7 Signs Your Refrigerator’s Water Filter Needs Replaced.There’s nothing like a gulp of fresh cold water from your refrigerator. You can taste the purity of it – it’s quite delicious and soothing to the body. And it makes getting those 8-10 glasses of water a day much easier. The water you receive from your refrigerator will give you clear signs that it’s time to change the filter.
But what if you haven’t been up on your fridge maintenance. In fact, you’ve let it go for so long that you are afraid to see what your refrigerator water filter looks like. No fear, it’s not the end of the world.
The truth is that the water you receive from your refrigerator will give you clear signs that it’s time to change the filter.
Read on to see 7 signs that you need a new fridge water filter and some fridge maintenance tips.
- Lots of Black Flecks
It’s completely normal to see a few flecks in your filtered water. This is because your refrigerator uses carbon particles, which is very clean black grit, for the water to pass through and be cleaned up.
Sometimes a few black flecks escape from the filter, but over time, the carbon filter starts failing and becomes worn out. This causes more and more black flecks to show up in the filtered water.
It’s a major sign that you need to replace your fridge water filter.
- An Unpleasant Odor
Listen to your nose when you are trying to sense whether your refrigerator filter needs to be replaced or not. The smell is a huge way for the human mind to tell whether something is off.
Before drinking your refrigerator’s filtered water, smell it, and if it smells off, then you know you need some fridge maintenance.
If the water smells like rotting eggs, it is the sulfur or sulfites that have leeched into through underground water pipes. If it smells acrid, then it’s bleach or something metallic.
Do not drink water that smells and replace the water filter immediately.
- Changes in Color
When you look at filtered water in a clean glass, it should look crystal clear. That’s how you know you have nothing to worry about.
But any color change, no matter what the color might be, is a sign that your water filter isn’t working up to par.
Another thing to watch out for is murkiness. Many forms of water discoloration might not be harmful, but murkiness clearly indicates that there is a pollutant in the water and you need to replace your filter asap.
- The Taste Might Be Off
As you would trust your nose in detecting water that’s not filtered well, you could also use your tastebuds for the same. If you sense while drinking your fridge’s filtered water that there’s something off about the taste, stop.
Don’t take another sip, and change your water filter.
When water is pure and filtered, it has no taste or smell. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. That’s why any changes in these baselines are a sign that your water is contaminated and filtered improperly.
If the water tastes musty, it could be algae or mold. If it tastes acrid, it could be bleach. And if it tastes metallic, it could be copper or rust corrosion leaking into your water.
- More Than a Year of Usage
Fridge maintenance isn’t usually anyone’s forte. It’s the last thing on everyone’s minds, and understandably so.
If you are leading a busy life that’s on the go, then you can use your calendar to dictate when you should update your fridge’s water filter.
If it’s been more than a year since you’ve changed your water filter, it’s time to find a refrigerator water filter that suits your fridge.
- Your Water Dispenser Is Slow
If the city you live in is prone to hard water, then your water filter will naturally become clogged up with mineral deposits over time.
This means that you will notice it will take longer and longer to fill up the same glass of water. It’s a great way to realize that your fridge water filter needs to be changed.
Even if your area has nice soft water, your water filter can still get clogged up with the very particles that it’s filtering out. So watch out for a slow water dispenser.
- Filter Light Comes On
This is a no-brainer. If your fridge light comes on, it’s telling you to change the water filter.
But not every fridge comes with a fridge light. Some of them are older models. If you have a newer model fridge with a water and ice dispenser, then you will have a filter light for sure.
Different fridges are set up to show the filter light based on different parameters. Some of them might be based on the gallons of water filtered. Others could be based on time passed.
When the fridge light comes on, it’s a clear indicator to you that you need to update your water filter. It’s quite easy to locate the water filter and change it yourself.
Once the water filter has been updated, don’t forget to reset the filter light, back to green.
You don’t want to be drinking water that’s clearly tainted or contaminated.
But if you don’t see any other clear signs that your water filter needs to be changed, trust your fridge’s filter light, and change your water filter accordingly.
It’s better at keeping track of things than you are, especially since you are busy thinking of a hundred other things. At minimum.
Fridge Maintenance Is an Essential Part of Fridge Ownership
Without proper fridge maintenance, your fridge will not last as long it could. If you can watch out for your fridge and its needs, you can keep drinking that fresh, filtered water for much longer.
Not only is this important for your wallet, but also for your health. Your body is 60% water. Thus, the cleaner the water you drink, the better you will feel.
Take care of your fridge water filter, and it will return the favor ten-fold.
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