If you do plan to replace the saddle valve this there are a few steps
I left out. LIke, use the needled to position it, but once the screws
to the back plate are fairly tight, I think I turned the handle ccw
and backed off the needle, to not enlarge the hole. OTOH, don't do
this so that the valve moves. email me if necessary. remove nopsam.

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:03:23 -0500, "kbonelli"
wrote:

the water dispenser on my refrigerator is leaking quite a bit, even though
the water supply has been turned off for months. the tray completely fills
up every few hours. why is this happening and how can i fix it?

i appreciate any advice.

kathy

The simple saddle valves aren't very good. Mine dribbled at the
stem iirc unless it was turned all the way in or all the way out.

I turned off the water, and positioned a new, better saddle valve
where the old one had been using the needle to position it esactly
where the other one was. Obviously, look at it in detail and read
the instructions more than once before starting the project,
especially if you intend to do it quickly for this reason:

It's not always necessary to drain the pipes in one's house to do
somethin like this. The guy at the plumbing store gave me some good
advice. Turn off all the faucets, then turn on the lowest faucet in
the house, often the laundry tub in the basement. Let it run until
the water stops coming out. At that point water pressure will be
holding most of the water in the pipes, although a little might
dribble out.

You should already have disconnected the tube from the saddle valve

Then working quickly, remove the saddle valve and replace it. I'm not
sure if you should replace the rubber sheet that goes under the valve
or not. If it's not leaking there and it's not really old, I probably
wouldn't. But that's me. If it comes off cleanly it only takes a few
seconds and if it doesn't come off cleanly you can scrape off whatever
is left behind with a knife, in a few seconds. Then replace the valve
using the extended needle, exended so that the wide part truly centers
the needlle in the hole, and tighten up the screws. Some water may
be dribbling out during all of this, so put a bucket or pan
underneath. It's the basement, right?

I just bought what seemed like a better valve and it works fine but I
don't know for sure it will last more years. If it doesn 't I'll do it
again, but you may want to make a big effort to get a quality saddle
valve. Surely they exist.

By the way, if you have a polyethlene hose, with enough slack, you can
probably fold it back on itself and clamp it and that will stop water
from coming out.

But....

Polyetheylene hoses to refrigerators can spring their own leak,
unprovoked. When you can you may want to change to copper tubing.
Ask here for details.