Looking for a 90° 1/4" male to 1/4" female compression adapter

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Mikey

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I've got an ice-maker outlet box similar to the one in the image below, and a refrigerator we'd like to put as close to the wall as possible. But as you can see, anything connected to the 1/4" compression outlet sticks straight out of the wall, and any flexible tubing I've found requires 6" to 8" to make a 90° turn comfortably. I thought -- no problem, just use a 90° ell to make the turn, then a large loop to direct the other end of the flex line to the (vertical) refrigerator inlet. But so far, I haven't found one -- they're all FIPS on one end. How do the pros solve this problem?

icemaker outlet.jpg
 
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Atomic1

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If you go this route, you just need to be very careful that the compression fittings are not torqued/tensioned by movement of the tube when the frig is rolled in/out. That is the common mechanism for compression fittings failure. Maybe consider anchoring the tube to the wall after this connection, followed by a coil of tube so the connections are not stressed when the frig is moved..
 

DougB

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I would not put the shutoff behind the fridge. You don't want to have to pull out the fridge to turn off the water. Where is the water supply connected? I put mine under the sink. I would bring 1/4" copper out of the floor (close to the wall) , make a loop, or two and connect it to the fridge. I don't like the idea of having a compression fitting behind any appliance.

If you stick with your box - you can get 1/4" sweat ells. Then as someone mentioned, clamp the copper to the wall - you don't want the copper to turn in the compression fitting.
 

CountryBumkin

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He's already got the shutoff valve/box installed. That setup is pretty common in new home construction in my area (and the sink may on the other side of the kitchen - as in my case). It works out pretty well, IMO, as you don't really pull out the refrigerator that often.
 
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Cacher_Chick

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It helps if you rotate the valve about 45 degrees to the side within the box, and then coil enough tubing behind it so that the appliance can be pulled all the way out without any problems. I just use a couple of strips of reinforced packing tape to stick the coil loop to the back of the appliance.
 

Mikey

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Thanks to everyone for their responses. I was trying to avoid copper altogether, and hoped there would be a fitting that would allow rotation as well, similar to a banjo fitting, but I'm now convinced that there's no such critter. The outlet box is about a foot to the side of the refrigerator, and while I like the arguments for putting it there, She Who Must Be Obeyed thinks it's ugly, and I agree. It also winds up behind a built-in desk, so you have to take a drawer out of the desk to get at the valve, and the line passes through a hole in the side of the desk. I don't see how to fix the ugly without putting it behind the refrigerator. I've minimized the hassle with the valve by replacing the original 50-turn valve (at least it felt like it) with a 1/4-turn, set at 45° as cacher-chick suggested, and will use a short length of copper from the valve, through the desk, to a compression union, joining with a standard 3' braided flexible hose to the refrigerator. I'd like to add an in-line charcoal filter, but won't press my luck for a while.
 

Mikey

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Would this work?
1/4" Female Comp x 1/4" Male Comp
SPECIAL Female Compression x Male Compression 90° Elbow
https://www.plumbingsupply.com/compress.html#femalemalecomp90

Sorry for the delay. In a word, no. The label "female x male" is a little misleading. I'm confused by the use of "male" and "female" when compression fittings are involved anyway, since the tubing/socket are oppositely sexed from the threaded parts. I call the piece with the nut and sleeve the "female", and the piece with just the thread to accept the nut the "male", but there's a good argument to name them the other way. Brasscraft's catalog avoids the sexing problem altogether by calling that end (always female, in my terminology) a "Tube". However you name them, there's no 1/4" male to 1/4" female 90° compression-on-both-ends adapter out there that I could find. It looks like the only way to accomplish this is to bend a short length of 1/4" copper tubing to the desired angle, put a compression nut & sleeve on one end, and a compression union on the other end (you could sweat one end of the union onto the tubing). I did find a T with the compression nut on one arm of the T (a "female" in my terms) and normal compression fittings ("males") on the branch and other arm, but no 90° fitting.
 

kabilbueline

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Could someone explain why that fitting will not work?
(I am trying to solve the same problem with my icemaker hookup)
I understand that the female side of that elbow does not have a compression nut - but do you need that on a brass to brass connection (fitting to wall outlet)
As long as those threads match, you can tighten it like a regular pipe fitting - and then attach your hose line to the male end?
 

Mikey

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brass-compression-elbow-female-to-male.jpg

One would think. But I bought one of these (or similar - can't remember) and it didn't do what I wanted done. If you blow up the image for that fitting, you'll see that the threaded side has IPS threads - it will not allow a compression fitting (like on a riser tube) to be attached to that side.
 

kabilbueline

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I wrote to plumbingsupply.com about this part, and this was their reply:

This particular elbow is designed to essentially be an angle change to go between a compression-threaded flex line and the stop valve it was previously connected to. If you are working with a copper tube, this would not be the right connection for you. If, however, you had a 1/4" compression-threaded braided stainless flex that threads over your wall outlet, then this would be a good adapter for you.

That makes it sound like exactly what I was looking for, so I am going to order one and give it a try.
 

Mikey

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I wrote to plumbingsupply.com about this part, and this was their reply:

This particular elbow is designed to essentially be an angle change to go between a compression-threaded flex line and the stop valve it was previously connected to. If you are working with a copper tube, this would not be the right connection for you. If, however, you had a 1/4" compression-threaded braided stainless flex that threads over your wall outlet, then this would be a good adapter for you.

That makes it sound like exactly what I was looking for, so I am going to order one and give it a try.

That is exactly what I'm looking for also; let us know how it works, and what p/n you ordered.
 

Reach4

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delete... I had posted a 3/8 part rather than 1/4.
 
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gestut

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That is exactly what I'm looking for also; let us know how it works, and what p/n you ordered.
hello

did that work for you? i am looking for the same thing , also did you use a compression sleeve between the adaptor and the valve?, i think you have to
 

gestut

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I wrote to some people this part, and this was their reply:

This particular elbow is designed to essentially be an angle change to go between a compression-threaded flex line and the stop valve it was previously connected to. If you are working with a copper tube, this would not be the right connection for you. If, however, you had a 1/4" compression-threaded braided stainless flex that threads over your wall outlet, then this would be a good adapter for you.

That makes it sound like exactly what I was looking for, so I am going to order one and give it a try.
hello

did that work for you? i am looking for the same thing , also did you use a compression sleeve between the adaptor and the valve?, i think you have to
 
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