I just purchased a Alex Duetto 2 and wanted to get my direct plumb setup while I wait for it to arrive.
My general hardness and carbonate hardness are both 3 degrees. The water is also reported as "Moderately Soft" via the yearly water report from the town I live in. Is a softener necessary or should I just add a filter in the line?

Thanks in advance!

-R

By 3 degrees, are you meaning 3 grains/gallon? If so, you'd be good, but don't know what 'degrees' are w/ regard to hardness.

If you used an aquarium test, the result is in German degrees, a molarity measure equal to roughly 18 mg/L. Otherwise there are English, French and American degrees, all of which are lower.

If your degrees are indeed German, then 3 degrees of both is decent for the taste of espresso, will not create scale in the brew boiler, but will require very occasional descaling of the steam boiler (once in every few years). Since this is an easy procedure, you should not treat the water unless it has a bad natural taste.

With regard to water hardness, 'degrees' usually refers to 'French degrees of hardness.' 3 degrees, if accurate, indicates that you have 3 parts/100,000 of calcium carbonate. Titration for calcium may provide the most accurate measurement.

If your town measures calcium (and other parameters) in its water supply, they may be happy to provide much more accurate information taken at intervals (say monthly) which would provide you with a better feel for your water supply. Give them a call and ask. They may be thrilled that someone really cares what they do.

Edit: I see another_jim posted a reply while I was typing mine. He provided some very useful info for you. Cheers.

Thank you very much for the replies... I found some information as well on a conversion here...
http://www.bestfish.com/convert.html

The scale is degrees of German hardness.

dKH
To convert degrees of German hardness (dKH) to parts per million (ppm), multiply by 17.
To convert degrees of German hardness (dKH) to milliequivalents per liter (meq/l), divide by 2.8.

That said, I will be plumbing the machine and will just need a filter inline. EverPure seems to be the hot item on this forum but quite pricy. I would prefer to do a filter that is easy to change instead of an inline filter.

Since this will be only used for the espresso machine and will be mounted in a cabinet I would prefer for it to be relatively small.

Thanks again for the help/suggestions.

I was curious about this, too. We have soft water here - 60ppm (if those are the right units) before using a filter and 40ppm after. I know that harder water would theoretically be better for taste, but I wondered if all hardness was the same in terms of scale etc to the machine. In other words if I ever plumb in is it fine to just use the water or is it better to filter the water and then add some "good" hardness back in that was ideal with respect to taste vs. scale. I think this is probably overkill, but I'm curious. Since I've never had a plumbed in machine I've always just micromanaged my water and it has worked well.

Hugh

From what I have read/understood filtering and softening are two important concepts that get grouped together but are very different.

I feel that a filter is always a must, it will catch any particulates as well as remove chlorine and other taste altering chemicals. On the other hand softening will remove other minerals that cause scale build up. Softer water doesn't have the necessary taste requirement but extends the life of all appliances.

A whole house system would be more useful and beneficial if you have very hard water, this is because all your appliances will have less scale build-up over time and last longer. If you have "moderately soft" water like I do, a dedicated softener will last quite a while if it is needed at all. At 3.12 grains of hardness I am debating whether or not to put one in.

I will feel a filter is necessary always. If you have a tank only system then using a brita with soft water is perfect. If you are plumbing it in, it seems EverPure makes some fantastic systems but they are $$.

You have to look at is as protection of your investment and not overkill.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

-R

ronaldvalente wrote:From what I have read/understood filtering and softening are two important concepts that get grouped together but are very different. I feel that a filter is always a must, it will catch any particulates as well as remove chlorine and other taste altering chemicals. ...

I think this would indicate three concepts:

Filtering: To remove particulate matter.
Treatment: To remove chemicals, heavy metals, and other pollutants (lead, mercury, arsenic, chlorine, etc.)
Softening: To remove (lessen) hardness

We might just be dealing with semantics here..

Indeed we are, but important to separate and ensure that people know that a brita filter does not soften water. Only treats it for chlorine/copper/mercury.

-R

Looks like ever pure makes a SL filter which is for taste, odor, and scale.
Seems like the best option if you already have soft water.