Have you ever wondered why your ice at home is cloudy and the ice at restaurants is crystal clear? The short answer is that your home ice contains entrapped minerals and air that creates a cloudy appearance. However, much of the commercial ice you buy is made in a different way, which entraps air to keep your ice clear.
Commercial businesses (restaurants, etc.) have different ways of achieving this, but one thing is for certain: the more contaminants in your drinking water, the cloudier your ice will be. When you freeze ice at home, the outside freezes first, trapping any impurities inside where it interferes with the crystalline structure. This is why the outside of ice cubes are usually clear, but the inside is cloudy.
So, how do you achieve clearer ice in your home? The best thing to do is to make sure your water is filtered. Filtering your water removes harmful impurities, resulting in a healthier choice for you and clearer ice for your home. It is also recommended to use a Reverse Osmosis (RO) System for best results. RO water systems remove most all solids in your drinking water, making it pure to drink and your ice clearer. The fewer impurities in your water, the clearer it will be.
Achieving clear ice may be challenging, but it’s not impossible. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it starts with water. The clearer your water is, the clearer the ice will be. Boiling your water before freezing it will also help produce clearer ice. Browse through our selection of refrigerator water filters and RO systems today to see which one best suits your needs.
Katie says
Virgil,
Thank you for reaching out to us. An inline filter may help with cloudiness in certain situations. Note, a reverse osmosis system is recommended to achieve the level of filtration necessary to produce clear ice.
Virgil Realin says
IWe just purchased a Samsung 4 door refrigerator. If I place aB in line water filter, will our Ice be less cloudy?
Katie says
fred,
Thank for sharing your experience with us. We’re sorry to hear that you were not happy with your Samsung Refrigerator.
fred zupp says
Don’t Buy Samsung Refrigerator, Ice cloudy and milk is not very Cold , settings will not allow colder settings and settings are not accurate. No way to get colder milk.
Katie says
Christopher,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We would recommend flushing the refrigerator filter. This requires dispensing water until sputtering stops and water is clear. Some filters may require dispensing up to 6 gallons. With the procedure above and the filtration via RO, you will achieve the cleanest ice possible. NOTE: because of the way the water moves in the refrigerator and is subsequently frozen, it may not be possible to create crystal clear ice in your unit.
*If possible, they could run the refrigerator without a filter (or install a by-pass). This would eliminate the filter as a possible cause of the less than desirable ice.
CHRISTOPHER M LOND says
I have an RO system connected to my Samsung refrigerator ice maker, which also has a filter and my ice is still cloudy.
Maybe the third party filter is lousy?
Maybe I should use an OEM filter?
Kory says
Hello Jim,
Did you flush the new filter for 2-3 gallons before using? Sometimes if the filter is not flushed for long enough, it will produce cloudy ice.
Jim says
I had an old Frigidaire and water feeding it was from a Kenmore R/O system. The ice was pretty much crystal clear. I just replace the fridge with a new Samsung and with the same water and additional filter in fridge. The ice is cloudy again! Ahhhh! Got to figure out why?
lorna says
our icemaker was making white ice cubes, but now the ice its making has become clear. weird?
t_thao says
I disagree:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/ice-balls-for-cocktails-best-home-tool-wintersmiths-does-clear-ice-melt-slower.html
Sincerely, Tova
Richard Anderson says
The condition that you are experiencing can be explained by doing this — fill a clear glass with water and leave undisturbed for several hours, or better over night, When looking at the contents at a later time you will find that the surface of the inside of the glass has a multitude of small bubbles attached to the walls of the glass. Those bubbles are the entrapped air that was released over time. When the water is introduced to your in home ice maker it does not have enough time to release that air which makes it cloudy. The commercial style ice maker systems use a trough/pump that allows the water to be circulated over and over as the water is freezing in multiple layers and each sequence allows the air to escape – hence the clear ice that you desire. Since water that is under pressure can not release the air that is entrapped– therefore cloudy ice is the result. There are some remedies but they do become some what complicated. But cloudy ice is ice, but just not as nice.
Kory says
Clear ice can be very hard to achieve–even with filtration! However, filtration (particularly RO Systems) is a good bet for clearer ice in the home, but still can be quite difficult to achieve. Do you have an RO System installed?
sonequa Horrell says
I have done all the things you stated in your notes for clear ice and I still don’t have it. I was told it was because of the mixture between air and water. Now I understand it’s from impurities in the water. My filter are change by a company the comes to the house and changes my filters on a schedule whether I need them or not. I still don’t have clear ice.