"Dave Harnish" wrote in message ...

If I understand your post correctly, the *outlet* hose slipped
out of the valve. What you were probably seeing when you
caught it leaking was the icemaker calling for a fill.

Thanks for your response (as well as Jeff and the others). It sounds
like copper tubing is the way to go. Just to clarify on the above, I
think you understand the situation but let me be more specific as an
FYI. The plastic tubing was inside the refrigerator. The main water
line feeds into the bottom of the refrigerator. To see what was
happening, I removed the lower back panel. The main water line came
into this small plastic box. On the other side of the box, was this
1/4" plastic hose that went up towards the ice maker (which I couldn't
really follow it up, not without taking the entire back panel off the
refrigerator). You slide the hose in, then tighten up with a plastic
nut that screws into the plastic box, thereby making a tight seal (yea
right). It was on the inside of the refrigerator, this plastic hose
that popped out without any warning.

A two year old, near top of the line Kenmore (I have not looked
further yet into who actually makes it) just popped out. This wasn't
a slow leak. Within just a few minutes, while we were out back, it
had created almost a 100 square foot pool of water. If it had been
hours, or even worse days, the damage would have been enormous.

It seems like a flimsy design, especially for an expensive
refrigerator. I'll look to replace the tubing with copper later this
week. At a minimum, your point about trimming the existing plastic
tubing is a good one and I appreciate it.

Thanks again for everyone's assistance.