The Answer: How often to really change filter
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2024 | Rating: 5/5 | Best Sellers in Tools & Home Improvement
first off this filter is great  it does exactly what its supposed to and does it well for quite a while  a couple of questions always come up around these things and i will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge as an engineer and what i do for my family to keep them safe but always do your own research because its your waterprotips qaq when my light turns on in the refrigerator that says change filter is the filter really worn out vs they just want me to buy a new one like a subscription servicea the answer to this is a frustrating it depends  some refrigerators just turn on the light every x amount of hours of run time usually around 4380 six months  others measure how many gallons of water you have used and then turn on the light usually around 200250 gallons but i have never seen one that measures only gallons  some really new ones measure flow rate as a third indicator and when the flow changes by a certain percent it might trigger a filter change light because the computer assume that the filter is not doing its job any longerthere may be a rating printed right on the filter to check how many gallons its good for  most newish models fridges in the last 1015 years watch both hours and gallons and turn on the light whatever is happens first 6 months or 200 gallons  the newest watch flow gallons and time and will act accordingly  i have one newer fridge that will turn on the light within a month if you use a cheap knock off  i dont use this fridge for water or ice so it doesnt matter but the flow of the knockoffs is effected such that the fridge believes that it isnt getting filtered properly and with these cheap knockoffs its probably right so i went back to oem even on that fridge and i just change it once per year and im done with it  safety first even if i dont plan to use itq so if i am not using 200 gallons do i need to replace it every six monthsa the answer is again it depends  here is where it gets tricky  how bad is the water coming in and how much sediment and other things are you filtering out  in other words how hard are you working the filter  the carbon in the filter only has so much capacity to absorb stuff  at some point it becomes less effective and the water just passes through without being filtered because the carbon is saturated and cant handle any morethe way i figured out what was right for me was i checked my water with those water check strips you can get here on amazon and i figured out exactly how bad the water was and what was in it  then i figured out how that compared to the average water across the us domestic market epa numbers and i figured out my water was somewhat cleaner than then average but also on the hard side  this gives you your base to know around how much the filter will likely absorb  if you figure the manufacturer assumes 200 gallons of average water and you can adjust if yours is above or below average  i figured in my case these oem filters were in fact good for around 268 gallons without an issue assuming they were in fact honest and 200 gallons was the right starting point slight leap of faith there  that was a 30 increase beyond the recommended number  using up my box of test strips basically proved it out although i figure around 250 gallons or so it would start to show less effectivefor the refrigerator that this particular filter is going into its not seeing 200 gallons in a year  remember include ice creation in your water calculation  therefore for me and this refrigerator vs my others i could get away with replacing the filter only once per yearq  why not go over a year and wait until 200 gallonsa  well that is because it is possible that bacteria can grow in the carbon and get transferred to the water  this is unlikely but possible and as the bacteria take up space itself very little you can make the filter less effective and less safe so i change it at least once a year just to be safe  the carbon in a solid state like in these filters does not break down when exposed to water so i dont have to calculator thatq  why not use a cheaper knockoff filter at half the price and replace it twice as often or at a 14 the price and replace it twice as often saving lots of money  well for me i dont trust what these knockoff filters claim  some of the claims are so outrageous i am surprised they dont claim it cures cancer  you find these on the chinese knockoffs in particular  avoid these at all costs  some of the more reputable filter replacements are probably ok but they might skimp on carbon or have wider channels so there is less carbon use a different density carbon etc that may make them cheaper but less effective  the only way to tell for sure is to take water measurements and then cut the filter open to see for yourself across samples taken over a 6 month period  that is a heck of a lot of work when i know that i am replacing them at the right interval plus i know for sure the oem manufacturer doesnt want to get sued or take a reputational risk so their specs are likely correct  i want to keep my family safe so i just go with the oem version and make my calculationsremember you are drinking this  either in frozen ice form or liquid form  your family your children your guests friends relatives drink this  spend a little extra money to get a filter you know works and will be safe for your familyi hope you found this helpful