The water filter inside a household refrigerator is a simple device: a plastic tube packed with activated carbon. Nonetheless, replacement filters for certain GE refrigerators cost a stiff $55. And they need to be replaced every six months. So it’s no surprise that many GE fridge owners seek cheaper generic filters. These fit just fine. But when the owner presses the button to dispense water or ice, nothing comes out.
The culprit is a bit of engineering almost as in-genious as it is infuriating. It seems that official GE replacement filters include a small RFID chip whose only purpose is to tell the refrigerator that an up-to-date GE-brand filter has been installed. If a customer installs a generic filter, the water system shuts off. As tech writer Jack Bush puts it, the fridge echoes the computer in 2001: “’I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t dispense any water for you right now.’”
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-WiscoDave
I have heard that the newer Keurig coffee machines will only work with officially licensed pods.
ReplyDeleteIt's been that for while. There's hack for it though. There's a basket out there that has the same Identifier as a Kpod so you even use regular bagged coffee if you choose.
DeleteJust like John Deere tractors that don't allow the owner to do maintenance or fix other stuff on their own. Imagine paying, well I don't know how much they go for, but I'm thinking $50K-100K? for a tractor that you can't even do basic maintenance on without voiding the warranty.
Cars and pickup trucks will be the same way in a few years.
Nemo
JD Combine $650-950k new, JD used 6115 115 hp tractor 8 years old is $90k. Any JD in the 100-175 hp range that was bought in the past 5 years is worth more that what it sold for new.
DeleteAnd when your high-tech John Deere breaks during planting/harvesting season, you wait for the JD tech and you pay their prices.
DeleteI'm just paranoid enough to think there's "breakage" plugged into the software.
The GE water filter? I saw that one and way around it.
ReplyDeletehttps://hackaday.com/2020/06/14/the-water-filter-that-wouldnt-defeating-drm-with-duct-tape-and-a-dremel/
My dad overrode that by plumbing a remote inline filter mounted outside the appliance.
ReplyDeleteI was able to use a generic filter in my LG, however the taste difference was significant. I lived in north LA county up in the high desert with hard water. I went back to LG filters. As you say, it's only twice a year. That's just me though.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Samsung about 2 yrs old. Took the filter out when recommended and crystal clear water poured out the back. I put that filter back in and it's still there delivering clean water to the spigot and ice maker. I'm not replacing it until I notice lower quality.
ReplyDeleteSame with the RO under the sink (which is GE). Says 6 months on filters, I go at least 2 years.
Also, this is why we bout two new vehicles in 2012, saw this evil coming a mile away. The damn cars will be spying on you to an annoying level. Probably ours are but it will get worse.
My filter is original with the refrigerator. Since I tapped the water for the 'frig off of my reverse osmosis system output, that filter doesn't get any use and is still good. And yes, I replace the RO system filters myself, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteIf I could get block ice like my daddy did back in the day I'd opt for an ice box where the only moving parts were the hinges.
ReplyDeleteSome farmers said FU to Deere and bought old-fashioned, pre-chip tractors. A Britisher on a TV car show said one reason he got 1960s American cars was, "You can fix them with a hammer." Same is true with pre-chip tractors, but you might have to use a crescent wrench as well.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out the EULA for the software of any John Deere piece of equipment. Spend a million on a combine, yet try and hack the software so that you can diagnose and fix it yourself.
ReplyDeleteMy GE filter has been in place since July of 2014. No pressure loss and water still tastes great.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I just bought a Bosch Dishwasher instead of a GE Dishwasher.
ReplyDeleteRemember TARP? ....back in 2008 When General Electric Got $140 Billion Dollar Bailout from the taxpayers?
Hey Sucker, They cheated us then, so do not be surprised if they still rip you off.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/105984-general-electric-gets-a-140b-bailout-whats-the-point-of-aaa
I can see putting some good quality filters in the supply line and then the GE filter would esoterically last much longer then 6 months...
ReplyDeleteThat is what I do.
DeleteLieability. They are protected. You open yourself to their lawsuit against which YOU have no protection.
ReplyDeleteOH. And MONEY.
ReplyDeleteOur old refrigerator was GE. The water taste went downhill after 6 months, and we had to replace the filter for the 5 years that we owned it. At the 5 year mark, the compressor caught fire, while I was at work, at night, and my wife had to call the fire department.
ReplyDeleteI had a Norge refrigerator in my workspace at the shop, exposed to metal dust and burning petrocarbon smoke from the furnace, that had to be over 25years old, that kept going and going. The old curved top, you remember those.
We have a Kenmore now, we have had this one for over 10 years, and thankfully it is still going. And we paid a heck of a lot less than we did for the GE one with water and ice in the door. The Kenmore does have an icemaker in the top freezer, but that is all.
As for the John Deere tractors, even a modest farm today is a multi million dollar operation. A farmer, like a friend of mine, who milks about 125 heads, has to be both a farmer, from sunup to sundown, plus a financial wizard as well. You cannot hire out all of the financials to someone else, you have to be involved or you won't know about your money flow and such. My friend spent a year at MSU, and quit, going back to the farm. He said that they couldn't teach him anything more that he didn't already know. He is a very intelligent man. His brother was my age, and was a math nerd, who left the farm to work for IBM.
pigpen51
You can take a razor knife to the GE label and peel off the RFID chip and tape it to the new non-OEM filter......
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is, GE sold its appliance business to Haier in 2016. So, GE appliances aren’t even made by GE any more.
ReplyDeleteKenny, I think virtually all fridges with internal water filters also offer an optional blank adapter that installs in place of a filter. I use one because I have a separate system that uses Reverse Osmosis to generate water at the sink, and it is piped over to the fridge for the ice maker/water. Mine is a GE Profile, FYI.
ReplyDeleteYou can get one of those and just install an external filter upstream of the fridge, or maybe your water is good enough without one.
This is why I don't buy "smart" anything and nothing gets connected to the internet.
ReplyDeleteWhat? There’s a filter I’m supposed to change? Did not know this. I’m guessing I have to take the entire refrigerator back to point of sale to get it changed.
ReplyDeleteMadMarlin
My fridge doesn't dispense water or cubes and I rarely drink water anyway...another fad I can do without..
ReplyDeleteAfter a fitting failed and dumped water all over the kitchen, I disabled the water feed and went old school with ice trays and RO filtered water.
ReplyDeleteHad to replace my fridge earlier this year, had a Frigidaire side by side with ice and water through the door. That thing worked good for the first few years, changed the filter once a year, then the damn thing wanted a filter change every couple months. So I just put some ice trays in the freezer and ignored the need a filter change blinking light. It finally died on me, I did get 17 years out of it, and replaced it with a 2 door freezer on top no frills, bells or whistles type.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to the local orange big box store and saw they were stocking nothing but the high end types costing $ 2500 to start I walked out and headed to my local owner/operator appliance store. $ 400 later I'm good to go.
JD
Sounds like the kind of thing GE would do. Kurig did something similar with their coffee makers a few years ago. It did not go well for them.
ReplyDeleteLike Hagar, I said AH~SCREW YOU also.
ReplyDelete