We all remember the feeling. When our fridge was brand new and the water tasted clean and clear. The ice cubes were good enough to eat, even after your drink was long gone. But now it’s been a year or so and your ice isn’t nearly as clear as it used to be, and it tastes no better than tap water. So, how do we get our clean ice back?

Don’t settle for ice that tastes awful. We’d like to share with you a few common reasons for this problem, along with fixes that are relatively quick and easy.

Your refrigerator foods’ aroma is creeping into your ice supply.

99% of freezers don’t have a self-contained ice cube bin. This means that all of the particles, smells, and tastes of everything in your freezer and refrigerator are free to mingle with each other. It’s an interesting fact that humans are one of the few animals that can’t actually taste the true flavor of water. We only taste the impurities in it, and in this case that could be the flavor of a leftover Hot Pocket or worse, last nights half used onion. Truffle oil is great on vegetables but not so great in ice, as I’m sure you can imagine.

You can take care of this just by being aware of how well your food is sealed in both your fresh food section and your freezer, and be careful of anything past its expiration date. Proper food storage will usually payoff with improvement in the taste of your ice.

It may be time to replace that water filter.

This one is fairly self-explanatory. When you bought your refrigerator it probably came with a brand new water filter. This would be why your water instantly tasted better than the tap. However, these filters aren’t everlasting, so eventually they wear out. This means your water supply has been reduced to the quality of the lowly city tap.

To remedy this, just take a look at the water filter inside your freezer compartment, and write down exactly what kind of filter it is. The brand and model should be prominently featured on the filter itself. You can find replacement water filters at hardware stores, your local appliance dealer, or feel free to call us at 844.3.GUINCO and ask us about our water filter club. Soon you’ll be on the way to better tasting water and ice.

That spill in your fridge could be getting its revenge.

It’s happened to the best of us. Something spilled in our fresh food or freezer section, but we’re in the middle of making food or hosting a gathering, so cleaning it up gets put off. After all, cold temperatures are great at neutralizing smells. So who is it really hurting? Well, it could be hurting the taste of your ice. Much like the potential food issue mentioned earlier, the smell/bacteria of the spill will inevitably make its way into the taste of your ice, causing that nasty and off-putting taste.

The solution here is obvious: just clean up that spill! Honestly, a thorough refrigerator cleaning is a good idea in general. It will certainly help your ice taste, and make you feel better about your food storage in general.

Your ice may need to be tossed out due to old age.

A lot of people don’t realize it, but water has a natural expiration date. Like any other food, it’ll start tasting weird after a while. As we discussed earlier, humans taste impurities in water, so when we use expired ice we’re tasting every single day of staleness.

As much as it hurts to waste water, the best option is to just toss the ice and let your machine freeze a new batch. As long as the filter is still good, this new ice batch will be fresh and have that taste you’ve been missing. You can always add a cup of salt into 2-3 cups of ice and toss it down your garbage disposal to help clean the sludge and grime from your disposal. If that’s too much work, or if you don’t have a disposal, then simply toss it in the family pet’s water bowl. It’s still safe to drink, and they aren’t as picky as we are.

We hope these simple fixes help you enjoy your drinks again, and prevent gross-tasting ice from being a problem for you and your family. If these tips didn’t solve your problem, then there may be a more labor intensive fix needed. Feel free to contact us or call us anytime at 844.3.GUINCO for assistance.