Feedback on water for Profitec espresso machine

[Firewater]

I just bought a Profitec 600 and wanted your thoughts on my water. Currently I use a carbon filter for my drinking water (Durpure UPF 8 Plus) and due for a replacement. Since I have the new machine I wanted to figure out if I needed to get something besides a carbon filter to reduce the risk of scale build up.

Test via API KH GH drop kit

GH- between 35.8-53.7ppm (3 drops however 2 drops seem to start the change)
KH- 214.8- 232.7 (13 drops)

I also used a strip test that showed it between 40 and 80 ppm. The color reference blocks were 40 and 80 and the test strip was a little darker than the 40 but lighter than the 80. which make sense based on the API test.

PH 7.0-7.2 from a test strip seem to be a touch under 7.2 (scale was 6.8, 7.2 and it was a little lighter than the 7.2 reference block)

Attached is a water report dated 7/15/2020 from the city. According to the city this is the source that feeds my address.


it seems that the GH is on the lower side however the alkalinity seems high.

What do you guys think?

[homeburrero]

This analysis is unusual for untreated tap water. Can you tell us more about your location and water utility?

The high alkalinity, high sodium numbers, and low hardness are unusual for a city water -- something you would see in water that has been treated by a conventional ion exchange softener. We have seen a couple examples of water utilities who do this, but it is not at all common.

If you do a conventional scale risk calculation with your numbers you'll get a Langelier Saturation Index* at 125 C that indicates you would expect some scale even at your low calcium hardness. But this water is unusual enough that I'm not sure you can put too much faith in an LSI calculation.

Before making a decision about if and how to treat this water I think it would be best to get an idea about the chloride level in that water. If you have very high chloride ion (above 30 - 50 mg/L) then you have good reason to go with a reverse osmosis system and remineralizer, which would take care of any scale risk along with taking care of corrosion risk from the chloride. The water utility may have numbers for that. If you want to test it yourself see The skinny on chloride testing.


* For info about the LSI, see Jim Schulman's Insanely Long Water FAQ.

[Firewater (original poster)]

Thanks. I reached out for more information from the city and will report back.

Water is supplied by the city, Conroe Texas.

[Firewater (original poster)]

This analysis is unusual for untreated tap water....... Before making a decision about if and how to treat this water I think it would be best to get an idea about the chloride level in that water.

Looks like chloride is 46 on the city's report.


Any other numbers you need. City sent 16 pages.

[homeburrero]

That's a tough one to call because of its unusually high bicarbonate and borderline high chloride ion.

Your total hardness, at about 32 mg/L (1.8 ˚dH) is well below the 4 ˚dH where your Profitec user's manual recommends softening. But with that unusually high bicarbonate alkalinity it may scale a little anyway. Something to keep an eye out for if you go with simple carbon filtered tap water.

That chloride level is a little above the point where La Marzocco and others recommend going to RO and a remineralizer. To be conservative you could do that and have no worries about scale or corrosion, and be well situated even if your water utility changes sources or treatment methods in the future.

The other no-worry option if you are using the reservoir would be to use a good bottled water or a simple safe recipe like R. Pavlis water.