drilling water line into refrig compartment?

[Tyler Davis]

I have a decent Amana refrigerator, freezer on the bottom. I have the copper water supply line coming out of the wall behind the fridge. I am planning on adding the Amana icemaker to the freezer compartment. There is a pre-drilled hole into the freezer compartment to run the flex tube through.

I want to add a Brita filter tank to the refrigerator compartment, but there is no hole through which to run a water supply tube. Can I drill through the back of the fridge to pass a tube through? Are there any condenser coils I risk hitting?

I would split the connection from the copper supply tube into two plastic flex tubes. The icemaker has its own shutoff mechanism which turns off water flow when the ice bucket fills up. I would use a manual shutoff valve right before the Brita jug to turn off water until you want to refill the jug

so what do you think? is this a sound idea?

[nhmaster]

Sure. measure exactly 14 3/16 inches from the left rear and 54, 7\8 down from the top.

I really think a trip to the appliance store or www.amana.com might be the best option here as I doubt any of us has a clue what's behind in instide all that plastic. Could be coils, could be wires.

[jimbo]

Drilling any holes anywhere in a refrigerator casing is asking for trouble.

[Redwood]

FFFFSSSSSSSSTTTTT!
Time for a new fridge!

[Tyler Davis]

so it looks like the consensus is that I'm bound to mess up my fridge? Roger that - on to the next project!

[jadnashua]

Between the defrost wires, refrigerant lines, control wires, etc.; it's really tough to figure out where to drill without hitting something critical.

[hj]

Besides who wants to keep the refrigerator door open while you check to keep the pitcher from overflowing?

[Tyler Davis]

well if I wanted to get fancy I'm sure I could find some sort of overflow valve that turns off when the water reaches the top of the pitcher. Then it could refill with the door closed

If there are so many hazards in a refrigerator, how do people make their own kegerators, where the tap and CO2 lines are run right through the door?

[jadnashua]

They don't usually run refrigerant lines through the door, only the walls and back (and top and bottom) of the thing. There may be an electrical heater strip around the gasket (often it's in the main chassis, though), but usually nothing in the rest of the door, so generally, it is safe to cut hole(s) in the door.

[kingsotall]

Are you sure you're not just trying to get plans on how to do a kegerator¿

[Tyler Davis]

haha! I wish

sounds likea kegerator is easier since you can drill through the door...I don't think that'd be a good path for a water line, though