I plan on getting an HX in the future. Leaning towards an Anita. Just had a question about the amount of water that gets flushed, pun definitely intended, down the drain. Not just for the Anita, but for any HX machine. Let's say, just to get a number, 10 ounces per cooling flush, maybe 2 to 3 shots a day, weekdays, 5 shots per day on the weekends. That's about 250 ounces of water a week. Round that up to 2 gallons. So 2 gallons a week, 52 weeks, 104 gallons a year. Probably a conservative estimate. Regular drinking water, Sparkletts or Arrowhead over here, run about $1 per gallon. So $100 a year on flushing water not taking into account the water flushed to clean the screen after the shot. How much do you flush?

Unless you have horribly hard water, get a pour over water filter and an in-tank water softener and save your money. The in-tank softener will work for modestly hard water and the filter will remove the sediment/iron/chlorine and other nasties that make your water taste and smell funny.

As to the amount needed for the cooling flush, that varies from machine to machine and pressurestat setting so the flushing routine I use will be meaningless for you. My machine is also plumbed in and drained out with an inline filter.

0.4L per cooling flush * 5 times a day * 365 days a year USING 1.87EUR (2.747217$) per m^3 -> 1.3651EUR (2.00546841$)

... compared to the price of power for the anita or coffee, i'd say lets disregard cooling flush water cost - at least over here in germany ;P

mckolit wrote:How much do you flush?

Different HX machines require different flush amounts. Of the ones I've used, the Quickmill Anita is in the middle of the pack, requiring around six ounces if idle for a long time. Isomacs are in the same range as the Quickmills, maybe slightly less. The Expobars in the US require the most of the E61 tribe, with the ECM Giotto not far behind. The Vibiemme Domobar Super requires the least flushing, especially between shots. The Elektra A3 and Semiautomatica are fire breathing dragons. For sake of argument, I would estimate:

• 4-6 ounce flush if idle for a long time
• 2-4 ounce flush if idle for 5-10 minutes
• 0-2 ounce flush if idle for less than 5 minutes

Worse case usage for an idle espresso machine is 6 ounces for the flush, 3 ounces for the espresso itself, and 3 ounces for a generous screen rinse at the end of the session, or about 12 ounces. Subsequent shots would be no more than 4 ounces for the flush, 3 ounces for the espresso itself, and 1 ounce to rinse the screen, or about 8 ounces.

If you are willing to accept less steaming power, another option is to reduce the boiler pressure (e.g., 0.7 bar is acceptable if you don't plan to make lattes). Recovery time will increase, but the flush amount will decrease significantly. Or get a double boiler and consume less water, but more electricity.

cannonfodder wrote:Unless you have horribly hard water, get a pour over water filter and an in-tank water softener and save your money.

Lately I've been using the Elektra Semiautomatica, which has no water level sensor. Since 9 out of 10 drinks are straight espresso, I use distilled water in the boiler and add a few ounces every few days. Needless to say, the boiler will never need descaling. If your local water is hard or the taste isn't acceptable, you could use (near) distilled water for the boiler and filtered tap water for the rest. Descaling the HX is easy (fill reservoir with descaler, run pump for 30 seconds, let sit for a spell. Repeat. Flush with fresh water).