This is why I'n an electrician and not a plumber.

dcyrilc · Nov 14, 2010

Our new fridge with ice maker arrived this morning. We have never had an ice maker before. I ran the plumbing for it on Thursday while I was off for the holiday to be ready for the new delivery. Taped it from under the sink and ran it under the house to the other side of the kitchen. No leaks and everything was looking good.

Got it hooked up after it was delivered and started purging the system. When I ran the water, I tapped into the feed for the dishwasher. It never dawned on me until now that the dishwasher is fed with HOT water. :ashamed:

I guess this means another trip back to Lowes to get more parts to switch the feed so it will be fed with cold water. :laughing::laughing:

Kays Supply · Nov 14, 2010

There is an urban legend that if you use hot water to make ice, it will be clearer than using cold.

SandburRanch · Nov 14, 2010

dcyrilc said:
Our new fridge with ice maker arrived this morning. We have never had an ice maker before. I ran the plumbing for it on Thursday while I was off for the holiday to be ready for the new delivery. Taped it from under the sink and ran it under the house to the other side of the kitchen. No leaks and everything was looking good.

Got it hooked up after it was delivered and started purging the system. When I ran the water, I tapped into the feed for the dishwasher. It never dawned on me until now that the dishwasher is fed with HOT water. :ashamed:

I guess this means another trip back to Lowes to get more parts to switch the feed so it will be fed with cold water. :laughing::laughing:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You did good for being an electrician.:laughing: Leave it connected to the hot. They're really isn't any good reason to change it. In fact the hot water can be cleaner by being more likely free of sediments.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, after posting I see I should have introduced myself first. I have been a member here but was having site problems that were inflicted by me. My son came by this morning and found my problem and corrected it. I had no idea this post would show as the 1st post.

ray66v · Nov 14, 2010

Kays Supply said:
There is an urban legend that if you use hot water to make ice, it will be clearer than using cold.

Wasn't there also one that hot water freezes faster? :thumbsup:

CurlyDave · Nov 14, 2010

Both are actually true.

Hot produces clearer ice because dissolved air is much lower in hot water. When water freezes, dissolved air comes out of solution and causes the cloudiness you see in home-made ice.

I still don't understand why hot water freezes faster than cold, but by actual experiment, it does.

Ken_CT · Nov 14, 2010

It always amazed me that the average "do it yourself" homeowner will try to do their own electrical repairs, but will not attempt plumbing repairs. If you mess up on plumbing, you get wet. If you mess up on electrical, you get dead.:shocked:

SandburRanch · Nov 14, 2010

Kays Supply said:
There is an urban legend that if you use hot water to make ice, it will be clearer than using cold.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually that probably should be called a rural legend but true. The hot water tank acts as a sediment tank catching pumped sand or any debris with a specific gravity greater than water. Also some hard water mineral deposits collect in the tank giving hot water a little advantage in that respect.

I'm not a water X-pert but I have all the above.:

eepete · Nov 14, 2010

Our 'fridge has an ice maker on it. It also has the standard connection and shut off valve behind the fridge. I put an additional shut off valve in the basement where I can get to it in a hurry. It also lets me shut off and drain the line (ok, so there are two valves

).

When you have a big Ooops with the icemaker line, it's nice to be able to shut things down without pulling out the 'fridge. For us this is even more critical because the appliances these days have very narrow wheels on them and they will leave a mark on the hardwood floors. I had no idea that wheel plastic was so expensive :laughing:! When we moved around the appliances to install them, I had to put some 1/8 inch luon (sp?) board down (same stuff you put under tile) so the floors would not be damaged.

Wordy post short, consider having some sort of shut off value you can get to in a hurry without having to pull up the feet on the 'fridge and roll it out.

I've only come close to killing myself with electrical stuff, but every time I've made a plumbing mistake I got wet so I too am glad I'm an electrician (or sorts) and not a plumber

.

Pete

Kays Supply · Nov 14, 2010

Another thought, if the water heater is several feet away from the icebox the water won't be very hot going into the icemaker. It will still be room temp for a while and the icemaker doesn't use enough water to actually get to the hot.As far as freezing first, when I did service plumbing, the hot water line almost always froze before the cold on the cold winter nights.