Here's What To Do When Your Ice Tastes Bad (2024)

These days,ice makersare a necessities, especially during the summer. At the touch of a button, you can get ice to fuel your icy cold drinks. All you need to do is plug in yourice makerand make sure you have a healthywater supplyfor your home. However, everything can go wrong when yourice makeris not maintained properly. No one wants old,foul tastingicecubes. The worst situation is when yourice cubessmell badand emit abad taste.

Here are a fewmaintenance tipsandeasy fixesyou can follow to avoidbadtasting ice.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when maintaining anice makerrelates to proper storage. If you’re the typeice dispensersare not used all that often. They usually come in handy when you’re going out for a camping trip or when there is a party. This is why it remains in storage most of the time. Storing theice makerproperly is extremely important.

If it is stored in an incorrect manner, there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with it such as:

• • You can have dirty ice
• • Your ice cansmell bad
• •Bad tasting ice
• • Mold and mildew fromstale ice

Let’s look at how you should properly store yourice maker:

The first thing you must do after using yourice makeris to empty it.

1. Remove the water from the reservoir and any ice stored inside theice bin.
2. Make sure to unplug yourice makerbefore you empty it completely. Mostice makershave a drain plug that will allow you to empty it without much hassle. If yourice makeris connected to asupply line, disconnect that as well.
3. Once you are done draining yourice maker, you may move on to the next step.

Also note:

• If a particular component of theice makercannot be removed, this does not mean you don’t have to clean it.
• The non-removable components should be cleaned with a damp cloth thoroughly. Even the water reservoir has to be cleaned. For more stubborn stains, make a paste out ofbaking sodaand water for more scrubbing power, but make sure to rinse off thoroughly.
• If you want to remove any funny smell that has already developed, in the reservoir, use some vinegar.

Using Vinegar to Clean YourIce Maker

1. Run the vinegar through thewater linea couple of times.
2. Once done, run freshwarm waterthrough those lines.Tap waterwill do. This will eliminate the vinegar odor as well. Especially watch out for brandnewicemakers. Brandnewicemakershave a strong plastic smell. This smell can be carried along into the ice.
3. Once you run vinegar and water though the lines, the ice will taste fresh.

See The Complete Guide To Cleaning Your Ice Maker.

Cleaning the exterior of theice makeris as important as cleaning the interior. Although it may not affect the taste of the ice, it has a profound effect on hygiene. If you are using anice makerwhich is dirty on the outside, you will need to touch the ice on the inside at some point. Eventually, when you add ice to your drink, the germs you caught from the exterior of theice makerwill be transferred to your drink.

Note: Someice makerscome with accessories like little ice scoopers so that you don’t have to use your hands when getting ice for your drink.

In addition, you should also clean theice makerto make sure the buttons are working properly. At times, dirt gets stuck inside the buttons. This can cause the buttons to fail and you will then need to have theice makerrepaired.

Cleaning the exterior does not require much hard work. Simply dampen a cloth withwarm waterand wipe the exterior. Just be sure to get in between the nooks and corners.

It is a good idea to clean yourice makeron a regular basis, however, you must make sure you are using the right cleaning materials. Many people tend to clean theirice makerswith strong cleaners. However, these cleaners may have a high acid content, which causes the chrome coating on theice makerprongs to wear down, exposing the copper underneath. Once the coating is worn, the ice and water you retrieve from theice makerwill have the taste of copper.

The coating can also be removed if you use soda to make soda-flavored ice. Even if you use juice, the chrome coating will get worn down. Liquids with high acid or sugar content can eat away at the chrome coating on the prongs. To make sure your ice does not taste like copper, be sure to clean it with proper aids like vinegar or lemon juice and use theice makerproperly.

There are several issues that can cause this problem. The first and foremost issue is dirty water. If the water is dirty, yourice cubeswill taste bad.

• Usefiltered waterfor making ice to eliminate the taste of dust.
• If water is left in the reservoir for too long, you should change it.
• Using stored water will result in a dusty taste in theice cubes.

If you use these methods down to the last detail, not only will you be able to maintain yourice maker the right way, but will also be able to prevent damage to it.

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