White Powdery Residue

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After a couple days of boiling filtered refrigerator water in our electric teapot a white powdery residue collects in the teapot filter & in the bottom of the teapot. If I use unfiltered tap water, the white residue does not appear.

This had never occurred until about 3 months after we purchased our new whirlpool refrigerator. The new frig uses a UKF8001 PUR Filter. After noticing this white residue I installed a new filter in hopes it would clear the problem – but to no avail. I’ve flushed the refrigerator water lines to ensure they are clean.

My concern is that since unfiltered tap water does not produce the white powdery substance, the PUR filter might possibly be causing the residue. Perhaps the residue is only a harmless mineral –but I thought I would ask the opinion of other more knowledgeable than me.

Thanks for any comments

[Alex]

Do you have hard water? Hardness minerals will get through carbon filters but it is interesting that it is not coming through on the tap water as well.

Some filters include a scale inhibitor (phosphate crystals) to prevent corrosion and scale build up. I am not sure if the Maytag UKF8001 includes these phosphates as it does not list this but it could.

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Thanks for the reply Alex

Our City Water Quality Report for 2009/2010 indicated that we have “medium hard water” which was a mix of 63% lake water & 37% Well water from the Ogallala Aquifer. However, since the lake is about dry, our water supply (starting 3-4 months ago) is essentially 100% well Water from the Ogallala Aquifer. I’ve not found any information as to whether this make the water “Harder” than before the switch.

FWIW...I let a glass full of ice cubes from our icemaker melt & I can see white “flakes” that have settled on the bottom of the glass. The Icemaker is also connected to the refrigerator filter.

There’s a small water reservoir on the back-interior of our frig – I’ll see if I can flush it out.

Other than the reservoir, I'm out of things to try

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Well... I don't see an easy way to the small water tank in the interior of the refrig.

I'm thinking my best bet is to install a 2nd in-line filter that filters the scale.

Any suggestions as to which might be best for this?

Thanks

[pawaterguy]

Have you had your water tested? IE: How hard is the water?

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Have you had your water tested? IE: How hard is the water?

Our City Water Quality Report for 2009/2010 indicated that we have “medium hard water” which was a mix of 63% lake water & 37% Well water from the Ogallala Aquifer. However, since the lake is about dry, our water supply (starting 3-4 months ago) is essentially 100% well Water from the Ogallala Aquifer. I’ve not found any information as to whether this make the water “Harder” than before the switch.

[khalifapk]

We have observed similar phenomenon in Hong Kong. Hardness of water is around 8gpg (130ppm)

My suspicion is that the activated carbon absorbs some cations (Al). Subsequent boiling of this water results in precipitation