non-standard dishwasher water supply

Hi all,

So, having tackled several other plumbing tasks like replacing water supply faucets for the washing machine, replacing toilet innards, hooking up new tub drains and sink fixtures, I decided to try my hand at installing our new dishwasher.

The old dishwasher that came with the house was installed in 1996. The supply line for that dishwasher was 1/2", not 3/8", and the line comes up from the basement, not from under the sink. There are numerous problems here:

First, the copper supply from the basement is, of course, non flexible, and runs a good few inches past the new dishwasher's inlet valve. Trying to bend 1/2" copper tubing using a cheesy bender upside down while reaching under the dishwasher is kind of a no-go -- I probably wouldn't bend it in exactly the right place, and there's very little play. The only good news is that the dishwasher line has a dedicated shutoff valve.... in the basement. Not great for testing my fittings.

What I tried instead was getting a 1/2"-3/8" reducer compression fitting, screwing one end to the existing copper tubing (which already had a nut & ferrule), and the other end to a braided "dishwasher supply" hose from Lowe's. I then connected that to my elbow. This might be ok if I could get a wrench under there to tighten all the dang fittings!

I have pics of all this, but didn't want to overwhelm, but lemme know and I'll post them if you want.

So, here's where my question is. Under my sink, my hot water supply is a copper tube that comes up maybe a foot through the floor, connects to a shutoff valve, and on the other side of that valve is braided hose that goes to the sink's faucet. Is it possible to get a shutoff to replace that one that has a 3/8" connector on it for the dishwasher? Or can I get a tee connector that'll connect to the shutoff, the faucet hose, and the dishwasher hose?

Thanks a bunch!

Go ahead and post the pics.

You can see more detail in the description of the images when you follow the links to see them.

Here's my hot water supply under the sink:

Here's my copper dw supply coming up from the basement. Just below the floor is the shutoff:


Here's the horrible hack I put in place: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkjones/3383227745/in/set-72157615780029609/

By the way, the post editor sucks. The images wouldn't show up in the post, and putting in links apparently *sometimes* automatically creates active links, and other times just text. :-/

Okay, using the flex is is pretty much standard any more,tightening any
fitting under a dish washer is a pain.I always used a 6" adjustable and
channel lock pliers.You might crank your dish washer ELL some more
to get to the flex.Using to much teflon get some pipe dope.

So, to be clear, my question is: is it possible/advisable to just get a new hot water shutoff under the sink, or a tee after the shutoff, so that I can use *only* the flex hose, and then I can just cap off the supply coming from the basement?

Also, the install manual for the dw says specifically to position the elbow facing the rear of the unit. I used extra teflon specifically because it wasn't as tight in that position as I would've liked, but another full turn might be overtightening.

Yes you can do that just add a copper tee in hot side of the feed to K/S
faucet add new valve and run your flex.Note:I always positioned the
dish washer ell to easiest to tighten the flex.

Basin wrench works good under there too but it does bite either way.