Acqua Panna New Water Analysis Report for 2020

[Derryisreal]

Hi to all of you, great folks, this is my first post!
I will soon be upgrading my Rancilio Silvia to ECM Classika, so I have been reading about water throughout the whole weekend. Admittedly, I am more confused than ever . For the time being, it seems prudent (and easiest) to use bottled water. Now, La Marzocco used to recommend Volvic, but they have switched to Acqua Panna as their top pick. From previous discussions about Acqua Panna, it was noted that the calcium content is on the high side (around 80 mg). However, I pulled the most recent (2020) Water quality report from Acqua Panna's website and the calcium level has gone down to 32 (maybe a new sourcing location)?
Here is the new full report:

https://www.acquapanna.com/us/sites/g/f ... AR_ENG.pdf

I am curious whether you consider this safe for the machine's boiler or whether it will still drop scale?

Thank you so much!

[homeburrero]

From previous discussions about Acqua Panna, it was noted that the calcium content is on the high side (around 80 mg). However, I pulled the most recent (2020) Water quality report from Acqua Panna's website and the calcium level has gone down to 32 (maybe a new sourcing location)?

These numbers are actually only slightly different than their 2015 water report discussed here: Volvic or Acqua Panna with La Marzocco GS3?

The discrepancy is mostly a misinterpretation of units. Both of them indicate a calcium hardness of 80 mg/L CaCO3 equivalent -- or 32 mg/L of calcium as ion. Interestingly, this latest report shows slightly lower numbers than 2015 for total hardness (100 mg/L as CaCO3) and alkalinity of (80 mg/L as CaCO3). And these numbers happen to be right at the maximums of the La Marzocco USA Water Specifications. Also, it's evident that this reported hardness number may be fudged down a tad -- If you compute the total hardness given their calcium ion number of 32 mg/L and their magnesium ion number of 6.3 mg/L you get a total hardness of 106 mg/L.

No question that you can expect some scale if you use water with this level of calcium hardness and alkalinity.

Note: tedious details follow . . .

Calculating total hardness:

1)
Ca molar mass is 40.1 mg/mmol
32 mg/L / 40.1 mg/mmol = 0.798 mmol/L = 79.8 mg/L as CaCO3
Mg molar mass is 24.3 mg/mmol
6.3 mg/L / 24.3 mmol/L = 0.259 mmol/L = 25.9 mg/L as CaCO3
Total hardness as CaCO3 = 79.8 + 25.9 = 105.7 mg/L

2)
Calculating LSI at:

Boiler temp=125C,
TDS=150ppm,
Ca=80 ppm as CaCO3,
Alk=80 ppm as CaCO3

you get pHs = 6.45

At the reported pH of 8 for water in the bottle that would give you an LSI of + 1.55, and if you were to use the more reasonable Puckorius pHeq (as per the Jim Schulman's Insanely Long Water FAQ) of 7.3 you still come up with an LSI of + 0.85 which indicates that limescale will deposit at and above this boiler temperature.

[Derryisreal (original poster)]

Thank you! Very exhaustive and informative answer
I guess I can mix it 50/50 with distilled water or I can just use Chicago tap water gone through a 10 stage Enviro filter. Jim seems to think Chicago water is great for espresso. Eventually however, I will need to descale.

[jgood]

As you're in the USA you might consider Crystal Geyser, if it's available locally. The source and mineral content varies with the source, which is listed on the bottle. CG has a website with the analysis of the composition from each source; my CG here in LA, CA, is labelled "Olancha" and is pretty good as it is but I dilute with 1/3 distilled as I think it's a touch high in minerals. You can easily look it up and draw your own conclusions. BTW I picked up a cheap ($15 +-) TDS meter from Clive and it confirmed the CG numbers. IMHO being careful with water is way less hassle than descaling. There are a ton of water threads here with recipes of what to mix with distilled if you want to go that route.

[Derryisreal (original poster)]

Thank you, I will look into it!