Saint Paul MN document on water hardness

by **bjax** on Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:43 pm

So I have read that 90 ppm of water hardness is desired. Can someone knowledgable in water treatment skim this document and tell me if I am reading this correctly?

http://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentView.asp?DID=4505

by **JohnB.** on Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:24 pm

bjax wrote:So I have read that 90 ppm of water hardness is desired. Can someone knowledgable in water treatment skim this document and tell me if I am reading this correctly?

http://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentView.asp?DID=4505

90PPM or harder is good for taste but your boiler/s would prefer 50ppm or less. I don't care for the taste of soft water so I compromise & run 80ppm water to my S1 & will descale as necessary.

by **another_jim** on Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:54 pm

The document is right that 90ppm water won't normally scale when cold. It will only slightly scale your hot water heater (and HX). However, at 250F inside the boiler, it will scale some; and 3 grains (50ppm) or less is the usual standard for espresso machines. If descaling is a major Pita, you may want to use a softenrer. If you can descale the maciune annually, you can go with the water as is.

by **EricL** on Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:00 pm

Brian,

I curious if you've measured your water hardness. I'm in Edmonds, and it's 20-30 ppm. Hot tub installers measured it at 20 ppm, I checked it with the water kit yesterday at < 30 ppm. Based on a chart in one of the threads on here, even under heat and pressure at that level we shouldn't have any problems with scaling. Thinking about a plumbed in upgrade, but while sales people recommend a softener, I'd like solid data from someone who hasn't got a financial interest.

by **bjax** on Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:29 am

Eric,
Correct, I lived in Seattle last year, the attachment is for Saint Paul MN where I currently reside.

by **bjax** on Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:05 am

http://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/Do...tView.asp?DID=1492

Jim,
here is a more detailed month by month analysis (december) is the hardness 105?

I also called Saint Paul Water and they stated it leaves the plant at 4-5 grains, but may pick up a grain in the pipes.

Brian

by **EricL** on Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:44 pm

Just a general question, anyone have low hardness (< 1grain/20 ppm) water and install a plumb in with no water softener? When we had the hot tub installed water testing showed Alkalinity at 30 ppm and Total hardness at 20 ppm. That's below the threshold for requiring softener on most charts I've seen.

by **sweaner** on Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:06 pm

Why would one install a softener with already soft water? Maybe just a filter.

by **EricL** on Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:39 pm

That's my point. Local store is pushing the water softener install for a plumbed in machine, but I question the necessity. Just looking for a sanity check.


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