I read some of the previous posts on descaling and water hardness issues, but didn't see this mentioned, at what sort of level of hardness should you have a water softener, based on the paper strip tests and water quality reports our water has a hardness of ~120mg/l, and based on the noises, the steam boiler needs descaling. (after ~2 years).

Thanks
Simon

From recollection, the water in the SF Bay area is quite nice as is.

TDS 120mg/l should be about right for coffee without treatment. Here is a reference page. Not everybody agrees with this recommendation, but it is a good starting point.

http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=water-standards

I'm in Berkeley and have great EBMUD water to start with but when I got my new Linea I decided to put a filter system(and pressure regulator) in for extra peace of mind and to minimise maintenance worries. I have an Everpure QC71 double cartridge setup. I just put fresh filters in after a year and went with ESO7 type which do several filtering tasks and a bit of bypass to insure enough mineral content. Seems to work just fine. I looked into Omnipure replacement filters which are a lot less expensive but couldn't find much in the way of user reviews so went with the original brand.
Duke

My well water runs about 7 grains/120ppm of hardness with the TDS varying between 127-230ppm depending on the time of year. I use the generic softener/carbon filter system that CCS sells & keep the hardness in the 2-3 gr range. I'm surprised that you made it 2 years before needing a descaling. With my water I'd be lucky to make it 6 months without the softener. I'm guessing that your local water has a much lower TDS level??

Thanks everyone, that's great info. Based on the the Water Quality report, average TDS would be ~140mg/l by my calculation. (assuming i'm reading it right, its mostly mumbo jumbo to me)

I already have the CCS generic carbon filter, so probably makes the most sense to add their softener as well.

Cheers
Simon
WQR: http://www.marinwater.org/documents/awqr2012english.pdf

My understanding of TDS is purely from too many geeky articles and may not apply to the general practice.

Softer water with excessive sodium ions swells the coffee fiber, and retards water flow in espresso coffee cake. The water in Italy is actually quite hard, and in Seattle/Portland and SF Bay area is softer, and I suspect this could contribute to the popularity of updosing and ristretto here, at least a few years back.

The nerve endings on the tongue needs certain amount of calcium and sodium to give the pleasant organoleptic experience of coffee and espresso. Although increased TDS causes scales, too low of TDS increases pipe leakage. The recommended TDS is generally a balance of taste vs machine maintenance.

So if the water from MMWS is about 120-140mg/l, I would skip on the water softener, and just add filter as needed for taste only, assuming I can taste the difference of tap vs filtered water.

You seem to be confusing TDS & Hardness. My water will test 120PPM TDS & up whether it is at 7 grains of hardness or 3 grains. If you were going strictly by taste the ideal might be 5-6 grains of hardness but we make compromises to protect the machines. I settled on 2-3 grains hardness as my compromise between taste & maintenance.

And for the OP, if you want a mind blowing-brain squeezing amount of detail, look at Jim Schulman's water page here: http://web.archive.org/web/200805260723 ... erfaq.html