Plastic taste in refrigerator filtered water dispenser (and ice)

[rkl01]

I purchased a Kenmore refrigerator 1 year ago. Both the water and ice have a plastic taste. I have replaced the filter (running at least 2-3 gallons out of the dispenser after changing it) at least 3 times in the past 8 months. It seems to taste fine for a few hours after changing the filter, then the plastic taste is back. My faucet water does not have this taste, so I know it has something to do with the refrigerator. I called Sears and they sent a technician who replaced

4 parts and said if that didn't fix the problem, there really was nothing else he could replace that could be causing the problem. After he replaced the parts and we again ran a couple gallons of water, it tasted fine. By the next morning the plastic taste was back - both ice and water.

I have called Sears again and they are sending the same technician back. Now it's up to him to see if he can taste the plastic taste in the water. If he can't, they're telling me I'm pretty much out of luck. If he can, he can call his manager and the manager has the authority to do something about the situation - even if that involves replacing the refrigerator.

I brought some of the water to work and had 6 people taste it. 4 out of the 6 noticed a definite bad after taste, though they didn't really pinpoint it to plastic. I guess if the service tech can't taste it I will have purchased a refrigerator with water and ice dispenser that I can't use. I can't stand the taste of the water and the ice ruins the taste of anything I put it in.

Any suggestions as to what else may be causing this? It uses a PUR filter.

[BobK207]

IMO the filter is not the issue, it's the plastic components in the system.

How much water / ice do you use on a daily basis? The more you use the sooner the plastic taste will leave.

Eventually the plastic taste will leave the system but it will take a long time.

What kind of plastic tube (hopefully copper) did they plumb the water to the fridge with?

cheers Bob

[Humble Tom]

Is the piping feeding the fridge's water supply plastic?

tom @

[VV]

[mm]

I'm just guessing, but if you can take the part(s) out, I'm wondering if sunlight or heat (not much, say 80 or 90 degrees) might speed up the disappearance of the smell. Perhaps water is something like an insulator when it comes to smell? I'm told fish and other sea creatures can smell, but that might not mean much.

Don't all these plastic things have solvents in them that keep the plastic flexible? When the last little bit of solvent is gone, is that when plastic becomes brittle? I've wondered about these things.

[Richard J Kinch]

You mean a plasticizer. No, not all, it depends on the species of plastic.

The cloudy stiff plastic tubing and reservoirs in the refrigerators are polyethylene, which does not use a plasticizer, and should not be a source of odor. Like milk cartons but heavier.

However, vinyl tubing, the soft, clear type, sometimes reinforced with woven fiber, contains a plasticizer, and often the stuff sold at Home Depot (etc.) is not for potable water, and will carry a strong chemical odor or taste from the plasticizer. Like a cheap garden hose.

[rkl01]

After another service call from Sears yesterday, the tech said it wouldn't help to replace the water tank because that is just for the water and I am also getting the same bad taste (plastic) in the ice. He said they had a meeting about a week ago and were told the Kenmore/Whirlpool refrigerators were having this problem and there is a different filter model that I needed. I kept the box from the one I purchased at Sears in December and showed it to him. He said that was the old one and the new one I needed was not in the stores yet - so one is supposed to be sent to me by Sears. The old filter I had was a PUR

9030 and this one is a Mfg # 4396841. He told me because these filters are mounted under the refrig, the heat around the plastic parts can cause the taste. So I'm guessing this other filter has a better casing or something to prevent this. BTW, we do have copper tubing from the water source to the refrig.

I won't receive the filter for about 8 days, but I'll try it. I'll post again with the results. Good luck.

[Y Agostinho]

replying to rkl01, Y Agostinho wrote: I don't know if you ever found an answer to your question, but the reason your ice/water tastes funny isn't the filter, but the water line splitter in the bottom rear of your refrigerator. Likely the solenoid inside has gone bad and it makes your water/ice taste funny. Find the model of your refrigerator and locate a replacement part either on the internet or through a local appliance store. They're usually less than $60 and it only takes about 1/2 an hour to change yourself. I ran about a gallon of water through my door and dumped the first few batches of ice and now both taste fine.

[Alfredo aguiar]

replying to rkl01, Alfredo aguiar wrote: Okay. I do not work for Home Depot. You just have not to loose, once you can take it back to store and have your money back, if what I'm telling you it's not true. So, that is what I did. First I got a Filter from LG (*EX$PENSIVE*) my fridge is LG, it taste like pure plastic, terrible, disgusting. My family was getting water from bottles, even having the dispenser at the fridge door, Ice? Not even thinking about. Plastic cubes. So I come to Home Depot and bet on their brand HDX, They have a generic HDX for any fridge official filter. Guess what? Half a price and the water don't taste nothing, anything, nada. Pure untasted water. As I said, just try. You'll thank me.

[Tony944]

replying to rkl01, Alfredo aguiar wrote: Okay. I do not work for Home Depot. You just have not to loose, once you can take it back to store and have your money back, if what I'm telling you it's not true. So, that is what I did. First I got a Filter from LG (*EX$PENSIVE*) my fridge is LG, it taste like pure plastic, terrible, disgusting. My family was getting water from bottles, even having the dispenser at the fridge door, Ice? Not even thinking about. Plastic cubes. So I come to Home Depot and bet on their brand HDX, They have a generic HDX for any fridge official filter. Guess what? Half a price and the water don't taste nothing, anything, nada. Pure untasted water. As I said, just try. You'll thank me.

[Alfredo aguiar]

Om my first filter, LG, I trow way several gallons of water, actually, after it do not work, a took away A LOT MORE than what the filter instructions recommend,

3 to 5 times more, the plastic taste just did not go away. On the HDX filter I did not get more the 3 gallons. I come here to report because I felt amazed. I got that filter just a try. I was really thinking to exchange the hole fridge interior tubes to cooper. Thanks I stop by Home Depot and got their filter. What taste like plastic is the filter, not the fridge. Or at list, the official filter don't take the taste out!!!

[Patricia Goffin]

replying to rkl01, Patricia Goffin wrote: My refrigerator water dispenser is doing the same thing. After a few mths its is now tasting like pastic. We even installed a water softener and still it tastes like plastic. Did they figure out the problem? Ive have NEVER had this problem and my water straiggt from the sink does not taste like that but the clorine is so strong we cant drink it from the facet. Back to buying water bottles. Waste of money and the enviroment suffers!!! Thank you!!!

[BOB]

replying to Y Agostinho, BOB wrote: I REPLACED , ON THE BOTTOM THAT SOLENOID / SPLITTER YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. STILL HAS BAD TASTE

[SUSIE SANCHEZ]

replying to Patricia Goffin, SUSIE SANCHEZ wrote: Not 2018 and I'm having the same problem. Did anyone figure it out???

[Jeff]

replying to rkl01, Jeff wrote: Hi most new refrigerators don't come with the filter installed. There is a bypass cartridge from the factory in the spot the filter goes in. It looks kinda like s filter. If you haven't removed this, that's where i would start.

[Rod GILLIS]

replying to rkl01, Rod GILLIS wrote: Same problem here. Purchased new Amana (Whirlpool) fridge with cold water / ice maker. Great for first year, then within 2 mts. after 1st filter change we noted plastic taste on water which over the next 3 months got so bad we couldn't drink the water. Extended warranty people arrived to fix problem. They put new filter in but plastic taste back next day. They returned a week later and said it was the feed line connecting to the back of fridge. I told them this was a new braided stainless steel line that was only 3 weeks old and couldn't be the problem. It appeared they wanted to blame the problem on anything except the fridge. They replaced the feed line, next day same plastic taste. Then they were going to replace all the plastic lines within the f ridge itself. We are still waiting for them to arrive for this repair. There is no problem in saying that the cause is inside the fridge. It is not the filter because we left it out (water/ice dispenser operates w/o filter) so water should taste like the town water supply, but it doesn't. We can drink town water but not after going thru fridge. We think the problem is the quality of the plastic tubing inside fridge. It appears to be stable for a year but then breaks down and imparts that plastic taste to the water. We figure that when they put in the new "kit" replacing all the plastic lines inside, it will last a year and the problem will return. I believe the company will have to use a higher quality of tubing that doesn't break down in the short term and start leaching plastic taste into the water going thru it.

[dragonsgmc]

I have the same plastic issue. The inside of the refrigerator smells of plastic. With the filter in, the ice and water have the taste and smell. However without the filter, it goes away in the ice and water, but the smell remains in the refrigerator. Have tried 3 different filter brands with the same results.

[drewU2]

Hi, we purchased a Whirlpool fridge in April and had it installed with our new kitchen in July. The water tasted fine for the first 5 week and then began to taste plasticy. So we replaced the filter with PUR's Water Filter 1 which wasn't cheap ($50) and had the same plastic taste. We tried yet another new filter but no change. We live in South Florida and I wonder if the fridge sitting in our garage for a few months before installation caused the plastic tubes to degrade? But it's funny because the water tasted fine for the first 5 weeks.