Snake oil and other things.

Dry_bean

AngerManagement wrote:

an 13 is what ???

Darn, first mistake I've made in years. :🙂 Correction made. :-[

RichardM

E61 wrote:

beanflying wrote:

100mg/l is fairly good but consider our local supply at 800+ mg/l 😛 then to be fair $500 systems are on the cheap end to clean it up. Water treatment needs to be done on a case by case basis and sweeping statements about what is needed on the net I agree are OTT.

If anyone's interested I have some water test strips to give away if you are curious about the hardness of your water. (Just PM Me) I'm not an expert and don't sell filteration systems but it might be interesting if people post their results. Maybe tell us what the reading was and where you are and how you think it affects your coffee (if at all) If nothing else it might prove to dispel some of the mistruths flying around.

I got my test strip today and tested my tank water (which is what I run through the machine). It was pretty well half way between 0 and 50ppm - so let's call it 25ppm, which is fantastic 🙂 - no wonder nothing happens when I run descaling solution through my machine.

Rider

[quote author=Dry bean. link=topic=1300.msg10295#msg10295 date=1293676507] ...if I ain

RichardM

I've said it before and I'll say it again - for the cost of a good water filter...just collect your own, run through a cheap filter so it's fine to drink, and it will be better than running town water through a >$500 filter, both for taste, and for your coffee machine. I'd love to know if anyone has hard tank water.

Rider

AngerManagement wrote:

What... I do not need an expensive RO system and then have to re mineralise and check to confirm how good I am.. :🙂 :🙂 :🙂 :🙂

AM, I am just so glad you didn't throw me to the wolves ;D ;D ;D ;D

RichardM

Toowoomba water is reported to be around 350ppm (haven't actually tested myself) so I'm doing a huge favour to myself and the town by catching my own. The filter I use to run it through is a Doulton ceramic gravity filter - which only removes organic material, bacteria, and chlorine. I don't like my water to be stupidly clean.

Rider

AngerManagement wrote:

Brita is better than nothing and even I have used. The issue is the same as the tank filters and the big systems... Maintenance of the filter and cartridge. The Brita just has an issue with letting lots of carbon and or other bit excape when new or damaged... Mind you an inline filter in the tank will help to off set this. But as you know, many forget OR do not bother OR even remove teh tank filter and at some stage..... Say no more.

Yes mate and the Brita jug in the fridge is maintained by the lovely Natalie. As you know, grew up in Nigeria as an mk, so she is very vigilant about the filter. Called me blessed 🙂 Reminder in my electronic calendar re changing the cartridge in the machine. So, if I get it all wrong, I'll need to kick my own arse ;D

Dry_bean

Here's a link to a little light reading written by Jim Schulman http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html Jim says (This is not meant to be the authoritative word on water quality for coffee, I don't have nearly the expertise for that.) perhaps not but he's way ahead of me. From what I've gleaned from a quick scan it seems to me water hardness is a very real issue for high volume situations, I can understand a cafe owner having spent big $$$$$ on a state of the art machine wanting to protect his investment. Home owners are a different kettle of fish, seems the build up of scale generated by the half dozen cups a day most of us make can be controlled easily by regular descaling. The interesting point he makes is that water hardness is only part of the problem, seems alkalinity and temperature are also major factors. I found section 6 on "Estimating Scale Deposition Rates" interesting and informative reading. 🙂

hiphipharar

Rider wrote:

Bought the VBM in February and really started getting paranoid about exactly this. Did a stupid amount of internet digging, to-ing and fro-ing and stressing about what was the best solution, as my whole suburb would implode but more importantly my coffee is crap, and finally decided to start basic.

"Welcome to Espresso machine Paranoia Anonymous. Hi I'm Steve and I'm obsessed by the fact that my coffee may not be as good as everyone else says their's is" I imagine I would receive pretty much the same water as you in the Ryde area. When my machine was last descaled there was very little on the mushroom. I use a fairly common brand undersink cartridge filter but the name escapes me atm- no demineraliser. I don't think you need one for domestic use

Lacehim

The last time I tested the water here on the Sunshine coast the result was at the lower end of the scale 0-50 ppm I think it was. (Thanks E61 for the test strip. Won it at the Brisbane meet a few months ago) That was straight tap water but I do use water from my fridge which is put through a taste filter. I can look into my boiler when I fill it and yes there is a slight coating of scale in there but it's not heaps and well I've found during my rebuild that scale isn't as evil as it's made out to be! I've descaled my Lucy twice (6 monthly) and nothing came out scale wise. 🙂 As mentioned about I think before you spend money on big filters for home use you should test your water. Then decide on a solution that fits your budget.

shape_shifter

Another water testing result, straight out of the tap. We are near Maitland, about 45 minutes west of Newcastle, NSW. Our results came in a zero, it was definitely the zero colour not in between the zero and 50. Great results for us I think, no scale problems, just copper problems ;D

RichardM

shape_shifter wrote:

Another water testing result, straight out of the tap. We are near Maitland, about 45 minutes west of Newcastle, NSW. Our results came in a zero, it was definitely the zero colour not in between the zero and 50. Great results for us I think, no scale problems, just copper problems ;D

Eww. Copper.

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