harold balls wrote:
Yellow all,
Wonder if anyone had the same experience. I have a sears
side by side refrigerator I bought about three years ago. Paid around
$1200 to $1300 for it. It works good but I don't understand the water
filtration system thats on this unit. It has the filter at the bottom
behind the grill. When you open the refrig. door , it has a bank of
led's towards the top. One of them says its time to change the water
filter. This happens about every six months. I just hit reset and it
goes back to "good". I know this is nothing more than a programed chip
telling that light to come on every six months. Here is what i don't
get. I can take the water filter completely out of the unit and the
water dispenser still works! and it does not leak in the recepticle
the filter came out of. Now how in the hell is this filter, filtering
any water? From my experience, When A water filter starts to "go bad"
you will notice a decrease in flow the worst it gets. I've had the
same filter in since I bought it and have not notice any reducing in
flow or any difference in taste. (Sears wants about $40 for anew
filter, but I see you can get them on the web for about $25.) I called
Sears up one time to question them about this, and the lady said all
she can do is send someone out on a service call to look at it. (which
I would have to pay for). I've been waiting to run into a service guy
out and about to cross examine him about this, but haven't run into
any yet.) BTW( i have city water, which the taste issue wouldn't be as
noticable probably). Has anyone else who has a sears side by side with
a water filter noticed or experienced this situation? Water filter
replacement is a big business. Thanks for any input!!

I have one of those refrigerators. The filters do work. I can taste
the difference. If I am not mistaken, your refrigerator is a Kenmore
branded Whirlpool. You can get the filters at either Lowes or Home
Depot with the Whirlpool brand and they are a little cheaper. I can't
remember which store has them but one of them doesn't.

As far as things still working with the filter removed... there is
obviously some kind of bypass valve in there.

And as far as the life of your filter... they are probably charcoal
filters and they eventually reach their lifetime. Or, they can build up
bacteria or whatever else. Do you really want to drink water that goes
through a filter full of crud? Even if it doesn't clog up, you should
still replace them periodically.