You’ll recall we updated our kitchen soon after moving in – new cabinets, new floors, new appliances, new paint, new back splash, new lighting…you get the gist. We went all out replacing everything we thought was important but left out one detail that came back to bite us. Here’s how it went down- 
Recently, I found myself down in the basement typing away at my computer one afternoon when subconsciously I hear a drip-drip-drip somewhere off in the distance. But since I can’t be bothered at the risk of losing my concentration, I go right on working. It’s not until I head upstairs for dinner later that day that I realize that I’ve just walked through a soaked patch of carpet. Overhead, the ceiling is begining to fall down. 
In mere seconds I scan the room, looking for the source of the leak and finding nothing, I race up the stairs, taking them three at a time. The dishwasher isn’t running, the washing machine is dry as a bone and no one is using the sink, bathroom, or shower. I’m utterly lost at what could be causing this basement deluge. Suddenly it occurs to me – the spot directly over the basement is the fridge. Luckily fridge manufactures see the good sense of having wheels on their products and I pull it out. At first I can’t see where the leak is coming from but I do notice a sizable puddle on the floor. After running my hand over the water supply line I realize there’s a pin hole sized leak streaming a very tiny yet powerful jet of water about six inches from the wall where the line comes in. 
With the water line turned off, we go about cleaning up the mess and figuring out what to do to fix the situation. We figure that since the water line is long enough, we’ll simply cut off 3 feet at the end of the tubing and reattach it to the fridge. Good as new, so we thought.
About 4 weeks later Whitney is about to grab something from the fridge when she hears a small high pitched whizzing sound and quickly calls me over. Already on edge about how the leak had started the first time, we pull the fridge out and realize we’ve got a second hole now. How in the world these small holes are appearing is beyond me, but I’ve had it. It’s decided that we’ll replace the entire polyethylene tube this time. 
The Home Depot sells fridge kits for around $10, but for $5 I purchased all the pieces a la carte that I needed for the replacement and saved myself a few bucks. Because tubing is already threaded through from the fridge to the water supply line near the water heater in the basement below, we simply tape the new tube to the end of the old tube and pull the new tubing through.
Once in place, adding the brass insert, delrin sleeve, and compression nut to attach the tubing is really rather simple. 
The compression nut slides onto the ¼ tubing first, followed by the plastic delrin. The brass insert is then pushed into the tubing and the compression nut and delrin slides right over, making a watertight seal.
We’re hoping a little DIY elbow grease will keep the tubing from spontaneously sprouting new holes and we’ll not have to do without filtered water, and goodness knows surviving without ice in every drink we have is near impossible. Of course, our two-time French exchange student never could understand just how important icy drinks are to us Americans…
We’ll be back on Friday with the features from the RRR party (and those of our special guest Linda with It All started With Paint) and the giveaway announcement, hope to see you there!
And for those who don’t know, we’re not certified plumbers by any means and while this may or may not be how the pros do it, we’re just sharing what we did to solve a problem around the house. If you’re not comfortable doing some of these fixes on your own, please call a licensed plumber, having water leaking everywhere is a real bummer. Oh, and a great tutorial using copper tubing can be found at The Family Handyman.
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You did a superior job!!
I will never have another ‘big box’ store install anything, period.
After having 2500 s.f. of hardwood floors on the main level re-sanded and resealed (moved out for 4 days) the fridge that one of the ‘big box’ stores delivered & installed did not have the water line hooked up correctly… the damage? A ten-foot square section of the newly finished floor under the fridge had to be ripped up and replaced, then the entire 2500 sf re-sanded and resealed. The ‘big box’ store balked at the price, but after reminding them I was not charging them for displacing a family of five for four days (another vacation to see Mickey) and hey – I just had this done! – they quickly paid. Thank you for showing how this is done – I trust my plumber, and you!
Oh, this triggered some PTSD feelings in me! Had a similar issue some years back, but unfortunately the leak was under the house, so nothing alerted us to it until much damage had been done. Long story short: We had mold in 2/3 of the ground floor of our house. We had to move out for 2 weeks, and we had to run drying machines for 6. Had to tear out floors down to the studs in our kitchen, dining room, hallway, and family room. Had to remove everything from the kitchen–all cabinets, appliances, etc. It was a nightmare, and all from just this kind of leak. It was 6 months before our house was back to normal. I’ll never have an ice machine in my fridge again! So glad you figured it out.
Oh that’s terrible! I tell ya what, if this doesn’t fix it I’m riding off an ice machine too. I’ll probably turn the water off to the fridge if we ever leave the house for very long too – so not worth it! 6 months is a long time!
Really… doesn’t it make you wonder how water makes pin sharp holes in plastic tubing?
~Bliss~
Glad you caught it early — water can do so much damage. I’m glad I found your blog — it’s great!
Water can be so destructive! We have had some plumbing “fun” too. So glad you heard it and were able to fix it before it became worse. Thank goodness you heard it!!
You guys are so handy! Really and seriously. I could never do that project. And I would NEVER even allow my husband to attempt it (not that he would …)
Linda
Ugh! I feel you. We had a similar problem but our tubing was copper. That stuff is AWFUL. Every little kink could lead to a leak! We pulled it all out and replaced it with PE. So much better. Not the most fun DIY job, but totally doable!
We had this happen to us recently also. Heard dripping water in the basement and had no idea where it was coming from. At least ours leaked in the unfinished part of our basement.
Bah, fiascos are the worst! But at least you caught it when you did. Also…. I can’t get over your kitchen! It is beautiful!
Oh, I feel for you! There is nothing worse than water in your house and you don’t know where it’s coming from. We had a similar problem with our brand new washer in the laundry room, but we had put down tile and a drain so once we solved it there wasn’t too much to do except mop the floor. I’m so impressed by your diy-plumber skills.
Oh no!! Great job with the fix- you guys rock!! {I love that kitchen. it’s worth the extra work- so gorgeous!!}
ALmost the same thing happened to us only in the middle of the night. I walked across the kitchen floor in my bare feet and realized I was standing in water! Our hardwood survived with the help of dryers and all kinds of apparatus from the clean up company…….definitely was an insurance claim. It was a mess in the basement and some drywall had to be replaced.
Those water lines are a little scary!
Oh MY!!! I am so glad you caught it in time. Your kitchen is Lovely. I actually forgot to link up my sewing room reveal. So I hope to catch the next round..
thank you so much for the invite. I just became your newest follower. 
Ugh – we had some mishaps during our reno. I can remember the dining room ceiling (which was just painted!) – drip, drip, drip!
Our contractors were so working on the house so luckily they had to fix it and pay for the fix! The tile guy and let grout harden inside our shower pipes!!
Needless to say, we hired a different tile installer to do our kitchen backsplash!
Kelly
Oh gosh. I’m sorry….I kinda giggled at your unfortunate demise. Isn’t that the story of homes…work. Just when you think you have your home in pretty good standing…wallup! something breaks. Well, now you know how to use a fridge kit. Hopefully it will be some time before you need it
. Thanks for linking this up to the Stinky Linky party…fits right in!
I write this from the voice of experience with a hole in my living room ceiling right now. They fixed the leak from the shower and we are watching to make sure it doesn’t leak anymore.
Great job on the water line fix.
blessings,
karianne
Great job with the repair. So weird that it sprung a leak twice. You were wise to replace the tubing.
In our area they put water heaters in the attic. I just had one replaced that had leaked into my den ceiling. It truly is a bummer!
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