How to Find and Clean Your Refrigerator's Air Filter

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While refrigerators support our nutrient fresher longer, they can’t halt the rotting process completely. In different words, if you permission caller meat, produce, oregon dairy products successful the fridge agelong enough, they’ll yet spoil and commencement to odor bad. And, arsenic it turns out, the accepted method for keeping foul refrigerator odors astatine bay—leaving a vessel oregon unfastened instrumentality of baking soda inside—doesn’t truly bash much.

Fortunately, astir newer refrigerators travel equipped with a built-in aerial filter to assistance minimize beardown smells. And similar the hidden-but-hardworking filters wrong your washing machine and dishwasher, your fridge’s aerial filters besides request to beryllium cleaned oregon replaced connected a regular basis.

What does an aerial filter bash successful a refrigerator?

Like immoderate different air filter you person successful your home, the 1 successful your refrigerator besides removes contaminants from the air—in this case, mineral buildup, arsenic good arsenic food, dust, and mold particles. A refrigerator aerial filter’s astir noticeable function, however, is deodorizing the aerial wrong the appliance. If you’ve ever opened a refrigerator doorway to drawback a drink, lone to beryllium deed with a partition of stinky, stagnant air, you astir apt recognize the aerial filter’s entreaty and necessity.

How bash I cognize if my refrigerator has an aerial filter?

Most refrigerators manufactured successful the past decennary person aerial filters, though they began appearing successful immoderate models years earlier. The easiest mode to find retired whether your refrigerator has an aerial filter is to cheque oregon look up the owner’s manual. If yours does person an aerial filter, the manual volition besides amusement you wherever to find it, the benignant of filter it uses, and however and erstwhile to cleanable oregon regenerate it.

Where is the refrigerator aerial filter located? 

The determination of a refrigerator’s aerial filter varies, depending connected its shaper and model, but they’re astir often recovered adjacent the rear partition astatine the apical of the refrigerator compartment. Other locations see the wrong of  the aerial vent grille, underneath the bin successful the doorway panel, oregon different spots on the fridge walls.

Can you cleanable and reuse a refrigerator aerial filter?

While immoderate refrigerators usage disposable aerial filters, others person filters that tin beryllium cleaned and reused. The easiest mode to find retired which benignant you person is to cheque oregon look up your fridge’s owner’s manual. If that's not an option, propulsion retired the existent aerial filter and look up immoderate serial numbers oregon different markings you tin find, oregon telephone the manufacturer’s lawsuit work line, and a rep should beryllium capable to assistance you find what benignant of filter you need, and whether it’s reusable. 

How to cleanable oregon regenerate a refrigerator aerial filter

Once you’ve figured retired wherever your refrigerator’s aerial filter is located, and whether the filter is reusable oregon disposable, you tin get started. Keep successful caput that the process whitethorn disagree somewhat depending connected your refrigerator’s shaper and model, but present are immoderate wide instructions:

Here’s however to cleanable a reusable refrigerator aerial filter:

• Locate the compartment lodging the aerial filter, and past pull, turn, oregon assistance the filter out, removing it completely.

• Gently pat the filter connected a garbage tin to dislodge and region arsenic overmuch of the debris arsenic possible.

• Use a vacuum attachment and/or soft-bristled brushwood to cautiously region immoderate remaining debris.

• Fill your sink, oregon a bucket oregon basin with lukewarm h2o and a fewer squirts of a mild dishwashing liquid. Place the filter successful the soapy h2o truthful it’s submerged completely. Let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Pull the filter retired of the h2o and rinse it disconnected with lukewarm h2o from the sink. If there’s immoderate remaining debris, usage a soft-bristled brushwood to mildly region it, past rinse the filter with clean, lukewarm water.

• Allow the filter to aerial adust completely.

• While the filter is drying, usage a clean, damp cloth to hitch down the country wrong the refrigerator surrounding the aerial filter, arsenic good arsenic the wrong of the lodging compartment.

• When the filter and the compartment are wholly dry, popular the filter backmost into place, and regenerate the lodging compartment.

Here’s however to regenerate a disposable aerial filter:

• Locate the compartment lodging the aerial filter, and past pull, turn, oregon assistance the filter out, removing it completely. Dispose of the utilized filter.

• Use a clean, damp cloth to hitch down the country wrong the refrigerator surrounding the aerial filter, arsenic good arsenic the wrong of the lodging compartment.

• Look astatine the caller aerial filter, and find the broadside marked “front.” If you inactive person the packaging from the caller filter, you tin cheque for installation instructions if it’s unclear which broadside is the front.

• Place the caller filter wrong the lodging compartment with the broadside marked “front” facing outward.

• Replace the lodging compartment. 

How often should a refrigerator aerial filter beryllium changed?

Regardless of whether you tin cleanable and reuse refrigerator’s aerial filter oregon you request to regenerate it, the wide regularisation is to instrumentality attraction of it each six months. Some refrigerators person a airy that turns connected erstwhile the aerial filter needs to beryllium cleaned oregon replaced, truthful support an oculus connected that, arsenic good arsenic the calendar. Lastly, perceive to your nose: If you’ve noticed that your fridge smells worse than usual—and there’s nary evident culprit—it whitethorn besides beryllium a motion to cleanable oregon alteration the aerial filter.