Tutorial How to hack GE refrigerator to use generic RPWF filters rather than expensive RPWFE 

Wil heating the chip to soften the glue ruin the chip

@@mikebednarcik4543 I don't think that gentle heat will damage the chip. Proceed cautiously and better to use less heat and gradually try again with slightly more heat until it softens enough to remove the chip,

DO NOT BUY ANYMORE GE PRODUCTS !

@@artvanderlay2110 That's a great idea

​@@artvanderlay2110 stop importing/ exporting them.

Any further info on your escalated complaint?

@@michaelerbreviews A GE person called me. Basically, he was dispatched to blow me off or buy me off. After a lengthy conversation, it was obvious we were not going to agree. He seemed unaware or simply would not acknowledge that there are many PO'd GE customers out that don't like and were not aware of this proprietary water filter chip BS when they bought their fridge. That as consumers, we don't have a choice and are forced to buy their grossly overpriced $50 filter. I commented it's like GM making their cars so only a GM oil filter could be used. He did not dispute that certain GE fridge models will only take their proprietary filter with a chip. Contrary to what two of GE's so-called "customer service" reps told me, he emphasized that the filter does not stop working after 200 gallons or 6 months, whichever comes first. That those CSR's were simply wrong in what they both told me. I suggested they do a better job of hiring/training CSR's. The one with the crying baby in the background was the absolute worst. Paid to work from home and do a shitty job. Great gig if you can get it, I guess. He claims that is when GE testing shows the filter loses some efficacy and should be changed therefore the chip causes the red filter change light to come on. But the filter continues to filter water and it remains up to the customer when to change it. He further claims that no other aftermarket filter would provide the high-quality filtering that the GE filter does so they use this technology to "protect" their customers from poorly filtered water. Riiiiiiight. Some of his "solutions" to our concern about being low usage retirees or snowbirds and the 200 gallons or 6 months warning light were absurd and I told him so. In the end, I got GE to send me 4 filters and told them to F off and informed the Idaho AG's office that while not happy, I'm not prepared to waste any more time trying to fight a company like GE, and I consider the matter closed. People with GE fridges should flood GE with complaints. Maybe that will get someone's attention and they'll do something. But I doubt it.

@@jayf6525 thank you so much for replying and telling your story. That should be an eye-opener for many people

It's very irritating to say the least. I despise companies that do this sort of thing.

My 25 year old GE is still going, doubt the new ones are that good. And of course no chips. Also, I live in Louisville, and we have excellent water so no filtering needed.

I don't blame you. It's infuriating.

It's a complete money grabbing ripoff from GE. I will not buy another GE appliance as a result unless they change this.

Amer Khaqan Thanks man.

Pull it back out of the trash, unscrew the top, cut the green wire, screw the top back on, then BOOM, it will take any kcups like the original Keurigs.

@@gregsewell0 I never head of that hack before. Great idea.

AMEN, I DO NOT BLAME YOU.... Time to get real ..... :)

Perfect. You should probably consider changing the filter every few months however unless you use very little filtered water.

@@michaelerbreviews We use very little - less than a quart a day is my guess.

Where do you get bypass cartridge?

It's a money grab by GE for sure. Greedy little bunch they are.

People are saying that newer chips are glued on and cannot be easily removed.

Usually the reminder is time-based and not an accurate reflection of how much water has been filtered. If you reset the warning you can continue using the filter if you don't use much water through it. But good quality third party filters are going to save you money for sure.

Sure, that's fine if you don't want to use the refrigerator to provide your filtered water. Many others don't have under sink water filters though. And even those need new filters right? Hopefully not as expensive as the GE filters.

@@michaelerbreviews Even if you don’t have an under sink filter, you can add a filter to the line going to the refrigerator. There are plenty of really good filters that are really economical, The ones I’m using her about $12 each.

That’s correct, the filter alert is determined by time, not by volume of water filtered. If you use very little water, the filter could last you much longer than six months. But the timer is reset every time you change the filter.

I recommend saying, "yes dear, I understand what you are saying." Then I would proceed with the hack. Since you are not actually physically doing anything to alter the refrigerator itself other than hacking up a used filter that would otherwise be thrown away I don't see a problem here.

Find a new wife.

Avoidance of conversations that are core to one's morality is a bad idea. You will find yourself married to a radical leftist if you never talk about important things like politics, economy, morality/religion/ethics with your wife just to keep the peace. It would essentially be the same as if she were single, but she's actually married. This is advice coming from a married woman. Women tend to swing left in ideology and use emotions to make decisions. It takes the logic of a man (or any loved one) to counter that inclination.

Thanks for the additional input.

Agree! I have the stripped down model which is a bottom freezer and no in door water. The refrigerator alarm went off telling me a need a new XWFE filter for the ice! I have no idea if I can use XWF filter.

It's really price gouging and there's no excuse to justify it except greed as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed.

haha. Thanks.

Barbara Johnson Yes it is on Keurig 2.0 machines.

Barbara Verser I agree, that’s pretty darn irritating. I think I could use a stronger word. I simply used a double sided piece of Scotch brand tape. I’m not so sure it’s going to last a long time. I may research stronger tape or I was thinking maybe just a little dab of a silicone adhesive would do a good job as well but I have not tried it.

It wouldn’t surprise me if that is true. Just ridiculous and reason enough to stay away from GE. It seems to me that if your refrigerator comes with a bypass adapter then this hack should still work since the chip in the adapter shouldn’t time out. But I don’t know that for sure. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of GE engineers?

@@michaelerbreviews ... the Shadow knows

This is what I have....

Our GE filters are throttling down after just 6 weeks of use!!!

​@forsetkh mine shut off the entire water and I emailed. I bought a new filter and it still doesn't work. I hate this

Gregg Adams are you getting filtered water? If yes, I guess I’d just ignore the code. I have an error on mine too. I ignore it.

I figured out that means “turbo freeze” (the upside-down F is actually a t) mode. Just hold the Freeze button for 3 seconds and it will go away.

Dara Parsavand it’s unbelievable right? Greedy companies. Coincidentally I replaced my filter just today with a third-party filter using the hack that I demonstrated. Saved myself about $40.

Some people do the latter... taping the chip close to the reader.

As far as I know the change filter, notification is simply timing out six months. When you reset that from the control panel, it resets it for another six months. The chip is just to verify that you’re using expensive GE filters.

That sounds logical. If you discover a solution I hope you'll share it here.

@@michaelerbreviews I'd be happy to...but I'm not sure I want to take a chance of permanently damaging my new refrig in the process.

I think a lot of people would agree with that statement.

After installing the chip and generic filter I get the "Replace water filter" message" but it works

If you don't modify the fridge in any way no-one but you is going to know that a generic filter was used. Just keep an old GE filter around and swap it out if you need a service call.

I don't have an answer for you but do have a question. When did you purchase your refrigerator? As far as I know the dimensions and other specifications of the RPWF and RPFWE at the time of my review were the same so I have no idea why the "prong configuration" should be any different. Maybe the brand that you bought mislabeled the part. What exact filter did you purchase?

They fit. Just do NOT twist it once installed!

GE is seemingly doing everything it can think of to eliminate this hack. Some people have had better success using the chip from the bypass filter. You could try softening the glue by using a heat gun which may enable you to remove the chip. Some people have very carefully cut the plastic around the chip and then tape that into the filter in the same location.

@@michaelerbreviews I gently cut around the chip with a rotary tool (Dremel).

I don’t know. Sorry.

Glad to help. Thanks for your comment.

That would be a great solution. Hope someone can chime in on that.

RFID's produce digital data when interrogated, a string of bits. The string of bits is the ID that's sent by a radio frequency: RFID. There's no way you can just connect wires together and generate this ID transmission.

@@henryD9363 no, but the transmission triggers a specific state. when that state is triggered, it may be as simple as a completed circuit. so it's not abut mimicking an rfid signal, but merely recreating whatever simple "switch" is used once the rfid is checked. if this is a digital switch controlled entirely by a microprocessor, then yea, there is no simple wire splicing solution.

Is the control panel on the inside of the door? Usually you would press and hold the reset filter button for 3 seconds

Kay Cannon is it the original filter? Assuming that your refrigerator requires the one with the chip, the only thing I can figure out is that the chip is being read even though it is installed opposite where it should be. Maybe somebody else has a better idea.

I'm not sure how old the filter is but the refrigerator is from 2015. I just moved into the house. I'm wondering if the cheaper filter would work without the hack since it's working now installed backwards. I'll give it a try, I guess.

Kay Cannon I think your refrigerator probably does not require the filter with the chip. However they stopped making the filters without the chip. So the fact that your water is still dispensing even though the filter is backwards is probably why it still works. In your case it doesn’t matter if it’s backwards because your refrigerator probably doesn’t require a filter with the chip. If that’s the case, moving forward you can use a third-party RPWF compatible filter.

That sounds logical. I'll try one and see it it works. If it doesn't, I'll try one of the hacks and make it work. Thanks all!

Kay Cannon what is the final result?

If you don't reset the alert, then no, the refrigerator doesn't know. If you reset the alert, I'm not sure what would happen. That's why I don't reset the alert. I keep track of when the filter needs to be replaced and replace it.

@@michaelerbreviews On the new GE refers, the chip ID is monitored so that you cannot use the chip from your old filter. You MUST use the chip from the filter by-pass plug. Also, the refer will stop dispensing both water and ice when the usage amount has been reached. This hack will only work on models before 2020.

@@murrayrussell9371 Wow, GE just keeps making this more obscene year by year.

I have this refrigerator and I get the expired message after 6 months. I press the button on a display, I think it has to do with saying use the bypass but not sure. It then continues to provide water. Every now and then I have to press the bypass button again. Maybe this doesn't quite make sense. However I continue to have water past 6 months after it has expired, and get a reminder every 6 weeks or so which I ignore. Or maybe I press the bypass button. Hasn't happened recently so I can't remember. So... I think when you use this previous RFID filter and put it on a new filter you'll get the 6-month warning that you'll see every 4-5 weeks and you just press the bypass button. What I'm saying is that even though the filter hits the 6 months expiration date, I could still use it as long as I want to without replacing it. So I believe just taking the RFID chip off an old one and put it on to new like he showed, I will still be able to get filtered water. Just have to put up with the expired message every month or so.

Filters last according to how many gallons go through them, not how many months elapse. However, the timer in the GE refrigerators are set to alert you after a pre-determined amount of time passes, not how much water is used. In other words, you could not use your filter at all for three months and it will still tell you it's time to change it. So pay attention to how much you use the filter and ignore the alert to change it.

Shannon Evans yes.

@@michaelerbreviews thank you. I assumed so, but thank you for confirming.

Yes, it will work. I just ordered the bypass from Amazon and installed it.

@@michaelerbreviews It will, but your water will not be filtered and may taste like crap and have harmful chemicals in it.

@@urbanoasisgregg Not if they have a whole house filter. It would be redundant. But if no other filtration is in place, then yes, the bypass filter will allow unfiltered water to pass through.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to that question.

It should have come with your refrigerator. You can order them from GE and I believe they are available for online ordering as well.

@@michaelerbreviews Would it be in or on fridge somehow or would it have come with paperwork, etc?

@@kristinahitchcock5230 Mine was in a plastic bag along with the Instruction Manual, Warranty info, etc.

@@michaelerbreviews ok thanks!

You gotta do what you gotta do

My refrigerator has a small panel inside the left hand door that has a button to turn off the filter warning. I've learned that the warning is based on the amount of time that has elapsed and nothing else. So every 6 months that light will go on again. Just press the button to turn off the filter warning after you've swapped out the filter for a new one.

Amazon has them without the chip for 12 bucks each

@@iroc341 yep! Then I looked for the GE ones and they were 50 bucks. I bought a few but I'll get the $25 ones next

It seems to me that would be the primary motive. Perhaps GE might say they are trying to ensure the safety of its consumers by providing a superior filter that you can be assured of, but if that is an angle they are trying to get across, I don't buy it, figuratively and literally.

@@michaelerbreviews its the whole "right to repair" movement all together... The problem is with tech, we are moving to an environment that we do NOT own our products, we just have the allusion we do... Apple is a huge one, John deere tractors another. They force us into these ownership "leases" where we cannot fix what we own... and that is wrong IMO

@@RussellD11 Yes I agree. And the fact that we pay thousands of dollars for devices that can't even be upgraded or repaired is unacceptable. Not only is it environmentally harmful, it is just wasteful and unnecessary. Why shouldn't I be able to upgrade my RAM, SSD or other, what-used-to--be user replaceable, components?

To each his own. However, it's not just "a few bucks." It's more like $30 to $40 several times a year. Over the course of ten years the savings would pay for the refrigerator.

What's your point?