Hello Mokka, well, you should be able to "trust" the service tech but I agree it does not hurt to get a second opinion paricularly from a business specialising in water quality in your area. Then go with your gut feeling. My company has water softener/filters that are intended for use with commercial espresso machines and they come in different sizes, from memory 6, 8 and 10/12 litre capacity. They look like a stainless steel fire extinguisher and are connected into the inlet water line under the bench/machine. The large one is pretty tall, they have to stand upright (or wont work properly) and usually you need to remove the shelf in the cupboard underneath the machine to fit it in. They are a permanent water filter and "rechargeable" softener. That is, every 3 weeks you do a 1/2 hour regenerating operation (strangely enough called "regeneration") on the thing to rejuvenate its capacity to soften the water passing through. If the water is exceptionally hard, you would say use the larger capacity one and regenerate it more often, simple as that. But some find this tedious and stop doing it. I believe there are much more modern water softeners around now that do their thing kind of automatically. For this, speak to the water quality business! But you might already be on the right track with a "scale inhibiting "filter". For all of this, speak to the water quality business! If after all that you decide you'd like one of our water softener/filters, please do not hesitate to contact off line. Regardz, FC.
