It really is weird. I guess from other comments that this is something about those fancy and expensive fridges that no normal people have with water dispenser on the door and ice sometimes... Maybe?
At least 50% of American fridges do indeed have ice and filtered water dispensers built in and I think they're great :) ice cold, delicious water any time of the day? Yes please.
They're not even that "fancy/expensive" as it's fairly standard
Wait...mnot only do y'all not have garbage disposers; you don't have refrigerators with built in ice machines and water filters? That's crazy. You you're just stuck having to get ice from those little refillable trays?
Ooooh that makes sende. No my fidge doesn't, and I've never seen that IRL. It looks useful, when I want ice cubes I need to manually fill an ice tray/bag and put that in the freezer.
North America, particularly 1990-2010, fridges with a water dispenser and ice maker built in were/are pretty common. 3 of the 5 houses I lived in as a kid had one.
Filtered, colder-than-tap water, and effectively unlimited ice without having to screw around with ice cube trays. Some also provide heated water that's far cleaner than what comes out of a typical hot water tank, but that feature is rare in my experience.
They have a filter in the water inlet, and should be cleaned inside/out roughly every 6 months (that part is neglected more often than not).
Having an automatic ice maker in the freezer is pretty awesome. then if you have water running to your fridge you may as well have a chilled water dispenser.
I don't really care for fridge water but some people like very cold water and the tap isn't always that cold.
I think I have one of those ice cube trays in my freezer. The last time I used any was probably 3ish months ago or so? I this this about sums up the need I can see in a fridge that has a tap connection to provide ice...
"There's this light on the front of my fridge. It's some kind of error thing, it says 'replace water filter?' Why should a water filter only last six months. That's ridiculous. My last refrigerator never did this. I paid a lot of money for this appliance and I feel it's really unfair that you're trying to tell me I'm somehow responsible for this. This is unacceptable. When can I expect delivery of my new refrigerator? You have to understand I'm not a technical person, I should not be asked to mess with this myself. I am absolutely not paying for a technician visit for this. This refrigerator is clearly defective and I want a new one. What do you mean consumables are not covered by warranty? What is a consumable? No, that is unacceptable. If you don't deliver a new refrigerator to me right away I am going to charge back my credit card. I am very disappointed in this purchase and your company's performance."
Emphatically, without question, YES the filter needs to be replaced and the lines need to be cleaned out regularly. You should try cleaning out the underside of your taps sometimes, too. Water == life, and not just ours, so things grow in it.
Augh. Makes me think of the time I discovered nobody had ever cleaned the Keurig at work... I'll never forget when I wiped down the inside of the water tank and discovered the plastic was clear, not frosted gray like I originally thought 🤢
Using a water filter ensures that the water you consume is free from impurities, contaminants, and unpleasant tastes or odors. Drinking water directly from a fridge with a built-in water dispenser provides convenience and often includes filtration to improve water quality. It's all about ensuring you have access to clean, refreshing water easily.
Sounds like something you would need in a third world country.
We have a whole house water filter so the fridge one is redundant. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that in our fridge when you remove the filter it the water path just goes into a bypass mode. So we are filterless in the fridge (because we filter elsewhere) and don't need the filter nag from the fridge.
I rented a place that had one of these. It's just another thing to forget about maintaining.
A huge percentage of my life I've spent working outdoors in remote settings, drinking water from plastic jugs or bags. Maybe that means I'm just wired differently but I don't really understand the desire to have chilled water in the first place.
My fridge doesn't dispense water but the filter I have in the fridge has a handy little timer for the filter replacement (it's literally just an alarm that goes off in 60 day intervals).