If it meant just every 500 gallons, then it would say to change the filter every 500 gallons -- period. That is, it would leave out the "or every six months" part, unless that part actually mattered somehow. Sort of like changing your car's oil.

How might every six months matter? I have no idea, but it might have to do with potential growth of bacteria in those little lines from stagnant water not being used all winter. FWIW, replacement filters are cheaper online.

On the other hand maybe its just the lawyers, and everything will be fine...

All the the water plumbing inside the unit isn't necessarily stagnant. Water filling to the ice maker also runs through the filter.

The filter light on my GE Arctica SxS apparently triggers on a 12-month cycle, even though the recommendation is change every 6 months or X number of gallons. I do it yearly per the light, just so it gets changed at least that often. I don't use much water dispensing or ice.

Yeah, that makes sense, chac_mool, but I was wanting to hear what others might do, like dadoes. I'm thinking I'll probably stretch it to once a year, too.

Thanks.

Our Jenn-air lites up change filter once / year and that's how often I change it, but it has icmaker only, No water.

The alarm goes off every 6 months and will continue to do so whether any water is used or not. It is just a 6 month timer, there is no other logic involved in the circuit. So I would just reset it if you feel comfortable that the filter is still good and you are not experiencing symptoms indicative of a plugged filter (impeded flow or taste/odor issues.)

mojavean is right. It's just a simple 6 month timer. My Samsung timer lit up last month. I just reset it and will change the filter next time around unless symptoms appear earlier.

I'm digging out the instruction booklet right now to see how to reset the timer. I'll do this once each time before changing the filter (unless "symptoms" appear) for 1/yr filter change.

Thanks everyone. LOL--I guess I just need "permission".

Live & Learn. The change the water filter light has yet to come on. We got our KE FD through the door ice maker made by LG on March 12. On Aug. 30 the ice maker stopped. I called & scheduled a service call. I was told that I need to make sure the ice bucket was in the machine correctly-it was, The temp. needed to be no lower than 2 degrees-from 0 to 2 I set it, & finally change the water filter. I ran out with the part number in hand to find the water filter. Got it & installed it. And the last thing was to run 3 gallons of water through the new filter. Sure enough after 2 hours the first load of ice dumped. 5 minutes later I cancelled the service call. So I guess when the light comes on in two weeks, I'll chat to the techs to learn how to reset the 6 month reminder.

A lot could depend on your water hardness too, nhardy's filter clogged in 5 months. Our old fridge did not have a built in filter so I installed an InstaPure inline filter ($10 at the local lumber yard)in the furnace room where it is easy to get to. I change it once a year as our water is dead soft. Some Ahole stole the water filter cartrage out of ot new KA FD that we bought from Sears. It's been a month and Sears has not sent a replacment yes as promised. There was a bypass cap in place so I just continued to use the one I installed. At almost $45 a pop for the correct filter from Sears I will probbably coutinue to use the inline filter I installed.

Filter media are fairly ideal for bacterial and fungal growth, depending on the water. If one plumbs city water well dosed with chloramines, the growth may be minimal. RO system water will have very low quantities of nutrients for growth, but has no way to kill any that grow. The jury is still out on fracking fluid. (There was someone who recently drank some, I recall.) The 6 mos rule may be intended to handle average or worst case growth conditions.

So, if there is a filter, it should be regularly changed. If you are plumbing RO water, the filter can and probably should be removed.

kas

IMHO, the 6 month rule is meant to be a revenue stream, and that is all.

Have you considered plumbing your filtered water to the fridge as well? Our last house we had the RO system connected to a sink tap and to the fridge water/ice so the fridge filter was removed. In our current house, we have our RO system connected directly to the fridge water/ice but don't have a sink tap, and fridge filter also removed.

I'm hoping this fridge is smart enough to not bother with the filter change reminder when there isn't a filter installed; our last fridge wasn't that smart.

OK, I'll be the first to admit that I don't worry about it. Had this frig for 6.5 years and changed the filter ONCE a couple years ago.

I change brita filters when it takes forever for water to run thru, ~5-6 months.

"IMHO, the 6 month rule is meant to be a revenue stream, and that is all."

Your opinion is idiocy.

It "depends" on all kinds of things....most of which Joe and Sally Average will be utterly ignorant of. Ref. filters are all waaaay at lower end of efficiency no matter how you slice it. Basically included in the machines as a point-of-sale add-on. They are small and inefficient at best.

Six months? Oh, yeah! How about more like three? Or two? Or forget it entirely? It all depends on water quality going in....which one customer in 100 has any idea of.

For the most part, these are illusions provided to sell more machines. Talk to anyone who knows anything about water and water filtration.

"Six months? Oh, yeah! How about more like three? Or two? Or forget it entirely? It all depends on water quality going in....which one customer in 100 has any idea of. "

I'll stick with my "idiocy". 6 months is overkill for most of us. If it isn't, something should be done about all of one's water, not just that going to the refrigerator.
If the filtered water and ice from the refrigerator doesn't taste the same as it did the 2nd week after replacement, you might want to replace the filter, assuming you care about that at all.

We agree....except you said it much better than I did.

If one has lousy-tasting water supply, why would one choose the fridge as the place to treat it?

Lexington KY city water. Medium hard water. I have a WP side by side and the change filter indicator comes on. We always drink water from the fridge & ice.....but do not use 400 gallons in six months (just two of us) and when the light comes on to change, I NEVER notice any reduction in water flow or taste.......But I have always changed it anyway.

I will say this! I have used the WP OEM filters and PUR filters and once I bought a cheap generic Aqua Fresh brand filter. That Aqua Fresh filter didn't work NEARLY as good as the PUR or OEM WP filter. You could still taste chlorine in the water.

So two questions:

Since I'm on city water that is chlorinated AND there is no reduction in taste or water flow, should I leave it in another six months or should I change it? I've YET to see a clogged filter or reduction in water flow since I've been using the fridge filters.

I ended up letting mine go past a year--never noticed anything different about it, so I'll stick with the 1-yr schedule. I think unless you notice something obvious about the filter (water slows to a trickle or it starts tasting differently, etc.), when you change it is up to you.

If you are not going to replace the refrigerator filter every six months, remove it entirely. The six month replacement schedule is NOT just a revenue stream - it is there for your safety.

While US public drinking water is safe to drink, that is only due to residual chlorine or chloramines in the water which are there to kill bacteria. In stagnant water situations, such as that in your refrigerator's water system, bacteria can thrive, particularly when provided with convenient places to stick, like a spent filter. The filter in a refrigerator is there primarily to potentially improve the taste of water - it is not a safety device and actually decreases water safety if left in place too long. As with any carbon filter, they should be replaced every six months. A year is pushing your luck.

You are, of course, free to make your own decisions regarding your own health, but kindly stop giving other people bad advice that could be detrimental to theirs.

"In stagnant water situations, such as that in your refrigerator's water system, bacteria can thrive......"

Well, OK. However, I've been running RO water into two fridges for almost twenty years with no issues. That would be "stagnant" water in those systems. The same "stagnant water" that sits in the RO holding-tank -- and various filters -- before dispensing. The same "stagnant" water that sits in everyone else's holding-tanks before they dispense. Their numbers are in the the hundreds of thousands.

I am not excited. You are free to be if you wish.

RO water is an entirely different animal from city water, as you are well aware, asolo.

Cue rimshot in 3, 2, 1 ...

@aliceinwonderland......RO water is a sterile medium....a "stagnant" medium....which I thought is what you were talking about. City water is a disinfected medium which, after the disinfectant -- chlorine -- is removed via filtration, becomes a similar sterile medium.

I'm willing to be educated. Tell me the difference.

RO water, even in the presence of bacteria is less likely to become contaminated because it provides a hostile environment for the bacteria - it is so clean bacteria fail to thrive in it.

City water, on the other hand is just full of lovely nutrients for the bacteria. It is not, in fact sterile. It simply has enough residual chlorine or chloramine to kill and discourage bacterial growth. However, chlorine, in a form capable of killing, gets used up quickly and then ceases do anything. Chloramines, once they break down (when allowed to sit long enough), actually provide nutrients to bacteria.

The activated carbon in the filter in a refrigerator is highly porous and, once depleted (by adsorbing chlorine and other water contaminants) is like a high-rise apartment buildings for bacteria. Will they all be life-threatening? Of course not. But, neither are they entirely benign either. Certainly there is little need get excited about it, but neither is it responsible to tell people there is nothing to worry about.

Thank you. Learned something.

There are pores throughout the water supply machine. Replace your filter, there are still plenty of places for algal accumulation. Compression fittings, valves, elbows and joints, tank walls, pipe linings, on and on, each with their own unique patterns of nooks and crannies, all are exposed to standing water for indefinite periods. If you are just running the first glass after sitting a long time, is it a bad idea to let the water run for a little while? No. Every drop of water coming out of the faucet has been sitting in a pipe at a standstill since the last time somebody opened a tap on that line.

But does not doing so present a measurable danger to human life or health under ordinary circumstances? Does slavishly obeying a self-interested manufacturer's desire to sell you a new filter at 1000% markup really offer you a discernable payback in terms of safety? Wouldn't it be even safer then at 5 months? 4? 3?

What is so noble about changing a $60 filter out based not upon condition of obstruction, volumetric maximum, or water source variables, but on a stupid clock?

Look, if you have ANY study to establish that even the slightest danger to human health is presented by blowing off the manufacturer's new filter "get-well-on-the-bottom-line" light then post and I will unconditionally retract. But I would like a little science to go with my panic.