Stop feeding your ice maker hard water

Softened or reverse-osmosis water is the best way to keep scale out of your ice maker. The whole problem is dissolved calcium and magnesium — they’re what leave that crusty white buildup behind when water freezes or evaporates.

If you have hard tap water, the fix is simple: run it through a water softener or an RO system before it hits the ice maker. Softened water alone is enough for most people. RO is overkill unless your water is really bad, but it also works and makes clearer ice.

No softener? Then your backup plan is descaling on a schedule. Vinegar or a citric-acid solution works fine, but you’re managing the problem instead of preventing it. That gets old fast.

One note: perfectly pure RO water can taste flat in ice, and some people say it’s slightly aggressive on metal. If you care, a cheap fix is blending a little tap water back in. But for scale prevention alone, soft water is the answer.

Don’t overthink this. Soft water