We bought a new fridge about two years ago. It’s a Whirlpool French door fridge with the freezer on the bottom. It has an automatic ice maker and water dispenser in the door.
It has a display on the front that tells you when it’s time to replace the water filter. When it got low, I made my way to Lowe’s and bought a replacement, $50.
Fast forward to a few months ago, when the filter is running low again. I couldn’t remember the model of the filter, so I popped open the compartment it’s in to check it, then closed it again.
Huh. According to the display, my filter is now at 100%. I didn’t replace it, I just opened and closed the compartment.
I feel a bit cheated here. I haven’t noticed a change in the quality of the water. Does the filter actually do anything? Does it last longer than the display indicates?
My fridge has the water filter light change on, and I was wondering about that too. I found this link, which basically says the recommended time is usually 6 months for a filter, but it might be more or less time depending on how much you get water. If you looked at your filter and it looks fine with no crud, and your water and ice look and taste normal, you can probably wait a while longer. But if anything is off, then probably replacing the filter is a good idea.
I wait until the flow is reduced before I change mine. Usually lasts at least a year. I also use a generic filter from Amazon, much cheaper. They don’t set it to determine efficiency because they want to sell you expensive filters.
We’ve never had a fridge with a water/ice dispenser in the door (movin’ on up!) so I thought I was being a Good Housekeeper by replacing the water filter when told.
I’ll keep an eye on it and if the water gets gross, I’ll switch it out.
Do you filter the tap water in your house before drinking it? Did you filter the water you made ice with in your old fridge? If both those answers are “No”, then you don’t need a filter. See if you can just pop it out and leave it out - some fridges allow you to do that and just bypass the filter if it isn’t present.
We had a GE fridge that had a filter, plus it had a plug you could install to bypass the filter. Since I wasn’t going to buy the ridiculously expensive filter, I installed the plug. Never noticed a difference in taste of the water right up until the fridge died.
New fridge doesn’t have a filter, and the ice tastes just the same. Then again, we have a really good well. I expect in places with nasty water (I’m thinking Jacksonville, FL) the filter might be necessary.
Don’t forget why you bought a fridge with a water filter. You want filtered water. Changing the filter when the manufacturer recommends is not a bad idea. You may be able to find cheaper filters that are just as good as the original.
You can save lots of money by removing the filter completely. It’s your choice - filtered water or saving a few bucks. How bad is your water supply?
They can. But a timer costs far less than a penny, while something monitoring flow rate through the filter would cost real money.
That doesn’t necessarily follow. They may have bought a fridge because it was on sale, had good ratings on Consumer Reports, fit the space, etc. The filter may have been an unnoticed feature.
Same with me. In the bag of stuff I got when I bought my fridge was a small blue plug that you install in place of the filter. We have good water so I don’t need the extra cost.
I’ve run our GE fridge for like six months beyond the recommended filter change without noting any difference in water quality. I also buy Home Depot’s store brand filter instead of GE’s, which are literally twice as expensive (HD sells a two pack for the price of one GE filter).
I bought a refrigerator with a water filter almost 7 years ago. Have never changed the filter. Hell, I don’t know where it is or how to change it. Water and ice both look and taste fine.
Depends on your water source. IN SF I would change my filter ever 10 or so years just because. In San Jose depending on your use of the frig water 43 to 12 months. But in San Jose it is better to chew the water before swallowing.
Our filters come with a little plastic reminder sticker that goes on the fridge, where you can indicate the month it was changed and the month it needs changing.
I rarely change ours at 6 months, usually more like 9-12. On the other hand we rarely use the water dispenser, so it is mostly just filtering the water going into the ice maker.
It’s perfectly possible and also more expensive. Also if you train everyone to replace it every six months regardless of condition then you have nice predictable sales cycles. If I sell one refrigerator every 20 years to a customer I can anticipate selling 40 water filters.
Exactly. Sure, they could do it, but they would be spending extra design effort to make a more costly and complex product, that would also likely reduce their filter sales. Makes no sense from a business standpoint.
