Removing a water line to a non-existant ice maker

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DrumComputer

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St Paul, MN
First off I should say that this will be my first ever plumbing project of any kind whatsoever, so any help is greatly appreciated.

I recently bought a house and even though there were no appliances, there was a flexible copper line coming directly out of the main that was tagged "ice maker". A few days after moving in I noticed some water coming out of this line and every day it got worse, to the point that I had to reroute this line to the drain in my furnace/water heater closet next to my kitchen. Since this is wasting water AND because the stop valve for this "ice maker" line has started to drip onto my water heater (and has been doing so for weeks without my knowledge), I want to KILL this water line forever.

The setup off of the water line looks like this:

plumbing1.JPG


plumbing2.JPG


So the rigid copper pipes come out of the main and go down into the water heater, but not before getting diverted to the "ice maker" line via what looks to be a compression fitting that leads to a stop valve. Since I just want to kill this line forever, this is my current plan:

Shut off water at the main and turn on faucets to clear out the system. Unscrew that nut that holds the compression fitting in place, remove the compression fitting so there is nothing left but a copper line - and cap it with a sharkbite end cap (I will decide which size to use after removing the fitting and measuring the copper pipe).

Is this is the easiest and/or best way to go about this?

Some questions I have:

What is the best tool for removing this compression fitting nut? It is such an awkward angle, would a flare nut wrench be best for this? Should I just use an 8 inch adjustable wrench? Which way do I turn the nut to loosen it up so I can remove the compression fitting? I know "lefty loosey" but which side should I use as a reference? That is, looking at it from the angle of the photos, should the top of the nut be turned towards me or away from me? Anything else I should keep in mind? I am worried about removing this compression fitting - they seem complicated.

I know some people demand "sweating" it shut, but this is a closet with my furnace and water heater in it - there is a hint of a gas smell, my inspector said this is nothing to worry about but I do not want to bring flames into the equation! Also maybe someone will suggest cutting the pipe and installing ANOTHER compression fitting on it - but the sharkbite solution seems to much easier and they seem to be built to last.

Thanks again for any help!
 
While I don't have a major problem with the Sharkbyte fittings, and I use them in certain situations, I don't know that they have a really long track record. In your particular situation, I believe that a compression coupling with a compression cap on the other end of it might be a better option.

That appears to be 1/2" copper that the stop valve is attached to, so the proper size compression fitting would be 5/8".
 
Personally, I'd just repair the faulty valve and leave it intact. Who knows when this might come in handy, and great for resale purposes.
 

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