Ice Tastes or Smells Bad
The ice tastes bad or smells stale, musty, of plastic or of whatever else is in the freezer, even though a glass of tap water tastes fine.
Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm
- 5 checks before you book
- 5 questions that narrow it
- 5 causes, cheapest first
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What it
usually means.
Ice picks up taste in three places. The water itself can carry it: an old filter, a new plastic supply line, or a well or softener feeding the kitchen. The storage can add it: cubes sitting in an open bin for weeks absorb odors from the air around them, and a door ice compartment breathes the same air as the freezer. And on an undercounter unit the water system can grow a film of slime in the trough, the tubing and the drain, which gives the ice a musty or earthy note long before anything is visible. Tasting the water from the dispenser beside a cube from the bin is the fastest way to tell the water from the storage.
The 5 causes, cheapest first
Answer these first
Does water from the door dispenser taste bad as well, or only the ice?
Does the ice smell like the food stored near it, or musty and earthy?
How long do the cubes usually sit in the bin before they are used?
Is the supply line new, or has the filter gone unchanged for more than its rated months?
On an undercounter unit, is there any pink, black or slippery film in the bin or on the water trough?
Check these
before you book.
Ice tastes bad: 5 checks, and none of them costs anything.
Pour a glass from the dispenser and taste it beside a cube from the bin; the answer tells you whether it is the water or the storage.
Throw out all the ice, wash the bin in warm soapy water, rinse and dry it before putting it back.
Replace the water filter if it is due, and run several glasses through before trying the ice again.
Also worth checking
- Cover strong foods and clean out anything spoiled near the ice bin.
- On an undercounter unit, run the cleaning cycle from the manual and look for film on the trough and in the bin.
How soon does it need a visit?
Bad-tasting ice is not urgent. Discard the ice, wash the bin and change the filter first. Book a visit if the taste returns, or if an undercounter unit shows slime that comes back soon after cleaning.
The causes,
cheapest first.
5 things ice tastes or smells bad turns out to be, from old ice absorbing freezer odors to door ice compartment seal letting air in.
The cost guide-
01 no repair
Old ice absorbing freezer odors
Cubes left in the bin for weeks take on the smell of the food around them. Throwing out the old ice and washing the bin often clears it.
-
02 lowest
Filter past its rating
A spent carbon filter stops removing the chlorine and the tastes it was bought to catch, and it can add a stale note of its own.
-
03 low
New plastic line or fitting
A new plastic line can give the first ice a plastic taste. It usually fades after the line has been flushed through; a line that keeps tasting is worth replacing with braided steel.
-
04 low to moderate
Slime in an undercounter water system
Undercounter units hold standing water in the trough and the tubing between batches. A film grows there, especially where cleaning has been skipped, and it gives the ice a musty taste.
-
05 low to moderate
Door ice compartment seal letting air in
A door ice maker is closed off by its own small door and gasket. When that seal gaps, humid kitchen and cabinet air reaches the ice and brings its smells with it.
-
What it costs
Every repair on the site's cost scale, side by side
Open the cost guide
What else
it could be.
Most often confused with cloudy or discolored ice, then ice clumped or frozen in the bin.
All problemsCodes that come with it
Water filter symbolBertazzoni · Mode, not a failureReplace Filter lightCafé · Mode, not a failureFilter indicator blinking redDacor · Mode, not a failureWater Filter StatusFrigidaire · Mode, not a failureReplace filterFulgor Milano · Mode, not a failureEMPTY WATER FROM ICE BINFulgor Milano · Mode, not a failure
Also related
The makes
it happens on.
27 makes on this site; ice tastes or smells bad can show up on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page.
All 27 brandsIce Tastes or Smells Bad,
where we come out.
9 metros, each with its own page.
All service areasTampa BayFL · 31 areas
Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas
New York MetroNY · 75 areas
HoustonTX · 36 areas
ChicagoIL · 50 areas
Los AngelesCA · 95 areas
San DiegoCA · 31 areas
Questions about
ice tastes or smells bad.
The ice tastes fine at first but bad after a week. Why?
Is musty ice from an undercounter unit safe?
Does a baking soda box near the ice help?
We installed a water softener and the ice tastes different. Is that normal?
Back to your everyday
Still seeing ice tastes or smells bad?
Book with what you checked above — 5 answers save the technician the first part of the visit.