I'm not trying to start a thread discussing the best water for an espresso machine. I am well aware what is considered best, but I'm in a bit of a funny situation here.

I'm moving, and will be plumbing in my Anita, and I'm buying a double boiler around christmas time. Regardless of which one I choose, it too will be plumbed in.

Long story short... I had terrible water coming into the house through the mains. 17grains, with iron and chlorine. It took a while to find a system to completely remove all the iron, but my plumber and I found one, which does a great job. No chlorine, No iron, and softened down to 4 grains(~70ppm, if my math is right), with standard softener salt, found in hardware stores. The iron was my biggest hurdle... We needed to get the iron out of the water. So, because of that, I've come to terms with the fact that I likely won't be able to direct plumb, and get my water perfect. Ok.

Now.. I don't want to run a Flo-Jet setup.. One of my reasons for an upgrade is a direct plumb to the main. No water bottle switching or refilling, ever. Of course, I WILL, if the taste of my espresso isn't to my liking on a direct plumb. It would be silly not too. Anyway..

So let's say I take a carbon calcite filter and a 1 micron sediment filter, and place them before my machine. Does anybody have any idea of where the calcite filter will get my water to, hardness wise? I'm hoping I can get it to at least 100ppm. When I measured alkalinity with my test strips, it read just over 100 ppm (its a simple color comparison, and it was EVER SO SLIGHTLY different), so, IIRC, that's in the right area. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks guys,
Jeff

About 10 to 15 ppm minerals. I've recently repeated the experiments I did for the water FAQ, but doing 14 gram SOs rather than 18 gram comfort food blends. The results were, for all practical purposes the same.

So here's the graph, without further advice on what you should do:

Jim's comments aside, I wouldn't mess with a calcite filter on an ion exchange filter. 10-15 ppm sounds about right, and I don't think you'll find it makes a difference: I used one on my Vetrano a few years ago with a similar setup (softener -> carbon filter -> calcite filter -> ... -> machine), and I couldn't tell a difference. at all. Granted, this wasn't taste tests or even side-by-side, but fair warning that such a change isn't likely to get you some kind of eureka moment of better espresso the way switching from RO to just about anything else with higher TDS probably will.

Sorry I can't help more, but that's my advice--don't waste your money. If you wanna see what you're missing, try getting some samples of this stuff, or just your hard tap water and compare shots as best you can switching back and forth (sucking from a reservoir and flushing out the HX in between). If you can tell an improvement with the hard water over the softened water, then you know what you should do. Otherwise, don't lose any sleep!

My tap water tested just over 120ppm on my TDS meter. I put a 3 micron carbon filter on the mains and did not worry about it. I descaled in the spring and fall, ran the machine 24/7. I never had a problem and my espresso tasted very good IMHO. Something to remember, put the filters BEFORE the regulator. You can get a pretty big pressure drop going through a filter.

Thanks guys,

To be honest, that is pretty much what I assumed. I figured that the Calcite filter would be used for an RO system purely to get the machine to sense water in the boiler, IE: not add enough to make a worthwhile difference, taste wise.

Nicholas, Once I move in and get my machines set up, I planned on trying the AB packets to see what, if any difference I could notice. And if it IS a noticeable difference, and worth using them, then I probably will. Im not 100% against using a Flo-Jet... That was my original plan.. But when I decided to put my Espresso Bar in a different spot of the house, and realized I could do a direct plumb and drain, which excited me. So, we'll see what happens.

Where I live Currently, the water coming is is good, just hard.. But no bacteria, Iron, Chlorine etc etc. So Ive got a whole-house softener, which, again, puts the water at about 3 grains. And since Ive got a pour-over machine, ive been able to mix tap/treated water to get the water between 7-8grains, alkalinity about 100.. So I guess Ive spoiled myself. But maybe Ill get lucky and won't notice enough of a difference to care. That'd be nice. I am going to put a micron sediment filter for piece of mind. And yes, regulator after the filter(s). . . Question; can a pressure regulator raise pressure, if needed?(just curious)

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help

Oh, and by the by, Dave, how is your house coming? If you're anything like me, I bet your just itching to move in

JmanEspresso wrote:Question; can a pressure regulator raise pressure, if needed?

No, you'd need a pump for that.

Thanks Dan,

That is what I figured, but I wanted to be sure.

Man! Its getting so close to when I can finally have an actual plumbed in machine. I should have some time during next week to run the water lines. Im so excited to actually have my Anita properly plumbed in and drained out.

I appreciate it very much guys, you guys are always a big help... Thanks!

Jeff

You've mentioned here several times that you plan to purchase a DB machine in the very near future. I assume that you also plan to sell your Anita when that happens?

Just a question for others to perhaps answer but if you make modifications to your Anita to plumb it in might you be lowering its resale value?

GC7 wrote:. . . if you make modifications to your Anita [or other pourover machine] to plumb it in might you be lowering its resale value?

No. The potential resale value will increase and the pool of prospective purchasers will expand. Why? Since the machine can be quickly and simply changed back to pourover, the seller can offer the option of either pourover or plumbed in, purchaser's choice.

I dont think putting the direct connect kit would make it less in regards to resale... Aside from two holes in the back of the case, it can easily be switched back to a reservoir machine, with the option to plumb in... which to me would be a nice selling point. But it doesn't matter anyway... Im not going to sell Anita.