.

If you are this upset with what was installed you can replace the entire set up.

As for me, when I see a puddle on the floor I will do something.

The point is that the valve is designed to be twisted off and replaced with the same type of valve. No damage to the wall. I have 11 of the Accor push-pull valves and none of them have ever leaked. The hoses seem to be in perfect condition with no need to replace them every 5 years. Yes, these are cheap plastic valves, but they are always open, except in the rare occasion when you need to close one. If you are constantly opening and closing the valves, you can expect them to start leaking. But, any type of valve can start to leak. I don't see an issue here.

Well, that explains why I've never seen it.
I just bought this place last winter and haven't needed it, or to move the fridge yet.
When I have to change the water filter, and shut off the water supply, I guess I'll do it at the main. I'm not going to try to move that fridge if I can avoid it. It's a heavy sucker.

Leave it alone and install an in-line valve, something easier to reach…with all the hard water calcium build up here in the Villages that valve should never leak

I has wheels on it. Just pulls right out

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it “ but if you are going to worry about that connection what about the plastic tubing in the back of the actual fridge itself

I believe the valve you're talking about is the same ones that are connecting all the water lines sinks and toilets. I installed a bidet about 4 years ago and wanted the valved replace with a metal screw valve. It cost me $100 and the plumber did it in about 20 minutes. If it is the same valve, it's no big thing.

They did it that way because it is cheap. I replaced all of those cheap plastic valves with metal ones. My fridge water valve looked like yours and I was able to replace it. The only difference with the fridge valve was that the diameter of the pipe was a hair different, so be sure to use the correct size valve.

Yes darn heavy. Just vacuum once a year the coils

True. But, a sheet vinyl, laminate, or wood floor can be easily damaged by those small wheels. I always use a plexiglass sheet to protect the floor.

Heavy Refrigerator
 

I use an electric leaf blower on my refrigerator coils. Cleans them like new & worth the clean up of dust.

What about the Samsung auto ice maker problem? Talk about hutzpa….

It’s cheap, that’s why.

Do your research on water supply lines. Do you ever change your washer hoses?

Water supply hoses whether they are connected to your washer, refrigerator, sink, etc, most have a rated lifespan where they are not likely to leak or burst of around 5 years. Do many last longer, yes but you will never know when there will be a problem. That said if we had "normal" valves where you could easily unscrew the old hose and install a new one, it's relatively inexpensive mainentance that can be done by most homeowners or by a plumber or handiman.
From my experience working as a plumbers helper many years ago we found that the hose connector and or the valve could start leaking and in most cases homeowners didn't see it, especially behind the refrigerator and depending on the type of floor or under the sink it would usually do damage. Some hoses would just plain burst. When that happens depending on if you were home or not would depend if you needed to call a company like Service Pro or not to get all the water out of your house and repair the damage. So that said, you can do whatever you want. Be proactive and try to avoid a problem or just let it go and deal with the consequences large or small when it happens, and it will happen eventually.

From what i'm reading i'll have to try and pull the existing valve out and either replace it with the same or try to connect another type. Worst case i can cut the whole thing out of the wall and replace it.

For those who did or going to have the work done, any recommendations on someone who has done this before?

Check your manual or YouTube for your model …. You probably will NOT need to shut the water off to replace the filter . When you twist the filter to remove, the water is shut off automatically at that install point …..

water filter
 

You don't have to turn off the water to replace the filter.

Not sure if all homes are the same. The original post said behind the refrigerator. Ours is also a recessed box. Perhaps to prevent the refrigerator from hitting it if you push it back too far.

I have a battery water alarm behind my refrigerator and under every sink and toilet. If there is water on the floor, it will sound an alarm. You can buy about 6 or 7 of them from Amazon for about $100. Not perfect, but cheap peace of mind. I think in today's world, plastic valves and supply lines are normal. And, paying a plumber to replace 10-12 valves and supply lines every 5 years would be very expensive.

I've read that as well. I do turn off the water-just in case. I think the filter lasts like 4 months the replacement warning is actually controlled by time not water use. You do not need to roll the refrigerator out to change the filter. As we shut the water off, we need to pull the refrigerator out and use that as an opportunity to vacuum under the refrigerator and THE COILS which should be done anyway. With our hard water, it is probably not a bad idea to open and close the valves once a year to be sure they still work.

Our previous home was built in 1948. We had all copper plumbing and valves. Replacing valves every 5 years? They only lasted 73 years are are still working fine. A leaking faucet? There is no way this plumbing or likely these homes will last 73 years.
But, then neither will I.
You rebuilt it with a five cent rubber washer. Even the seats were replaceable. I did replace the ball cocks with the plastic ones but they too were originally made of metal and you could simply replace the rubber parts. Oh and parts. They were universal, you did not have to find the one made by your toilet manufacturer or faucet manufacturer.
Yup, a lot has changed. A lot of it is filling landfills.

Both homes and people are different. We have ceramic tile in the kitchen. We have a large refrigerator, our is Whirlpool and it is on wheels. Far as I know all refrigerators are on wheels. If, you have laminate or ????? floors the wheels may damage the floor. We have ceramic floor and no problem.

We have whatever they call the side by side doors on a refrigerator so you can grab the hinges on both sides. So ours is perhaps easier than others.

Just yesterday I had Mike Scott Plumbing replace two valves and hoses on my laundry sink. The cold water hose was leaking and required replacement, house was built 2012. Both valves were replaced and new steel braided hoses installed, with service call, parts and labor $203.00.

Needed to replace this in order to have new refrigerator with ice maker hooked up last year.
Did it myself, not a tough job.

Just a reminder for all of us you get a distorted view depending on your profession.
A plumber see a ton a leaks. A cop sees a ton of criminals.

Far as washing machine hoses failing, how many people shut off the valves to the washing machine? You may have saved us a problem. We did have one fail many years ago the washing machine was in the basement which was unfinished. We not home and came home to several inches of water in the basement. I put on my waders walked through the water and turned off the power-perhaps dumb. I had a boat at the time.
We did not have a floor drain. I pumped out all that water using a plastic bilge pump and the battery from my boat.

Personality, I do not worry about everything that might go wrong, i deal with what does go wrong. My wife on the other hand worries about everything. I sleep well-she does not. We eat the same food. I have low cholesterol-she does not.

If I had to replace that valve I’d use shark bite brand, (which the plumber will probably use or similar brand?). easy to install following instructions on Utube. they can also be easily be removed with the dollar removal tool. No damage to PVC tubing. Very easy once you get the Accr valve off. This has been brought several times before and in the do it yourself section. If can’t do it yourself call plumber.

It’s probably on rollers?


You’re well over due for refrigerator to be pulled out, coils cleaned floor mopped and i ice maker filter replaced. This prevents refrigerator from over heating and ice to not taste like swamp water. Eventually it will not cool enough cause it overheating from all the dust/lint/hair on coils and fan. Mary take few years, but eventually it will happen.

Right but i'm not saying to replace good copper or brass valves every 5 years. It's the hose that's the problem and with these push pull valves we have here in the Villages most of the hoses are crimped to the valve so you need to replace the valve to replace the hose. That's the problem. Once you replace the valve with a new one that let's you screw on a new hose then every 5 years or so you can just simply change the hoses.

So I swapped out this exact valve for the fridge at my sisters house about 3 hours ago.

Rather than scoring the CPVC, I used my dremel with a rasp bit and cut it off, grinding it on two sides and essentially just peeled it off. Bit of a mess, but the CPVC was unharmed although you can see where the flow-tite teeth were resting.

I pushed a shark-bite valve over it, no leaks, all done.

I have twisted them off before, but that was in places where I had extra pipe and could snip off down to clean pipe. With this fridge valve, if the part that's stubbed out of the fridge housing is no good, I'm into a wall repair.

I have replaced all the cheap push/pull valves in my house. They are easy to do. Just cut the hose off close to the valve, twist counter clockwise & pull at the same time. Then glue on a new one.

1948? that must have been before the development of the disposable home.
About 15 years ago I had a lawnmower I bought at Lowe's. Admittedly I wanted the cheapest gas mower with a Briggs & Stratton engine I could find. I had a small yard. A few years later it was ear-splittingly loud. I found out the muffler was a "stamped" unit that could not be replaced. The idea was to throw it out after it got too loud.
WTF???
As I get older I think more and more in terms of "well, if it last a few years it won't be my problem anymore"...WTF?

Thanks, this is the information i was looking for. I'm going to try and twist off the flowtite valve and see if it comes off. Because it's in that box in the wall it may not work but taking a dremel to it, agreed i can probably take it apart without damaging the CPVC.

low quality building cheap components.. they don't care how long they last, just get out of warranty