Refrigerator filters - is there some sort of trick to this?

[Jake M]

What would I do? 20 years ago, I had a similar "thing" with a factory fridge filter and a box store "will fit" filter designed to replace it.

1, put the old filter back in, see if it leaks. If it still leaks, something happened to the seals in the fridge. If it does not leak, leave it be for long enough to acquire ONE factory original filter.
1a, aliva mentioned that fridge "might" have a bypass plug. If that's the case, install it and see if it leaks. If it still leaks, something happened to the seals in the fridge. If it does not leak, leave it there indefinitely.

2, assuming that your factory filter, or the plug fixes the leak, take the opportunity to not panic, but dig around to see what you can pick up locally for a stand alone filter housing to mount in the supply line. Make sure it's local, not "discount" quality, and the supplier is one that'll be around for a while. The first clue will be that the shelves of filters will be heavily populated with the most common filters that they sell. Don't even talk to a sales critter until you have that bit of information. After you have that information, they might talk you out of it... That's fine if they've got a good case for quality or some other thing you want or need, but make sure you're NOT buying the filter setup that they only keep one filter in stock for... Low volume items go away quick.

So... If you did have to install a brand new factory filter, by putting a (reasonable) quality stand alone filter ahead of it, that one filter in the fridge will outlast the fridge. It becomes zero maintenance. The first filter in line does the dirty work. Fifteen years out of one fridge filter (it outlasted the fridge), and five years in on the new fridge, I am quite happy with my decision to run a "primary" filter externally. Up to and including less than one minute, no "unloading the fridge", mess free filter change.

.02

 

[WobblyHand]

It came in a Frigidaire box, it is marked as a Frigidaire part. It's not a no name part. Of course, it could be counterfeit.

 

[mmcmdl]

Inline is the way to go , no question about it . Hard to believe how many filters we have in at work to make more filters . Kind of like buying tools to make more tools .

 

[ChazzC]

Here's a picture of the o-ring seals.

Double seal for the inner seal and single seal for the outer.
View attachment 424862

I’m not 100% certain, but I “think” that the O-rings on my Whirlpool are on the filter, not the receptacle, which makes more sense: maybe Frigidaire does this as planned obsolescence? I only replace the OEM filter every couple of years since I have an external filter ahead of the refrigerator.

 

[great white]

It came in a Frigidaire box, it is marked as a Frigidaire part. It's not a no name part. Of course, it could be counterfeit.

Still, ebay……doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I’ve known people to order things like clothes off ebay and a couple days later their kids felt kind of “sick”. Turns out the material the clothes were made of were off gassing all kinds of nasty chems.

Things like tools and such I don’t worry about (other than they might be made of chocolate), but anything I’m going to wear and consume are off limits ebay purchases for us. Truthfully, those type of items are “off-limits” for us for any online purchases.

As I previously stated: YMMV…..

 

[WobblyHand]

Our old fridge used filters that had the o-rings on the filter.

Eventually I will put in a big filter before the fridge, in a place that is easy to access. Right now the supply is teed off (with a valve) nearly overhead of my lathe. The downside of 10lbs of stuff in a 1lb box (house).

 

[WobblyHand]

@great white you have me there with eBay. I haven't done that bad with them, but you do have to watch out for things. Apparently, this is one of those things.

 

[mksj]

It would seem that the O rings have gone, normally I would recommend some high viscosity silicone grease on the O-rings, as this can help for minor drips. O-rings stiffen and flatten with time, it is also possible something cracked or the filter is just slightly different than OEM. I have a Viking fridge that came with the house, the replacement water filters were over $100 each, since I already have a larger supply filter I just bypassed the water filter in the fridge. Viking made slight changes to the filter mount so that only the OEM will work, despit what eBay vendors quote it will fit. If it were up to me, I would never get a Viking appliance, reliability has been horrible.

 

[WobblyHand]

Well, just now I got a full refund from eBay for these defective filters. Now to find some real ones. And I do have to get a much larger one to put in front of it - that's the only way to make them last.

 

[great white]

Put in a whole house filter. But find one that is professionally installed.

We put in one of the 5 foot tall sand/media filters. Cleans itself (will backwash itself when needed) and keeps sediment and whatnot out of the water supply. We also have one of the large “rainfresh“ fitters in front of it to do the course filtering.

We’re on well water so it might be a little different if you’re on municipal water…