Reference
How often should you change a refrigerator water filter?
Change the refrigerator water filter every 6 months, or sooner if the flow slows or the taste changes. That is the interval the HomeAlmanac app schedules for this job, adjusted for the systems your home actually has.
- How often
- Every 6 months
- Time needed
- 10 min
- Best time
- Any time of year
- Priority
- Low
Why it matters
A spent filter stops removing chlorine, sediment, and lead, and a clogged one strains the water line and slows the ice maker. Filters are cheap, and both the taste and the appliance suffer when one is left in too long.
How to do it
Find the filter in the upper right of the fridge compartment, in the base grille, or behind a door in the ceiling. Turn or press to release the old cartridge, seat the new one until it clicks, then run two to four gallons through the dispenser to purge air and carbon fines. Reset the filter indicator light.
When to do it
There is no season for this one. What matters is the interval, which is exactly the kind of thing that quietly slips when you are tracking it in your head.
HomeAlmanac schedules this one for you, works out the next due date each time you mark it done, and reminds you before it is late.
Build your free planQuick answers
- How often should you change a refrigerator water filter?
- Change the refrigerator water filter every 6 months, or sooner if the flow slows or the taste changes.
- Why does it matter?
- A spent filter stops removing chlorine, sediment, and lead, and a clogged one strains the water line and slows the ice maker. Filters are cheap, and both the taste and the appliance suffer when one is left in too long.
- What happens if I skip it?
- Nothing, right up until it is expensive. These jobs are cheap and quick precisely because they are preventive; the repair they prevent is neither.