Frigidaire refrigerator water filter: which one fits

Oohunt Deal Desk · Buying guides · November 2, 2026 · 7 min read

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Frigidaire sells three water cartridges and one air cartridge, and the only reliable way to know which you need is to read the part number off the one already in the fridge. The water filters are the ULTRAWF, the EPTWFU01 and the WF3CB. The air filter is the PAULTRA2. All four are on a six-month schedule.

That sounds like something the manufacturer would tell you, and it is worth saying that it mostly does not. Frigidaire has a support article called “How do I know which water filter I need for my refrigerator?” and it does not name a single filter. It warns about look-alike cartridges, then says that “most Owner’s Manuals will provide you the water filter information specific to your model” and points at a lookup tool. Useful if you still have the manual. This page is for everyone who does not.

The three Frigidaire water filters

They are not variations on a theme. Two sit inside the fresh food compartment and one is a push-in cartridge, and Frigidaire maintains a separate install guide for each fitting rather than one guide covering all of them. That is the clearest signal available that they are not swaps for one another.

ULTRAWF, sold as PureSource Ultra.Frigidaire’s own install guide for it is titled “How to Install The PureSource Ultra Water Filter (ULTRAWF)”, which is the name to match if you are cross-checking a cartridge you have already pulled out.

EPTWFU01, sold as PureSource Ultra II.The newer in-compartment cartridge, with its own guide, “How To Install Your PureSource Ultra II Water Filter”. The II matters. Treat it as a different part from the ULTRAWF, not a revision of it.

WF3CB, sold as PureSource 3. A push-in cartridge rather than a twist-in one, so it is physically obvious which of the three you are holding once it is out.

Each of them has its own page here, with the manufacturer wording and the comparisons people search for alongside it: ULTRAWF, EPTWFU01, WF3CB and the PAULTRA2 air filter.

How to tell which one you have

In order of reliability. First, the old cartridge: the part number is printed on it, and this is the only method that cannot be wrong. Second, the owner’s manual, which Frigidaire says carries the filter information for your specific model. Third, Frigidaire’s own “Find Your Water Filter” lookup on its parts pages.

What we are deliberately not doing is printing a table of fridge models against filters. No source this machine can open publishes one, Frigidaire itself defers to the manual, and a guess with a purchase attached to it is worse than no answer. If the old filter is long gone and the manual with it, the model number on the sticker inside the fresh food compartment is what the lookup tool wants.

Every six months, and what the light actually is

Frigidaire says that “in general, you should change your water filter every six months to ensure the highest possible water quality”, and that “on most models, the Water Filter Status on your display will illuminate and prompt you when it’s time to replace the filter”.

One detail in that article is easy to miss and worth more than the interval: if the fridge has not been used for a while, during a move for example, Frigidaire recommends changing the filter before reinstalling it. The clock is not purely about water volume.

On most fridges that status light is a counter rather than a sensor, which is why it can come on with life left in the cartridge or stay dark on an old one in a low-use house. That mechanism, and what to do when the filter is overdue and the replacement has not arrived, is the subject of how often to change a refrigerator water filter, which covers the indicator and bypass mode across brands.

Prime the system after you swap it

This is the step that generates the “my new filter made the water worse” complaints, and Frigidaire documents it plainly. Air gets trapped in the lines, which it says “can result in 2 or 3 empty ice maker cycles”, and if the system is not flushed “the first ice cubes may be discolored or have an odd flavor”.

Its procedure is four steps: press and hold a glass or pitcher against the water dispenser paddle; keep it there until water comes out, which “may take about 1-2 minutes”; keep dispensing for several minutes to flush the system and plumbing of any impurities; then discard that water and repeat the process a few more times.

So cloudy or odd-tasting water straight after a filter change is expected rather than a sign of a bad cartridge. Flush it properly before concluding anything.

The air filter is a different cartridge

Frigidaire fridges with PureAir take an air filter as well, and people replace the water filter for years without realising. It runs on the same schedule: Frigidaire says to “change the air filter every six months”, with the filter status light prompting on most models, and that replacing it “will ensure optimal filtering of refrigerator odors”. It also notes you may want to adjust the interval “depending on the types and amounts of food you typically store”, which is a more honest piece of guidance than a flat number.

One caution on part numbers here.Frigidaire’s install guide is titled for the AF-2, while the air filter widely sold for these fridges is the PAULTRA2. Retailers list them as separate part numbers, some sell them as equivalents, at least one describes PAULTRA2 as no longer available, and we could not find a Frigidaire cross-reference confirming the two are interchangeable. We are not going to tell you they are. Read the number off the cartridge or off the manual before ordering.

On “compatible” filters

There is a large market in third-party cartridges sold as compatible, usually at a fraction of the price, and Frigidaire has an obvious commercial interest in the answer. Its position, for what it is worth coming from the company selling the genuine part, is that “compatible isn’t comparable”: it describes its own filters as offering “3 levels of carbon filtration” and as “NSF certified”, and says look-alike filters “aren’t guaranteed to offer the same water quality”.

Read that as a manufacturer’s claim rather than an independent test, because that is what it is. The part of it that is checkable is the certification: NSF certification is held per product and is listed publicly, so a third-party cartridge either has it for the standards it claims or it does not, and that is a question you can answer about a specific filter rather than about the category. What we are not going to do is tell you a cheap filter is unsafe, because we have not tested one and neither has anyone quoted above.

Frigidaire filters worth a look

One per fitting, plus the air filter. Match the part number to the cartridge already in your fridge rather than to this list. Prices change often, so check the current one on Amazon.

Common questions

The same six-month habit applies to the jug on the counter: see how often to change a Brita filter and what Brita filters actually remove. If your coffee maker has one too, that is Keurig water filter cartridges. More in home & kitchen.

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