Will rainwater wreck my new machine

davlee

I just purchased my first coffee machine - an Expobar Pulser with a water filter in the supply tank. The salesman advised against using my readily available rainwater supply unless it was filtered.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this. If a filter is required, what is recommended & can it simply screw onto the rainwater tank tap.

Thanks,
Dave

RichardM

The number one thing that will wreck the insides of a coffee machine is scale, which is generally absent from rainwater. I personally use rainwater in my machine and just run it through ceramic doulton drip filter (the one we use for drinking). As long as there isn't a lot of dirt or rust in it, rain water will be perfectly fine (which even the cheapest of filters will take out). (FYI my machine is an Expobar Office Control, which is almost identical to yours)

davlee

Thanks RichardM, Are you able to provide a link to the gravity filter you use?

Brett H

Hi Davlee, congratulations on your new machine and welcome to Crema.  Possibly the luckiest member here Posted a great site for filters... reply #31 http://www.bestcafes.com.au/forum/espresso-machines/espresso-machine-water-quality/msg26482/?topicseen#msg26482

RichardM

on 1344749783:

Thanks RichardM, Are you able to provide a link to the gravity filter you use?

http://durand.com.au/

FreshCoffee2

on 1344737947:

I just purchased my first coffee machine......The salesman advised against using my readily available rainwater supply unless it was filtered. Does anyone have any thoughts on this.....Thanks, Dave

Gosh I cant imagine why, myself and family live on rain water as does our Unico Splendor espresso machine. We see no scale at all in our kettles and pots after years of using it...... I do use filtration on our drinking water but it has no anti scale properties. Its just to safeguard us against bird crap, mosi or other larvae, dead animals / birds / frogs / snakes / mice / rats, giardia and chryptosporidium (?spelling) and viruses etc etc etc any or all of which could be present in our tanks from time to time........ My brother in law fished a sizeable decaying maggoty rat out of the intake "filter" on top of one of his tanks last week, and he has no filtration to the house. Lots of people dont...... And then he spent $198.00 on enough water conditioning agent to safeguard the 30 thousand litres in that tank (2 litres at $99.00 each). Maybe the salesman was worried about your health!

Lacehim

I agree with FC above.  Make sure it's filtered.  Would you eat off your roof?  Doubt it, so best to be safe, and filter before drinking.  Otherwise rainwater is fine. OT I know but I came across these guys who suggest using Volvic bottled water in their machines!!!  London water must be really bad so want to spend big $$$ filling your machine with bottled water.  Personally I think they've had a few too many espressos there or they earn far too much!  http://londiniumespresso.com/blogs/londinium-espresso-blog/1096042-espresso-standardisation-or-reducing-the-witchcraft-factor

UNM

on 1344774967:

I do use filtration on our drinking water but it has no anti scale properties. Its just to safeguard us against bird crap, mosi or other larvae, dead animals / birds / frogs / snakes / mice / rats, giardia and chryptosporidium (?spelling) and viruses etc etc etc any or all of which could be present in our tanks from time to time........

main reason for a filter on rainwater imnsho is to remove particles that can damage the machine. They can also alter the flavour profile. one to remove viruses (less than 0.01 micron iirc) is overkill as the heat will do for them anyway. just my opinion of course and the subject of filtration can often become heated. A huge amount of BS is spread about filtration by those who know little about it. my knowledge is limited, so you should bear that in mind and evaluate all opinions before deciding if/how to filter A piece of grit in your water can be an expensive repair for your machine. I use this as my main point of reference. oh and lacehim - London water is already well filtered by multiple sets of kidneys, so should be fine.

FreshCoffee2

On point of clarification. As far as I know the expobar machine purchased, has the little rechargeable water softener / filter cartridge fitted to the end of the intake pipe in its water reservoir. So for a salesman to recommend not to use rain water unless it is filtered, seems a little unreal. The particle filter is already there in the tank in the machine (as far as I know), and it is replaceable. In terms of other household (non coffee machine) use (as in most importantly, the "drinking fountain"), yes that is what my own filtration is geared for, & you could just as easily fill the coffee machine from the non drinking tap and allow the machine's filter to do the job, as long as you are prepared to replace it as necessary. Hope that helps.