SS Braided Hose vs. copper/with compression nuts

[Treeman]

I will be installing a new dishwasher soon and the manual recommends copper tubing with compression fittings for the supply line. I am old school and like copper, but know that it is more difficult and sometimes the compression ring sealing can be problematic.

I notice that LOTS of sites talk about using braided stainless steel supply lines for the dish washer.

Are these safe to use? Are they a "cop out" diy solution compared to the "more professional" copper tubing? Or, am I just an old putz, set in my ways. What do the pros use?

Opinions please. Thanks!!

 

[Gary Swart]

Use the SS line. This is similar to connecting an ice maker in the fridge. You want to be able to pull the washer out for repairs without out kinking the supply line. Just be sure you don't use the Watts Flood Safe.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[jay_wat]

Stainless Steel lines are the way to go,, before i became a plumber,i used to do water/fire restoration work,, and 60% of the jobs were from rubber/plastic lines to the washing machine/ icemaker lines.

the SS lines are much more reliable IMO

 

[Runs with Bison]

It's not such an easy decision. The only line I've ever had fail catastrophically was a braided stainless line under the kitchen sink. A few thousand gallons after the blow out at ~4 am (estimated) I had an appreciation for the weaknesses of braided line in difficult to reach positions. I've put together many copper and stainless compression or swage fittings with nothing comparable in plant environments, even at 1200 psig and 275 C with ethylene as the process fluid. In my experience the all metal tubing never blew out, although it did leak at times (hydrogen service was a PITA about leaks at high pressure, especially in valve packing at low temps.) The braided...well if you get it in a bind it will blow out catastrophically at night...lesson learned. And the only lines I've ever had fail on a washer were stainless too. They sealed once, but would not seal again a year later no matter what I tried even though they were never in a bind. I replaced them with the supplied hoses for a new machine...black rubber hoses worked for 18 years or so prior to that on the old machine despite 6 moves. (Replaced them when they began to bulge a little near the valve.) That said I still use the braided stainless for convenience, but I'm very careful about the install now.

Watts flood safe don't work at all for washers and should avoided. Been there, tried that, the checks were too aggressive on a washing machine rendering them worse than worthless.

 

[Jadnashua]

I used copper for both my DW and frig. On the frig, there's probably a 10' loop behind that gives me plenty of length to uncoil to pull the thing out without a chance of kinking it. The DW didn't have as much room for a loop and the diameter is larger, so loop wasn't possible, but it works fine.

 

[Jimbo]

The new "tall tub" dishwashers are quite difficult to make the connections on in place. Much easier to connect the water and electric, THEN slide the dw into the opening, feeding the water,drain, and electric through the hole to the adjacent cabinet as you slide it back

 

[Asktom]

I like copper, a bit slower to install but it isn't going to fail.