Whirlpool W11482381 Water Line OEM Part

Replaced the water line and water supply solenoid valve (slight weeping at valve body also). This is a 3 year old whirlpool refrigerator, model WRX988SIBM00. A crack in the water line after only 3 years is a poor design. My intent was to replace the entire water line from the valve to the filter. But I could not remove the interior top trim piece to access the filter connection. I did not want to force the trim piece to hard and break it. So what I did was install a new water line at the solenoid valve and then cut the new line and old line at the back of the refrigerator and use a 5/16 union connector to tie the two together. Worked perfectly. I also added two clamps (not on the original design) to secure the copper supply line and plastic water line to the back of the refrigerator. This should greatly reduce any prying force at the water line connections at the solenoid valve. The plastic water line part number is W11209890. This had a 90 degree elbow at the valve rather than the 135 degree elbow on the original part. I had to route the line differently than the original and cut a clearance slot in the cardboard closure on the back. I have been monitoring for leaks and so far things look good.

The elbow that connected from the water dispenser to the water inlet valve was cracked. Didn’t want to run the whole line, so cut the end of the new line and used a union connector to splice new piece to old line.