Can I seal a refrigerator water line by melting it closed?

Question

The moron who installed my water line to my refrigerator (for the water in the door & ice maker) tapped into the hot water instead of the cold water PVC - despite the fact that the hot water line is labeled 2 ft away and is noticeably warmer than the cold line. Regardless, I want to fix the issue.

At this point, I think it may be easier to simply shut off the water, cut the clear plastic line a few inches from where it's connected to the PVC and melt the clear plastic line enough to make it seal. Then, I'd have to use another connection kit to reconnect the clear plastic fridge line to the COLD PVC.

I'd rather not cut and splice PVC if I can help it because I've never done it before and the ceiling below is a drop ceiling with tiles I'd rather not ruin (the line runs between the basement and top floor and connects to the water lines to the washer in the basement).

Answer 1

go too the hardware store and buy a 1/4 inch compression cap you will never get that clear hose capped buy melting it.if you are only using the ice i would leave it the way it is HOT WATER MAKES CLEAR ICE CUBES

Answer 2

how is your hot water heated? is mains pressure? is it a tank? u cant seal the pvc pipe with heat securely mess this up and u'll have water everywhere!!! call a professional if your not sure. if u want to do it yourself dont cut the clear plastic pipe those connection kits are normally quite dear and hard to get a hold of. go into your local plumbing merchant (the smaller the usually more helpful) and ask their advice take photos big enough to see whats going on and they'll normally tell u what u need.

Answer 3

you should have a saddle tap for you water line feeding your fridge. you should be able to close the tap, cut your line and get a cap to close off your plastic tubing

Answer 4

rather than going through all that,just cut the water off and cut the pvc water line get a coupler and put in the line where the moron put the water tap,then remove the tap from that ,and reinstall it in the cold side,all it cost is a coupler and a small can of clean&cement for pvc. $5.oo at the most.

Answer 5

Did you buy a new refrigerator?

Joey is right on both counts. If it is a standard tap valve you can get a cap for it. Clear plastic line is not a good idea and not up to code anymore here. That suggests to me the installation has been there a long time.   Reinforced plastic is okay.

And yes, it used to be standard practice to hook up to the hot water line to make clear cubes before they started putting water dispensers in the refrigerators.

Now that water dispensers are more common it is a problem and you do want to fix it.  But the installer was not a moron as it was recommended to connect to the hot if you only had an icemaker as was the case in the "old days" like 20 years ago or so. (Gawd I'm starting to feel old haha).  

The icemaker doesn't run enough water at a time to ever pull warm water in to it. But a water dispenser will.

Good luck.  

Answer 6

Call the moron back and make him fix it.Or just go to the hardware store(or Lowes or HD) and get a new kit(and water tube) for the cold water side.