We're moving from where our water is ~100 ppm to >200 ppm. Our RO unit wastes water, as do ion exchanger water softeners; we'd rather do the right thing environmentally. So, we're considering installing a whole house Aquasana water treatment, even though it costs way more. But, first and foremost...the espresso must be right! Do any of you have an Aquasana whole house unit? Does it change the taste of the coffee? Does it reduce/eliminate scaling? Thanks in advance.

We're parked in a 100 year old former printing factory with Minneapolis city water. Although Minneapolis water is generally pretty good, water quality in our location is poor. We were forced to use bottled water for cupping for almost 2 years. About 6 months ago, we installed an Aquasana under sink unit. Our water quality is now as good or better than our water service provided. At the very least, save for the second tap, we've ceased to think about it.

I can't speak to hardness as city water is relatively soft. We see some scaling in our espresso machine and Technivorm brewer, but nothing excessive and easily handled.

I'll just say that we're very happy with Aquasana. I'd probably do a price comparison, but if it lined up, I wouldn't hesitate to install a whole house unit.

Steve,

Thanks for the reply. Is your unit the one called a Claryum (no pressure tank) or an RO (has pressure tank)?

This is more complicated than I thought...turns out Aquasana now has three different technologies, two for the under-sink and a third for the whole house. The one I'm looking at is called a Rhino. The Rhino has a large blue bottle over which there is a small blue bottle, plus a few other filters depending on the model. So, to restate my question, does anyone use an Aquasana Rhino and how does that work for making espresso, scale control and so on? Thanks!

If you just get the basic unit it seems like a lot of money for what looks to be just a giant carbon filter. If you look at the reviews for the Softener thing, they aren't very good, I read the ones for the replacement cartridges. A 20" by 4" housing is $35 and a carbon filter with lead reduction is under $100. If you can live with the standard 2.5" x20' filters, the carbon cartridges are closer to $25 and the housing is under $20.

Ira

Nunas wrote:Steve,

Thanks for the reply. Is your unit the one called a Claryum (no pressure tank) or an RO (has pressure tank)?

Claryum.