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How do you replace a refrigerator water filter?

Updated August 2026

5–10 minutes · Easy DIY

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Swapping a refrigerator water filter is a 5 to 10 minute job with no tools, and the schedule is every 6 months, sooner if the indicator lights up or the dispenser slows to a trickle. Almost every cartridge does one of three things: a quarter turn in the base grille, a quarter turn in the upper-right corner inside the fresh-food compartment, or a push-button eject behind a small door. The step people skip is the flush afterward, and it is the one that keeps loose carbon out of your glass.

What you need

Before you start: The failure mode here is water, not injury. Cartridges that are cocked, cross-seated, or forced past their stop crack the plastic housing, and a housing that weeps behind a refrigerator can soak a subfloor for weeks before anyone notices, so put a hand under the joint 10 minutes after installing and again the next morning. Buy filters certified to NSF/ANSI 42 and 53. Uncertified copies use undersized O-rings that blow out under normal 40 to 80 psi household pressure, and some do not actually filter anything.

Steps

  1. Read the model number off the sticker inside the fresh-food compartment, usually on the wall near the crisper or along the door frame, and match the filter part number to it. Filters are not cross-compatible between brands or even between model years.
  2. Find the housing: base grille at the bottom front, upper-right interior corner, or a hinged door on the back wall. Push-in cartridges have a small eject button rather than a grip.
  3. Lay the towel underneath. There is no need to shut off the house water, because the housing has an internal shutoff, and a few ounces is all that escapes.
  4. Turn the old cartridge a quarter turn counterclockwise and pull it straight out, or press the eject button and let it pop free. If it will not budge, you are turning the wrong way.
  5. Pull the caps off the new filter, line up the tab with the slot, push it in, and turn a quarter turn clockwise until it stops firmly. It should feel positively seated, not springy.
  6. Flush 2 to 4 gallons through the dispenser in short bursts, roughly 3 to 5 minutes of running. The water sputters and may run gray at first; that is trapped air and carbon fines, and it clears.
  7. Reset the indicator, usually by holding the filter or reset pad for 3 seconds until the light turns from red to blue or green.
  8. Dump the first 2 or 3 batches of ice, then check the housing for drips 10 minutes later and write the install date on the filter body with a marker.

Or hire it out

An appliance tech will do it during a $100–180 service call plus the cartridge, which is a lot of money for a quarter turn. The only version worth hiring out is an inline filter plumbed behind the fridge, where a plumber charges $150–250 to install the head and shutoff once.

Done. Now the part everyone skips: doing it again on schedule. Log it in OnOtto and the next reminder for fridge filter changes sets itself.

Log this task, get the next reminder

Frequently asked questions

We barely use the dispenser. Do I still change it every 6 months?

Yes. A carbon block filter degrades on a timeline, not just on volume: the media channels, and water that sits in a saturated cartridge for weeks gives bacteria a place to grow. Manufacturers rate these for 6 months or roughly 200 to 300 gallons, whichever lands first, and light users always hit the calendar first. If nobody drinks from it at all, fit the bypass plug and stop buying cartridges.

Are aftermarket filters safe, or do I need the brand one?

Aftermarket is fine when it is certified to NSF/ANSI 42 (taste and chlorine) and 53 (lead, cysts, and similar), which the listing will state with a certifying body named. Those run $15–25 against $30–50 for the manufacturer cartridge. What you want to avoid is the $8 three-pack with no certification, generic packaging, and a claim to fit 40 models. Those leak, restrict flow, and filter mostly on the label.

Can I run the refrigerator with no filter at all?

Usually yes, with the bypass plug that shipped with the unit. It fills the housing and completes the water path so the dispenser and ice maker keep working with unfiltered supply water. Without either the filter or the plug, most models simply stop dispensing. Replacement bypass plugs cost $10–20 if yours vanished during the move.

Flow is weak and the dispenser sputters after the swap.

Run another gallon through. Air trapped in the new cartridge is the usual cause and it clears with volume, not time. If the trickle stays after 2 or 3 gallons, pull the filter and reseat it, since a cartridge one notch short of locked restricts the port. A weak stream with the bypass plug in points upstream instead: a partly closed saddle valve or a kinked supply line behind the refrigerator.

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