Knluk a couple of things to consider:

  1. They offer 3 grades of purity - prices ranging from ~50p/litre to ~75p/litre in 25 litre tanks. The only grade where they state “food production” is the most expensive one. It is possible that the de-ionised grade is fine, but I’d be wary of potential biological contamination (which seems to be the difference in treatment)
  2. The cost of a Zerowater filter is £15 if you buy 2 (and even less if you buy more filters). With very hard water, you get 40 litres out of it, for a price/litre of about half as much (37.5 p/litre).
  3. You need to store the 25 litre container somewhere, and keep it relatively sterile once it has been opened. Not impossible, but added fuss.

      MediumRoastSteam But what’s the value in putting RO water through a water softener?

      Putting softened water through an RO system, not the other way round. The RO strips out all the sodium carbonate.

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        Knluk Bacterial contamination, especially once you open it, the water contains no chlorine. Even if you put it in the fridge it won’t last more than 3 days, and then you should drink it. But with a container that large you won’t be able to refrigerate it.

        I was filtering 12 to 16 l per day from an osmo zero, with filters costing me £40 per year.

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            LMSC No. I didn’t say that.

            I know. My confusion was that I was trying to hack my brains to find why would one bother putting RO water through a water softener. But I understand it’s a benefit of putting softened water through an RO system. The initial comment which started this was written the other way round, to me at least. Anyway, water under the bridge (RO or Softened?) 🤣. It’s all clear now. :-)

              CoyoteOldMan oh. I thought I need to use RO, for which I have lack of plumping knowledge to connect the devices. Obviously, I was wrong. Will go for the ZeroWater route then. May I also get some advice on minimal to add please? Thanks again!

                  CoyoteOldMan btw, what is your workflow for using zerowater? Do you filter a large amount of water say once a week and fill up the whole boiler? Do I need to keep water in the device during the week?

                  For my Robot, maybe I need a separate container to store the filtered water. Need to store in fridge?

                      Knluk some advice on minimal to add please?

                      I guess you mean ‘minerals to add’? What I use is

                      • MgSO4 · 7 H2O (Epsom salts) - 148 mg/l
                      • KHCO3 (potassium bicarbonate) - 80 mg/l
                      • NaCl (table salt) - 25 mg/l

                      scale as you like (I use a concentrate).

                      Knluk what is your workflow for using zerowater?

                      Filter what I need when I need it - the Evo’s tank holds a bit less than 2.5 litres, and I use about half that every day (a lever is definitely “water wasteful”). I will check the machine in the morning, and make 1 or 1.5 litres of remineralised water to top up. It takes about 10-15 minutes to filter this much water.

                      Knluk Do I need to keep water in the device during the week?

                      Well, @dutchy101 got this advice from Zerowater, but I can’t find it on the website - I’m doing it, as it costs nothing: just fill the pitcher up after I fill the machine. What they do say is that keeping the pitcher in the fridge is not necessary, as long as it’s kept outside of sunlight.

                              As CoyoteOldMan states, ZeroWater advised me to keep the filter in water to get the most out of the filters when I asked them about this. I leave the jug full of water in the fridge.

                              I make up 2 batches of 5l of zero water at a time. I store this in old Tesco Ashbeck bottles, which I wash out with detergent each time after they are emptied and also steralise them with Milton once a month too. I do the same with the Zero jug too.

                              I add 320mg of sodium bicarbonate to 5L of zero water to bring the alkalinity into the desired range.

                                  Cuprajake I have already marked Mark the Evo sales thread and the grinders above! 😊

                                    yes :). Minerals sorry. I presume I have to add all these salts after I filter out the salt in the softened water? Let me look for those minerals in Amazon

                                    CoyoteOldMan

                                        dutchy101 is it necessary to store the jug in the fridge? Do you store your tesco filter water in the fridge too?

                                        wonder if there is any differenc run quality in cup of the two receipe as yours seems simplistic.

                                          I only store the Zero jug in the fridge. I keep the stored water in a dark cupboard. Not sure whether it’s necessary to store the Zero jug in the fridge, but I have the space to do so for the jug.

                                          i use intralabs too, but i only use potassium bicarb as i dont want to descale my machine haha

                                          Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                                            for you or me?

                                            i use the water tap daily, so quite happy about my through put of water :)

                                            Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                                              Cuprajake For me, for me. I also drain a cup of water in the evening, but inevitably over a few weeks the water does end up at (or just over) scaling point in the steam boiler, as it gets replaced with tank (brew) water. Which is why a ‘reload’ with pure water should help.