Filters life-span greatly differs on a Jen Air Fridge

[supportQuestions]

I live in Australia and have owned a Jen Air fridge for 5 years now. I always purchased the UKF5001AXX filter from where I purchased the fridge here in Australia. Last year I decided to look online and purchase my own filters and I was shocked when I seen the HUGE savings. To cut a long story short I purchased eleven (11) UKF7003AXX filters online because I was told that the UKF5001AXX was discontinued. For some reason the UKF7003AXX were only lasting me a Maximum of 3 weeks, in fact after 1 week the water was a great deal slower and after the third week it literally took over 5 minutes to fill up a 500 ml bottle. The UKF5001AXX always lasted me a year but I changed them every 6 to 9 months. I used 5 of the (11) UKF7003AXX filters and each one lasted 3 weeks. The UKF5001AXX filter isn't discontinued here in Australia so I purchased another UKF5001AXX filter in March this year (2007) from where I purchased my fridge just as I used to do prior to purchasing online to see if the new UKF5001AXX filter will last only a few weeks like the UKF7003AXX filters did. Thankfully I still have the same UKF5001AXX filter in my fridge today and that's been working perfectly for over 4 months now. My query is: Do you have any idea why these two different filter models are NOT lasting any where near as long as each other?

[waterfilters]

The filter service life will depend on the contaminants the filter reduces. The UKF7003AXX reduces lead, cysts, chlorine, sediment. If you have high levels of any of these in your water, the filter service life will decrease significantly. I don't know the UKF5001AXX specs since these are no longer available in the US and have been replaced by the UKF7003AXX filter which is the only option in the US. It's very possible the UKF5001AXX reduces less contaminants and sediment which is why they last longer (the flow rate is greater for longer). I'm glad you are still able to get the UKF5001AXX in your country.