Doing a conservative renovation in my kitchen and one thing I'd like to do is move my refrigerator but it has it's water line already hooked up to it. I just want to push it down about 5 feet - would that be terribly difficult? I assume the water line is running through the wall that's behind the unit and behind where I want it to go - you think? Thanks for any advice.
You Texans won't even do a liberal renovation.
Probably not. Certainly not difficult enough to warrant not moving the fridge if that's part of the plan.
My brother lived in two houses in Texas. Neither had a basement, but both had a slab. So you probably don't have a basement either, right?
There might be enough slack in the line to reach the new location. Let me rephrase. They put in enough slack so you can pull your fridge out from the wall, and that is almost surely enough to reach the new location. But if you put cabinets next to the new location, between old and new locations, there probably is't enough slack to reach the new location and also pull the fridge away from the wall. (You can't just move it sideways to where it was to gain use of the slack again.)
What's behind that wall? a place where the copper tubing is connected?
You are using copper, arent' you? Strangely, a lot of things come polyethylene tubing (plastic, halfway between clear and white) even though no one should use that. It will spring a leak all by itself. Get copper. You won't need a flaring or other special tool. They also sell ends that go one with regular tools.
You can replace the length you have now with almost any length you want. You can poke a new hole through the wall, and leave enough slack so you can pull the fridge out. In fact the fridge will probably be out when you attach the tube. Gently push it back, making sure it doesn't kink. If the hole in the wall is pretty far from matching up with the attachment point on the fridge, it's not likely to kink but you can use a flashlight to look and a yardstick to push if needed.
I missed the part about how expensive but it's your fault for not putting everything you wanted to say in the body of the post.
Would you write a paper for school, including grad school, and put part of it only on the title page, or would you include it in the paper?
Anyhow, we're talking at most 15 minutes, so if you cant' do this yourself, I'd wait until I had other chores for a handyman or plumber to do. Surely you can find the valve for the icemaker, turn it off, disconnect the line from the fridge, and do without automatic ice until you have some other chores for him to do. Otherwise a plumber will charge you his minimum house call, which might be an hour of his work or more.
The water line may or may not be in the wall, depends. Certainly, the CONNECTION between it and the fridge is not. The norm is to make the connection outside the wall and leave a coil of excess tubing that is long enough for one to move the fridge out so one can clean under it.
That means you can easily move the fridge to a different location and run a longer line to it. Whether or not you can HIDE that new, longer line depends upon what else is there. If cabinets, it could be run through the back portion of them or - especially if new cabinets are going in - between them and the wall. v If there should be just a blank wall, the tubing for the water cut be hidden in the drywall...cut a groove, run tubing, patch drywall.
Main thing is to keep both water shut off and any connections easily accesible.
IDK how you can say it's 15 mins when she says she thinks the tubing runs in the wall. If it's just move it over 5ft and the pipe extension will be hidden, then it's an easy job and could be 15 mins, assuming you have the needed materials, etc. If it required re-routing the pipe in the wall, then it could be a lot more involved, eg holes in the wall, patching, painting, etc. And if there is a basement underneath, where the pipe can be re-routed, then it's somewhere in between, but not a 15 min job either.
Surely you can find the valve for the icemaker, turn it off,
This is also a job that a good handyman could do. Especially if it involved holes, patching, painting, etc.
====================
I think it just runs through the wall, from some utility room on the other side of it. I asked her if the house was on a slab, and I'm waiting to hear back.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.