Water filters on refrigerators

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johnnycnc

johnnycnc

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Joined
Feb 27, 2006
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Location
columbus, IN, USA.
Ok, we have a fridge with water filter, canister type, that you
just pop out and replace at the bottom of the front panel.
No probelem, right?
Well, we just replaced ours for the first time. (Went to the store..the price at 40 bucks made me cringe, but it needed it badly. I'll be shopping online for the next one).
It was pure pandomonium, friends. The replacement went fine, it was when I put a small glass to the water dispenser, and filled it that things went into crisis mode very quickly!:curse:
The water WOULD NOT STOP and quickly began spewing everywhere.
I had thought to myself while the glass was filling rapidly,..hmmm, this new filter sure is flowing free, lots better water volume coming out now.. Well, after having a quart or more spill on the floor, we got a bowl edge under the Niagra and I had presence of mind enough to pop the filter back out since it had the water supply in control, and was handy to get to.
I was screaming orders to wife and son, bowl! towels! (I held the bad words, thank you).:rolleyes:

Well, for those who do this for the first time.. be prepared, unlike myself.
Perhaps your time will be better. But let me tell you, this was the most
excitement I've had in a while. Heartburn kicked in rapidly!!

We put the filter back in and with towels on the floor, and a bowl under the
Rio Grande outlet, and tried again. Hmm..not much water, must have air in the lines.. Well, got it going alright, it was normal after the air purged out.
What the..?? Then it occured to me. The new canister was FULL OF AIR.
That air apparently was looking for a way out, and when I pushed that teeny little water bar the first time..here it was pushing the water in the line OUT.
I was ready to page Noah, friend. It was a fine means of family entertainment
and an opportunity for teamwork, no doubt, but I believe we'll pass on the
fun next time since we will be prepared.
Gotta go change now..
 
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John same thing happened to me first time i changed mine. Now i have several pitchers handy when i start a new one back up. Bet the old horrible flood scene popped up in your mind!
 
sparhawk said:
John same thing happened to me first time i changed mine. Now i have several pitchers handy when i start a new one back up. Bet the old horrible flood scene popped up in your mind!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear I'm not the only one, it freaked me out!!
And yes, water in the floor did cause a minor flashback..:hypnotized::biggrin:
 
Great ....the red light is on and the wife picked up a fresh filter the other day....Maybe I'll go to wotk and let her do it. What brand frides are we wotking on...We have a Kenmore and I don't recall an issue last time around...
 
How often are you suppose to replace those things? I have a feeling mine's been in a bit too long, but I don't want to say how long. :rolleyes:
 
we've got one of those large rectangular(fits on a shelf in the fridge) filter pitcher things you fill manually, it uses what I assume to be a similar filter to the fridge (other than the size/pressure thing). I assume it would be about the same amount of time to replace. I remember reading something like 3-5months or so. Also I'm not sure how it works with fridge filters but ours also said to soak it for a few minutes then something about not drinking the first bit of water that comes out (it has carbon dust in it). I don't think its harmful they just recommend not to drink it, but instead pour it on the plants.
 
Oh, the advantages of being ignorant of mechanical things (and hydrolics) - - and reading the instructions! :biggrin: Ours (in my home in the States) needed changing last spring just before we got there for a couple of weeks vacation. My middle daughter purchased one, read the instructions and installed it - it went well. HOWEVER, If it had been me . . . I probably would have experienced the same! :eek: :rolleyes: :biggrin:
 
Mr Vic said:
Great ....the red light is on and the wife picked up a fresh filter the other day....Maybe I'll go to wotk and let her do it. What brand frides are we wotking on...We have a Kenmore and I don't recall an issue last time around...
Click to expand...


Ours is a Whirpool..It is an easy job, but if things went ok for you last time,
maybe no problem this time.
My wife would have turned into a gremlin if this happened to her, with me at work..:rotfl:
 
Wheaties said:
How often are you suppose to replace those things? I have a feeling mine's been in a bit too long, but I don't want to say how long. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Ours says 6 months..that's 80 bucks a year if we got them at Menards.
Our 40.00 filter was 31.xx on Amazon I found it last night..with free shipping.

And..I cut the old one open on my metal bandsaw. Ain't much going on in there. basically a pressed charcoal looking tube about 1/4" thick walls.
I'm not entirely convinced on the effectiveness, or that they would need replaced more than maybe once a year.
One of the kids had played with our red light reset a while back anyway, and it was happily green. I don't think there is an active monitoring system,
probably an hour meter or timer? who knows.
 
SamThePenMan said:
we've got one of those large rectangular(fits on a shelf in the fridge) filter pitcher things you fill manually, it uses what I assume to be a similar filter to the fridge (other than the size/pressure thing). I assume it would be about the same amount of time to replace. I remember reading something like 3-5months or so. Also I'm not sure how it works with fridge filters but ours also said to soak it for a few minutes then something about not drinking the first bit of water that comes out (it has carbon dust in it). I don't think its harmful they just recommend not to drink it, but instead pour it on the plants.
Click to expand...

Sam,
I guess maybe submerging ours would fill it up, now that you mention all that..:biggrin:
 
leehljp said:
Oh, the advantages of being ignorant of mechanical things (and hydrolics) - - and reading the instructions! :biggrin: Ours (in my home in the States) needed changing last spring just before we got there for a couple of weeks vacation. My middle daughter purchased one, read the instructions and installed it - it went well. HOWEVER, If it had been me . . . I probably would have experienced the same! :eek: :rolleyes: :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Instructions.. what are those? I don't even know if ours had any!:rolleyes:
I know the fridge manual had little to nothing about the filters, let alone their replacement..
Good point, Hank. There may have been some instruction thingies with that filter.:redface::biggrin:
 
Wheaties said:
How often are you suppose to replace those things? I have a feeling mine's been in a bit too long, but I don't want to say how long. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
exact same thing here...red light's been on since before, ummm, a particular holiday a while back - not the Birthday one, or the turkey one......
 
I just change mine when the water in the door gets a little slower than I like I get about 2 years out of it with unfiltered well water. Mine is a side by side whirlpool and I didnt do anything other than pull it out and put in the new one....Perhaps I am lucky!!!
 
I have a culligan under the sink. Those filters inside the fridge are very expensive. There was no need filtering filtered water either, so the culligan man just unscrewed the one in the fridge and put in a bypass cup. If I remember right, the one in the fridge is supposed to be changed every month. The set up I have under the sink is an R/O unit and one filter is changed every year and the other is every two years, of which they keep track of that time frame for me so I don't do anything but pay them about $80 when they come out in a year and change my filter. I bought the unit, so there is no rental fee.
I have an iron machine in the basement too. I bought that years ago, because I have heavy iron that will turn everything in the house to rust. It's a slick machine, and I never have to do any maintance to it. It is just a big magnet with an air pump. When the well pump kicks on and brings in a fresh supply of water, the air pump automatically kicks on and airates the water. Pumping air into the water instantly turns the iron in the water into rust. The rust is instantly sucked onto the magnet. After a couple days, the magnet reverses itself and the unit flushes down the sewer. Best $1200 I ever spent..far as investing in the house. Best money ever spent at all was having laser surgery on my eyes.
 
John,

Same thing happened to me the first time. Then SHMBO suggested I read the instructions.:mad:

It said: "Allow water to fill new filter before drawing water through door." :frown:

Have not had the same problem since.

DANG!!! Who ever thinks about reading a freaking owners manual. :eek:

Let the water disipate the airspace in the filter. Then it does not sputter as bad.
 
johnnycnc said:
Ours says 6 months..that's 80 bucks a year if we got them at Menards.
Our 40.00 filter was 31.xx on Amazon I found it last night..with free shipping.

And..I cut the old one open on my metal bandsaw. Ain't much going on in there. basically a pressed charcoal looking tube about 1/4" thick walls.
I'm not entirely convinced on the effectiveness, or that they would need replaced more than maybe once a year.
One of the kids had played with our red light reset a while back anyway, and it was happily green. I don't think there is an active monitoring system,
probably an hour meter or timer? who knows.
Click to expand...

I'm such a procrastinator that I might get mine change once a year or maybe every couple of years if it requires much work.. we bought our 'fridge at Lowe's about 3 months after we moved in .. we moved in in October '05 and bought the fridge in Dec or Jan.... it took me about 2 1/2 - 3 years to get around to hooking up the ice maker... there's not water line near where the fridge sets, except under the house and all the pipes under the house are plastic, so I didn't want to tap into them because they leak... and I spend entirely too much time under this house fixing plumbing leaks.:mad:

When we re-did the master bath, I capped the old shower and finally tapped into the cold water line from that.. through the wall into the hot water closet, then through the wall into the kitchen... about 30 feet of plastic water line.... so if this thing needs a filter, it's long over due already and might get fixed this summer.... :wink:
 
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