The Water Filter, The Ice Maker, And The Tray Underneath

The filter nobody knows about

If the fridge has a water or ice dispenser, it has a filter, usually behind a small door in the top right of the fridge compartment or in the grille at the bottom front. Most manufacturers suggest replacing it around every six months, and the manual for your model will say.

In a rental the practical question is who pays. It is worth asking in writing at move-in rather than assuming, because it is small enough to be unclear and it recurs. Many buildings treat it as a consumable like a light bulb and expect the resident to handle it, others supply them, and the difference is worth knowing before the water starts tasting off.

If nobody has changed it in years

• Find the model number of the fridge, which is usually on a sticker inside the compartment or on the door frame.
• Match the filter to that model rather than to the shape, since several look similar and only one fits.
• Note the date on the new filter with a marker, or in your phone, since nothing else will remind you.
• Run several litres through the dispenser after fitting, until the water runs clear, which is normal for a new filter.
• Reset the filter indicator light if the fridge has one, usually by holding a button for a few seconds.

If the fridge has a dispenser and the filter housing is empty or has a bypass plug fitted, the water is simply unfiltered. That is not a fault, and it is worth knowing rather than assuming you are drinking filtered water.

Why the ice tastes like the freezer

Ice absorbs whatever is in the air around it. In a freezer that has held open food, or in a bin where the ice has been sitting for months because you rarely use it, that means the ice picks up the freezer.

The fix is straightforward: empty the bin completely, wash it in the sink with warm soapy water, dry it fully, and put it back. Then discard the first full batch the machine makes. If the taste returns within days, the cause is uncovered food in the freezer rather than the machine.

The bin and the mechanism

• Lift the bin out rather than reaching into it, since the auger at the back turns.
• Break up any clumped ice, which usually means the bin has partly melted and refrozen and is worth emptying anyway.
• Wipe the chute where the ice comes through, which collects a film.
• Check for a stuck ice cube in the auger if the dispenser stops working, which is the most common cause and is not a repair.
• Never use a knife or anything metal in the mechanism.

The drip tray at the bottom of the dispenser

The small grille under the water spout lifts out on most models, and underneath it is a tray that collects everything that dripped. In a fridge nobody has looked into, that tray holds a chalky mineral crust and sometimes standing water.

It washes in the sink and takes two minutes. Worth doing at move-in and then a few times a year, because it is directly under where your glass goes.

When it is maintenance instead

Water pooling under or behind the fridge, a line that drips at the connection, an ice maker that fills with water but never releases, or a dispenser that has stopped entirely are repairs rather than cleaning. So is a filter housing that leaks after a new filter is fitted.

Report those in writing with the date, and mention water specifically, since a slow leak behind a fridge reaches the floor structure long before anyone sees it.

The rest of the fridge, including the coils, seals, and drip pan underneath, is covered in the guide to the parts of a fridge nobody cleans, and both sets are inside deep apartment cleaning.