Why do my Ice cubes have an odor and off-taste?

By Blake Goddard, the Appliance E.M.T.

            Just about all off-taste and odor problems with ice cubes can be resolved without calling a technician.  Most of these problems are a result of water filter age, water supply, or picking up odors from the food in the refrigerator.

If you have a brand-new refrigerator, the icemaker has a little residue from manufacturing that can give an off-taste to the first few batches of ice that are harvested.  Just discard the first few batches and the taste will improve. 

If you have an older refrigerator, you could have one of several issues causing your problem.  You may have a filter that needs replacing.  Today’s filters are designed to filter 300 to 500 gallons of water, or last about six months to a year depending on the make and model of refrigerator and style of filter you are using.  You may have a water source with strong-tasting minerals.  A new filter which is designed to remove minerals may resolve this problem.  When a new filter is installed it is good to run several glasses of water through the refrigerator door to replenish the water reservoir in the refrigerator.  This also rinses out the new filter which may have some fine charcoal dust inside of it (a normal part of filters).

Ice has a strong tendency to absorb odors.  These odors can be from foods in the fresh food section or freezer section of your refrigerator.  The refrigerator and freezer sections are not isolated from one another (except in Sub-Zero brand models).  The cooling occurs in the freezer section and a fan is used to blow more or less cold air into the refrigerator section.   This allows for odor transfer between the two sections.  Foods within the refrigerator or freezer should be covered to minimize odor transfer.  If ice is not used rapidly it can also be stored in its own covered container to help prevent odor transfer.  Baking soda can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer to help absorb odors (change box every few months).

Older refrigerators had one fill valve which took the incoming water and sent it straight to the icemaker, or through a reservoir in the refrigerator to chill the water before sending it to the water dispenser in the door.   To make the system more efficient it was decided to add a second water valve and run chilled water from the reservoir to the icemaker to speed up ice production.  If you don’t use chilled water from the refrigerator door very often, the water in the reservoir may become stale which means the water in the ice cubes is stale before it freezes.  Run several glasses of water through the door and discard to freshen the water in the reservoir.

Now you can enjoy fresh, clean water all summer long.