I have a fridge that dispenses water and ice through the door - no big deal.

There is a filter life meter that counts down to 0% - presumably filter life by volume of water used.

The filter box says it has a capacity for 240 gallons. It also says to flush 8 gallons when replacing the filter before using the water.

As I flushed the 8 gallons (using a factory filter - Whirlpool/Drop/Pur), the filter meter went down 1%. 8 gallons = 1% = life of filter is 30%, right?

So, I'm confused - I thought the fridge manual said I should replace the filter around 15% but the filter capacity is suggesting I should be replacing the filter at 70%.

Is this the same for you guys? What do you do?

Wait until the red light tells me to change it. Put in the new one and flush the first two gallons.

With charcoal filters, I soak for about 15 minutes, then run water through for about 15 seconds, or until it is clear, then install it.

Then I use a filter until I there is an obvious taste that I find unpleasant. (typically the chlorine)

I'll use a filter beyond the "date/percentage" recommended.

My forebears (foremonkeys?) drank from Bearshit Creek. We made it this far.

Somewhere your numbers are off. But if 8 gallons is one percent of filter life then the filter would theoretically have an 800 gallon usage. However there is probably an algorithm where the filter loses life faster towards the end as it gets more and more clog.

If it’s all even then 1 gallon is 3.33% of 240 gallon life.

Okay - go by what the fridge tells you to do. That's what I've been doing but not sure why the fridge and the filter instructions are not consistent.

When the light comes on I "tell" my wife I replaced the filter. I hit the reset button and will change the filter on the next light. The wife has never noticed any difference.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
Somewhere your numbers are off. But if 8 gallons is one percent of filter life then the filter would theoretically have an 800 gallon usage. However there is probably an algorithm where the filter loses life faster towards the end as it gets more and more clog.

If it’s all even then 1 gallon is 3.33% of 240 gallon life.

Yea, if 8 gallon = 1%, then by the fridge meter, if I use 100% then 800 gallons will have been used. But the filter says it only has a capacity for 240 gallons (or 70% as the fridge meter would indicate).

Yea, if I flushed 8 gallons, then I should have seen the fridge meter come down by 3%.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
When the light comes on I "tell" my wife I replaced the filter. I hit the reset button and will change the filter on the next light. The wife has never noticed any difference.

You and me! Brothers of a different Mother.

Those filters can far exceed the expected life, depending on your water source. If you are lucky enough to have sediment free water, they will need to “filter” less and go longer. I’m on a VERY deep well that the only detriment is calcium from the limestone bedrock. At a depth of 420’, the pump pushes the cleanest, most sterile, odor free water you’ve ever tasted. Even unfiltered it is clear as crystal and delicious.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
When the light comes on I "tell" my wife I replaced the filter. I hit the reset button and will change the filter on the next light. The wife has never noticed any difference.

You and me! Brothers of a different Mother.

I did that for years until I got up one morning and there was around a quarter inch of water on the kitchen floor.

Seems the filter kind of let go because I used it too long.

Now I change it when the red light tells me to and I turn off the water to it when I go on vacation.

So one of the Dirty Little Secrets of the appliance industry about filter lights. they mean nothing, zero, zilch

The filter indicator is actuated by the board measuring the number of times the interior lights come on. When the door opens, the board reads the voltage and there is an algorithm for the number of door openings equal 6 months. It has zero to do with usage.

My recommendation is date your filter with a sharpie when you replace it, reset the indicator when it comes up and replace either when you notice taste or odor in the water, the flow slows down noticeably or a period of one year.

I also only recommend OEM filters.

Thanx Brad for the info. I let my filter go for "3 red lights"(I reset it each time). My ice cubes started being 1/2 size and a taste appeared in the water. Now my "red Light" comes on approx. once a year, and I change it.

I reset the light with a few pushes of the door-close button whenever it turns red. I replace the filter when the water flow starts to slow down, indicating that the filter is "full".

It's just a timer or door open/close counter. Nothing to do with the actual filter itself. This is the same as "cabin air filter" changes on cars where they want you to pay $50-$75 every oil change for a $10 filter that takes 5 minutes to replace. If the A/C airflow in your car is OK, the cabin filter is fine.

I always wanted to know how effective they are vs Bottled 5 gallon water.

I recently put in a whole house filtering system combined with a water softener. I've wondered what the impact will be on my refer filter. I'm considering resetting the warning light a time or two. What say you.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
When the light comes on I "tell" my wife I replaced the filter. I hit the reset button and will change the filter on the next light. The wife has never noticed any difference.

WINNER!

The fridge meter I have is not just a red/green light but a number (percentage of filter life left presumably). Seems to be related to usage. For example: w/o opening/closing doors, only extracting 8 gallons of water, the percentage went down by 1%.

Based on the above:
1. the fridge gauges are not to be trusted
2. filters can generally last much longer than indicated, especially if the water is relatively clean (our water is pretty clean).
3. Even with low usage, replace the filter when old (1 year).

I'll check to see if flow slows over time but it's painfully slow already (90 seconds to fill a 2 liter pitcher). My sense of taste/smell may not be good enough to tell if the filter is getting bad unless the change is extreme.

I rarely use the water through the dispenser.

Even at that the replace light comes on after a few months regardless.

I replace when someone gets an off taste

I put in a decent external carbon filter on the water line to the fridge. I just replace the carbon filter every six months which costs about €5 and reset the alarm every time it comes up. Those little filters are about €25 for my top end Siemens fridge.

Got thinking about the comments about how the filter life is predicated on how many times you open the door, so I checked the purchase dates of my filters.

The last 2 pack I bought was 13 months from the prior purchase and the one before that was almost exactly 1 year and I purchase on the first day I get a "order filter" notice on the refrigerator display

So it looks like either it's actually looking at time or we are extremely consistent in how many times we open/close the door.