Hard water vs softened.

il gatto · 09-05-2020 03:13AM #1

Hi,
I live in a limestone area and we have a drilled well. The water is incredibly hard. A new kettle is covered in lime after a few days.
I had an old AEG espresso machine which I put in the attic when I was drinking french press coffee. Then I changed to a moka pot for a few years.
I recently cleaned up the old machine and it died before I got it set up. So I’m considering a new machine (probably something like a Dedica or something. Nothing too expensive in case it falls out of favour for the moka again).
Anyway, we have a salt based softener supplying the whole house except for a tap in the kitchen which is unsoftened. Which should I use? I realise the hard water may taste better but I don’t don’t want to kill the machine in a few months or have to descale it every week.
I’ve read that it can increase your sodium intake but also that it is minimal. I have high bp so that wouldn’t be good but then I have other ways of cutting some sodium. And I’m talking one or two espressos a day, max.
I’ve seen pre-boiling suggested, buying distilled water (not happening), bottled water (but that’s often quite hard as well) and installing resin filtration (also not happening).
So, thoughts (apart from I need resin filtration, a Baratza Encore and a Rocket Dual Boiler at a minimum ðŸ˜„)?

Akula · 09-05-2020 01:01PM

il gatto wrote: »

Hi,
I live in a limestone area and we have a drilled well. The water is incredibly hard. A new kettle is covered in lime after a few days.
I had an old AEG espresso machine which I put in the attic when I was drinking french press coffee. Then I changed to a moka pot for a few years.
I recently cleaned up the old machine and it died before I got it set up. So I’m considering a new machine (probably something like a Dedica or something. Nothing too expensive in case it falls out of favour for the moka again).
Anyway, we have a salt based softener supplying the whole house except for a tap in the kitchen which is unsoftened. Which should I use? I realise the hard water may taste better but I don’t don’t want to kill the machine in a few months or have to descale it every week.
I’ve read that it can increase your sodium intake but also that it is minimal. I have high bp so that wouldn’t be good but then I have other ways of cutting some sodium. And I’m talking one or two espressos a day, max.
I’ve seen pre-boiling suggested, buying distilled water (not happening), bottled water (but that’s often quite hard as well) and installing resin filtration (also not happening).
So, thoughts (apart from I need resin filtration, a Baratza Encore and a Rocket Dual Boiler at a minimum ðŸ˜„)?

I’d use your salt softened water.

il gatto · 09-05-2020 10:23PM

Akula wrote: »

I’d use your salt softened water.

Thanks. I was edging towards this.

Stepping Stone · 09-05-2020 10:29PM

il gatto wrote: »

Hi,
I live in a limestone area and we have a drilled well. The water is incredibly hard. A new kettle is covered in lime after a few days.
I had an old AEG espresso machine which I put in the attic when I was drinking french press coffee. Then I changed to a moka pot for a few years.
I recently cleaned up the old machine and it died before I got it set up. So I’m considering a new machine (probably something like a Dedica or something. Nothing too expensive in case it falls out of favour for the moka again).
Anyway, we have a salt based softener supplying the whole house except for a tap in the kitchen which is unsoftened. Which should I use? I realise the hard water may taste better but I don’t don’t want to kill the machine in a few months or have to descale it every week.
I’ve read that it can increase your sodium intake but also that it is minimal. I have high bp so that wouldn’t be good but then I have other ways of cutting some sodium. And I’m talking one or two espressos a day, max.
I’ve seen pre-boiling suggested, buying distilled water (not happening), bottled water (but that’s often quite hard as well) and installing resin filtration (also not happening).
So, thoughts (apart from I need resin filtration, a Baratza Encore and a Rocket Dual Boiler at a minimum ðŸ˜„)?

Neither option. I have the same situation but there isn’t a hope in hell that I would use the water from the softener. They’re filthy. Always full of bacteria. We filter all of our kettle and coffee machine water through a Brita filter jug. It saves the machines and means that we’re not drinking bacteria riddled water.

The difference with me is that we’re on a public supply and the council won’t touch a tap with a filter to take samples for quality testing because they’re always going to high risk for bacterial contamination.

Akula · 10-05-2020 02:31PM

If you follow the guidelines on maintenance and cleaning this shouldn't be a big issue though.

mvl · 16-05-2020 08:36AM

This a funny one. Guess similar scenario - have installed the descaling system in the house and an additional water filtering system in the kitchen.
- in past, hard water already broke beyond repair a Gaggia Classic for us.

Now my SO and I have different approach - I'd still use bottled water, he's getting the filtered water from the small tap through Britta filter.
And then our espresso machine has its own additional water filter (- e.g, sage barrista, filter needs replacing every couple of months). While I didn't like the idea of additional cost with these - guess it improves the durability of the machine ...

Hard water vs softened.

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