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Can You Use Keurig 2.0 Without Water Filter? Explained

Starting your day with a fresh cup of coffee straight from your Keurig machine can make any morning better, no matter how badly it starts out. But when your Keurig water filter is dirty, your coffee might not taste quite as tasty. This begs the question, “Can you use Keurig 2.0 without water filter?”

You can use a Keurig 2.0 without a water filter. A Keurig machine’s water filter helps remove tap water’s unpleasant taste, but your machine can function without it. Still, if you want to enjoy the best-tasting hot beverages, you might want to use the water filter in your Keurig.

If you’d like to find out what happens when you remove a Keurig 2.0’s water filter, you’re in the right place!

What Happens When You Use a Keurig 2.0 Without the Water Filter?

If you remove the Keurig 2.0 water filter components and attempt to brew a beverage, the machine will siphon water from the tank just as it normally does. The only difference is that your machine won’t be able to filter the water in the tank before the brewing process.

The water filter setup in a Keurig 2.0 is essentially a tall plastic cylinder, a water filter cartridge, and a circular plastic piece that helps the systems snap into place within the Keurig machine’s water tank. When you remove this system, your Keurig continues to function normally.

So, why does the Keurig 2.0 even have a water filter if the machine can continue brewing beverages without it?

Why Does the Keurig 2.0 Have a Water Filter?

Tap water taste and quality vary depending on your location. 

The Keurig 2.0 has a built-in water filtration system to help remove unpleasant tastes (like the taste of chlorine) from tap water, producing better-tasting beverages.

Though many coffee lovers and tea drinkers have a water filter pitcher or faucet filter in their homes, some don’t. The Keurig 2.0 has a water filter to ensure everyone can enjoy clean-tasting beverages without a chlorine aftertaste, regardless of their in-home water filtration setup.

Do Drinks Taste Different Without the Keurig 2.0 Water Filter?

Your favorite K-Cup beverages may taste different after you stop using the built-in water filtration system. If your local tap water has a chlorine taste when unfiltered, and you’re using tap water in your machine’s tank, your beverages may taste slightly bitter or metallic.

For the tastiest and most satisfying cups of coffee, you’ll want to fill your Keurig 2.0’s water tank with filtered water. Of course, investing in water filtration pitchers or faucet water filters is an extra expense you might not be ready to take on. 

Additionally, remembering to change the filters in these devices (and refill your water pitcher after each use) can be challenging. So the water filter system in your Keurig 2.0 could be a convenient way to ditch these additional steps and expenses while also enjoying the best-tasting beverages.

Besides, changing the water filter in a Keurig 2.0 only takes a few minutes, and filter cartridges can last up to two months. 

How Do You Change the Water Filter In a Keurig 2.0?

Here are the steps to change the water filter in your Keurig 2.0: 

1. Remove the upper filter holder from the tank by pulling upward on it. 
2. Discard the old water filter cartridge. 
3. Soak the new cartridge in cool water for five minutes.
4. Place it in the upper filter holder.
5. Seal it with the lower filter holder.
6. Push it back into the tank. 

If you’d like to continue using the water filter in your Keurig 2.0, you’ll be happy to know that changing the filter typically only takes a few minutes. For a visual guide illustrating this process, check out this helpful video:

Benefits of Using the Keurig 2.0 Without a Water Filter

Now that we’ve established that you can use a Keurig 2.0 without a water filter, let’s take a moment to discuss the potential benefits of ditching the built-in filtration system. 

After all, changing your machine’s water filter (especially if you already filter your tap water) can be a real pain, especially first thing in the morning!

If you’d rather use your Keurig 2.0 without its filter system, you can look forward to:

• Never having to replace the water filter cartridge.
• Enjoying slightly faster brew times.
• No more water filter reminders from your Keurig machine.

Though Keurig recommends that you change your water filter cartridge only once every two months, changing your water filter cartridge first thing in the morning before brewing yourself a cup of joe can be annoying. 

When you remove the water filtration system in the tank, you’ll never need to worry about buying replacement cartridges and handling that early-morning filter change ever again. You might also enjoy faster brew times!

With the filter in place, the machine has to work a little harder to pull water through the water filter cartridge and feed it through the small metal tubes that heat the water. You can think about it like this — Imagine that you’re trying to pour water into a cup covered by a thick canvas bag of sand. 

The water will likely collect in the bag before slowly dripping into your cup. Now imagine that the bag is gone. You could pour water into your cup far more quickly, right? Keurig 2.0 machines with water filters work in much the same way.

Besides, when you remove the water filter from your Keurig tank, you can say goodbye to your machine’s pesky filter change reminders. Here’s how to turn them off:

1. Go into your machine’s ‘Settings’ menu.
2. Select ‘Water Filter Reminder.’
3. Disable it by pressing ‘Off’ or pressing the ‘Enable’ button so that it is no longer highlighted.
4. Select ‘Save’ to confirm your settings.

Voila! No more reminders to change a water filter you’re not using.

Drawbacks of Using the Keurig 2.0 Without a Water Filter

Removing the water filter system from your Keurig machine can be a relief, especially if you’ve been getting constant reminders to change the filter. But there’s one notable drawback of going without it—decreased beverage quality.

Now, this potential disadvantage isn’t going to affect every household. 

For example, suppose you use a water filter pitcher or faucet filter to remove unpleasant tastes from your home’s tap water. In that case, you likely won’t notice a difference in drink quality after removing the Keurig water filter.

But if you don’t filter your water before pouring it into your Keurig’s tank, you might notice a difference in taste the next time you brew a cup of coffee or your favorite herbal tea. After all, more than 98% of the tap water in the United States is treated with chlorine.

While this helpful chemical kills potentially dangerous bacteria and viruses in local water supplies, it can also make your tap water taste like a pool. Water filters help remove chlorine flavors, leaving your water tasting pure and unspoiled.

Water filters can also help remove minerals from hard water, reducing the amount of calcium build-up on the inside of your Keurig. So utilizing the built-in water filtration system (or filtering your water beforehand) might save you from constant Keurig descaling and cleaning and help extend the lifespan of your machine.

Final Thoughts

I hope I have answered your question can you use Keurig 2.0 without water filter? If you’re tired of changing your Keurig 2.0’s water filters, you could opt to use your machine without the water filter system. Plenty of coffee lovers ditch the water filtration system and use tap or pre-filtered water instead.

However, if the tap water in your home has a strong chlorine taste or isn’t the best quality, you might want to continue using the built-in water filter. After all, a Keurig machine can brew you a fresh cup of tea or coffee, but it can’t remove contaminants in your tap water without the help of its water filter.