Newbie in need of water/filtration advice!

Water analysis, treatment, and mineral recipes for optimum taste and equipment health.
JD160
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#1: Post by JD160 »

Ok so here is my plan!

Purchasing a Profitec Pro 600 and Eureka Mignon Specialita to start my home espresso adventure! My problem is understanding my water/filtration needs! I would really like to have a filtration system with a tap for filling up what I need! I have read so much on water that I think I am more confused than when I started! I have done a strip test and a titration test and I could provide those numbers if needed! They don't seem very precise though! Please help a new Espresso Adventurist out!!

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Jeff
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#2: Post by Jeff »

Where do you live? At least in the US, if you have a public water supply, you should be able to get an annual "water quality" report which usually has enough info to determine if it's healthy for an espresso machine from a mineral-content standpoint. Without "the numbers" it's hard to give any advice.

JD160 (original poster)
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#3: Post by JD160 (original poster) »

Savannah, GA

The city water report is vague. it reports contaminants but does not show tds or total hardness etc

I did a gh/kh titration test and they both were 6 drops/100ppm

JD160 (original poster)
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#4: Post by JD160 (original poster) »


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homeburrero
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#5: Post by homeburrero »

That report doesnt help much for us coffee people, but we aren't the normal audience for these reports. If you contact them they may have a full analysis they can email you. Let them know you're interested in hardness, alkalinity, and chloride. Maybe calcium also but you can just assume that most of your hardness is calcium.

Your ~100 mg/L GH and KH measurement seems reasonable for Floridan aquifer water. As long as the chloride isn't high those numbers give you plenty of options which include either conventional/traditional softening, which will get you non-scaling water with high (but acceptable for espresso) alkalinity, or any one of the decarbonizing filters with an adjustable bypass that would drop your hardness and alkalinity down in the 40-50 mg/L range. You'll want a GH and KH test hit to get the adjustable head dialed in right.

If you want a simple way to start while deciding about filtration, you can use a simple recipe for minerals added to purified water: Where to start with regards to water
Pat
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JD160 (original poster)
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#6: Post by JD160 (original poster) »

Homeburrero,
Thanks so much for the response! I actually will try and get a full report from them sent to me! I think I will start with something from the article you listed in the meantime.

What filter systems would you recommend or are there specific types I should be looking at?

JD160 (original poster)
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#7: Post by JD160 (original poster) »

Ok all you water geniuses!! Here is what I got back from the water analysis I emailed the city about!! It's interesting to me because my TDS meter only said 101! Either way what type of filtration should I be looking for? Like I said I would prefer to install a tap on the sink if possible.

Total dissolved solids ~ 175 ppm
Total hardness = 91.3 ppm as CaC03
Alkalinity = 105.4 ppm as CaC03
Calcium hardness = 70.7 ppm as CaC03
Chloride = 3.7 ppm

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homeburrero
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#8: Post by homeburrero »

If that truly is the value for chloride, then that's very good news. I worry a little because sometimes non-chemists think chlorine and chloride are the same thing, and that number might possibly be a chlorine number. Might be good to doublecheck that you have that right.

(You don't want to make coffee with 3.7 ppm chlorine, but that's not an unusual level for tapwater and is easily removed by carbon filtration. Chloride is not removed by carbon filters, but at numbers that low would be nothing to be concerned about.)

The TDS meter reading is not unusual, they are often that far off from actual TDS.

Water with 100+ alkalinity and low chloride is a good candidate for one of the many single cartridge WAC (decarbonizing) adjustable bypass filters on the market, like the Mavea/Brita Purity C, or the Pentair/Everpure Claris, or the BWT bestmax. The vendor that sold you your Profitec probably has one they recommend and can help with hoses and fittings. They're good for plumb-in and shouldn't be hard to rig them up to a sink faucet.

Or you could also use a cartridge with a conventional softener like the 3M/cuno or the Homeland HCWS. These would soften the water to scale-free levels and leave the alkalinity unchanged. If you had somewhat high chloride (i.e., 30 ppm or more) then you would be better off with conventional softening rather than decarbonizing.
Pat
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JD160 (original poster)
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#9: Post by JD160 (original poster) »

Thanks a lot for the breakdown and recommendations homeburrero! I think it's probably a solid answer on the chloride! I got the email directly from the lab manager for the water dept.
I will look into those filter options! Thanks alot for the help!!