Have you ever stopped to consider how often to replace a refrigerator water filter? This question tends to pop up, usually when you’re enjoying a refreshing glass of water or making a batch of ice cubes. The answer is crucial because your refrigerator water filter plays a vital role in delivering fresh, clean water right from your fridge door.
Ensuring Freshness and Purity: How Often to Replace a Refrigerator Water Filter
This handy device filters out impurities, heavy minerals, and potential contaminants, ensuring your water is safe and delicious. But just like any filter, it cannot last forever.
The Crucial Role of Your Refrigerator Water Filter
Changing your refrigerator water filter regularly isn’t just about maintaining the taste of your water and ice. It’s a matter of health and appliance efficiency. When your water filter starts getting old, it struggles to filter out harmful contaminants efficiently, which can end up in your water.
What happens if you don’t replace water filter in refrigerator? An overworked filter might start to clog, causing a host of problems, it may even cause a leaky refrigerator ! You might notice that your water tastes off, your ice cubes have an unpleasant smell , or even that your ice maker isn’t producing ice as efficiently as before. Even the pressure of water from your dispenser can be affected. In a nutshell, your refrigerator works harder, yet performs less efficiently when you neglect the filter.
Determining How Often to Replace a Refrigerator Water Filter
Wondering “do I really need to replace refrigerator water filter every 6 months?” Yes, this is the general rule of thumb and the best choice for water flavor, however, several factors can affect this frequency.
If your household goes through large quantities of water or ice, or if your local water supply is hard or contains many contaminants, you might need to replace the filter more often. You can assess your water quality using at-home testing strips to identify the specific contaminants you’re dealing with.
Spotting the Signs: When to Change Water Filter in Fridge
How do you know if your refrigerator water filter is bad? If you’re still unsure about how often to replace a refrigerator water filter, some telltale signs can show you it’s time for a change:
- Water or ice from your refrigerator starts tasting or smelling bad
- The water pressure from your dispenser seems lower than usual
- Your ice maker is underperforming or not making ice at all
Any of these signs can mean that your water filter is due for replacement.
The DIY Guide: How to Replace a Refrigerator Water Filter
Wondering how to take on this task? Follow these general steps for most refrigerator models:
- Buy a replacement filter : Make sure you get the correct filter for your model. Your refrigerator’s manual or an online search can help with this.
- Locate the Water Filter : Your manual or a quick online search will show you where it’s located in your unit. It’s often towards the top of the fridge, or near the door.
- Turn off the water supply : You’ll usually find the water supply valve behind your refrigerator.
- Remove the old filter : Depending on your refrigerator’s model, you might either twist the filter a quarter turn or push a release button to remove it.
- Install the new filter : Insert the new filter into the housing and twist it into place or simply push it until it clicks.
- Turn the water supply back on : Open the water supply valve again and ensure everything is working as it should.
Remember to dispense and discard a few glasses of water after installation to flush out any residue from the new filter.
We hope this guide helps you understand how and when to change your fridge’s water filter. But remember, we’re here if you need more help or if other issues pop up with your refrigerator. Just give Conner’s Appliance a shout – our refrigerator and ice maker repair team is always ready and willing to get your appliances back on track.
