So the fridge took a shit and we are having a new one delivered Monday.

Went to bleed out the water line to the ice maker today and when I turned the saddle valve in the basement it began dripping. Either way - left or right, couldn't get the dripping to stop.

I was able to Shut the valve off, removed the hose to the fridge to empty the line, and after the hose emptied it's still leaking a little tiny bit (one drip every couple minutes) from the valve.

I didn't install the saddle valve Originally  - it was there already when we moved in and it worked fine for the past 4-5 yrs or so since I hooked the fridge up to it.

My gut tells me to turn off the main water line, open the valve the entire way, dry and wrap with Teflon tape,  and put everything back together, pucker up and turn the water back on.

But I'm not a plumber or even a home improvement expert. And my go to home improvement sounding boards are at camp this weekend....

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

sharkbite fittings will be your best friend.

Yeah i understand there are better options out there. Guess I just figured if I could fix what I got I'd prefer that...

Get rid of that saddle valve, they are crap.  Cut a T into the line and add a ball valve with a compression fitting to accept the water line to fridge.

+1

"saddle valves" are not code compliant.

Put in a T that has a half inch port available.
Put a ball valve on the port.
Do not forget the 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch adapter for the fridge side of the valve.
Use copper to feed the fridge.

did you tighten the packing nut?

+whatever

Do it up right.  It's easy.

thanks for the advice everyone!

I don't believe I touched it. I only turned it on/off by hand.

The packing nut is to prevent a leak at the stem of the 'valve.'
It has nothing to do with the valve not sealing when closed and water dripping from the tapped off line.

The steel pin often corrodes (galvanic) the copper pipe and makes a hole to large for the 'valve' to seal.

I just replaced one in my house. We replaced the fridge and when I went to turn the water off for the water line it kept leaking. I switched it out with a Sharkbite. An easy job if you have access to it. Also will give you peace of mine if you have issues down the road and need to turn the water off to the fridge.

This fixed the issue for now. Played around with the packing nut.

Will most likely upgrade to a sharkbite at some point but for now the issue has been resolved.

Learn how to solder copper pipe.
It is NOT all that difficult or expensive.
A small propane torch will take care of everything except 3/4 in T joints and 3/4 in valves.

When you do go to fix the valve go the sharkbite route. They actually make a total replacement for what you need.
sharkbite

I agree with all the before posts
yes..... saddle valves are the devil
yes..... he should replace it
but  he had a leak, first stop the leak



It wasn't that you touched it, often just turning the stem will (I don't want to say damage) damage the packing, and necessitate tightening.  It happens with most every style of valve, but most often on valve that get used the least.