Accuracy of Water Hardness Test Strips

#1: Post by **caferetro** » December 11th, 2011, 4:19 pm

In anticipation of replacing my 10 year old Silvia, I want to get a better idea of my water hardness so I made a couple phone calls w/ my municipal water treatment plant Chemist and a local bottle water supplier. The answer was 7 Grains from the Chemist and 6.5-7 from water supplier.

I then acquired several water hardness test strips and did a test according to directions on packet and reading was right at 3 Grains. My question is how accurate are these test strips typically? I'm approximately 8 miles from water treatment plant and outside the city limits, I understand Chlorine dissipates a percentage over distance the water travels, is this also true for water hardness?

I'm at a standstill here as far as purchasing a new machine and feel I should be proactive as far as supplying the correct hardness water as I'm not an advocate of Descaling. I checked w/ a local SB's and the manager showed me their water system which had a very large filtration system along with water softener. He is supplied with the same water I use. I asked if they ever Descale, he said no. Any suggestions or knowledge of the subject?

Thanks,
Caferetro

#2: Post by **another_jim** » December 11th, 2011, 5:51 pm

Typically, they are accurate within one gradation of the strip you are using.

If your strip is marked at one grain intervals, there is either a problem with your strip, or your water is from another source (i.e your municipality has several different water sources). Hardness does drop in the winter, when the water gets cold and holds less calcium. But I never heard of any drop as extreme as this.

December 11th, 2011, 6:12 pm

Jim,
Our municipal water supply comes from one source and my water hardness strip reading color chart is O, 3, 7, 15 & 25 grains. I used tap water in a plastic container. Chemist specified our water as "moderately hard".
Thanks,
Caferetro

#4: Post by **another_jim** » December 11th, 2011, 6:39 pm

It's your strip. Get a strip with 1 or 2 grain gradations, and a max of 10 grains; the margin of error on yours may be OK for swimmng pools, but not for scaling in household appliances. At 7 grains, you'll need to descale your machine two to four times a year.

December 11th, 2011, 6:47 pm

Jim,
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to have to find another supplier which carries the strips you're referring to. Nothing local for me.

Thanks,
Caferetro

#6: Post by **chriscoffee** » December 11th, 2011, 7:31 pm

Test strips can be designed to measure all kinds of things such as chlorine, PH, hardness, etc. We sell test strips that are designed to measure "hardness" but ONLY hardness caused by the presence of calcium and magnesium. Those are the only two chemicals one really needs to be concerned about when measuring hardness relative to an espresso machine. Those two chemicals are what cause scale to develop. I posted this not to sell test strips but I had a real strong sense that the test strips the poster was referring to were purchased from me.

#7: Post by **DavidMLewis** » December 12th, 2011, 3:09 pm

Hi,

I have had good results with these ones from Hach. But there is a caveat, which is that the strips have a limited life. Make sure you pay attention to the expiration date on the bottom of the jar, because you certainly won't use them all by then.

Best,
David

#8: Post by **Dodger1** » December 12th, 2011, 4:08 pm

Based on this http://big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html this is what I use to test my water http://www.amazon.com/API-GH-KH-TEST-KI ... 487&sr=8-2

December 12th, 2011, 8:34 pm

Thanks for the links, I'll look into those. The water link is pretty intense

lots of good reading there.

Caferetro

#10: Post by **John P** » December 13th, 2011, 8:48 pm

For minimal cost ($25-$40) you can get a decent digital TDS meter. I bought an HM Digital TDS meter for $38 from a local supplier. They are what the Culligan techs all use here. After spending about nearly the same amount on various test strips, it made much more sense.