Would my fridge's water dispenser count since it contains a water filter? Or is everyone referring to those fancy filters that get installed in-line with your kitchen sink?


Here's my filter inside my fridge..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003BEY63Y/

It depends on what kind of values you get when you test the water that comes out of your fridge's filter. Below are some links to testing kits/strips. Once you know the values you can predict scale accumulation. Before that you are just shooting in the dark.

Hach 5b Test Kit (titration)
Hach 5-in-1 Test Strips
API GH and KH Test Kit (titration)
API PH Test Kit (titration)
API 5-in-1 Test Strips

Cheers!
Merle

Why would you want to put cold refrigerated water into the water tank of a machine that needs hot water to operate? You would need to let it sit and warm to room temperature before you dump it in. Otherwise you are killing your thermal stability by pushing ice cold water into your hot boiler. However, before you do anything, you need to know what you have. Is your water hard enough to even worry about.

Good point I haven't thought of. I haven't purchased my machine yet so I'm just planning ahead. I tend to run surgical tubing from my fridge's dispenser to 1 gallon water jugs and fill up 4-5 at a time and store them in a 2nd fridge - that way I've always got a gallon of cold filtered water ready when I need it for drinking, pour-over coffee etc. Waiting for the fridge to fill up a cup of water always makes me have to pee so I like to do it in large batches.

http://i.imgur.com/V5gPa1k.jpg

Pur doesn't have much technical detail on those filters - their FAQs imply it's a carbon block with some agent that reduces lead and mercury, and would do little or nothing to reduce the scaling. As Merle said, you need to know the hardness (and alkalinity) of your water - it may or may not need softening. Water utilities often provide an analysis, look for it online. If you get numbers for your tap water you can use an online LSI calculator, or Jim Schulman's insanely long water FAQ to help decide what kind of treatment you may need.

Another useful, inexpensive, and easy tool is a TDS meter. Low TDS readings are a good indication of low hardness, and high TDS in untreated water usually implies high hardness.

I take my pool water in for testing, I guess I could always have them test my tap water?

My wife's parents live next to us, and they have a water softening system installed in their home. I may just end up filling up a 5 gallon jug at their house and using that.

Conductivity based TDS meters will still read high with Cation exchange water softeners so you may be better off with the hardness test kits. The TDS meters work great with reverse osmosis filtered water, however.