LMSC No no, the osmio is here to stay! I was just inquisitive browsing there and thought that would be a reasonable option if just for feeding the espresso machine.If I was starting again, maybe I would consider something like that. there’s a fair price difference, but of course the osmio is a one stop for everything and the produce is there on demand as opposed to waiting 3 hours or whatever

  • LMSC replied to this.

      JahLaza Agree. It was an easy decision for us, despite the one-off outlay. What amazes me, hope folks don’t get me wrong, are the discussions / hesitations on the cost of filter replacements when we spend at least thousands on espresso kits. Even, IMO, a one-off investment for a unit like this is worth it compared to the hassles of scales; add the potential health benefits. 😊

        I use a distiller. It’s the most consistent method as output isn’t affected by changes to the supply. It is inefficient though and you have to obviously distill a batch in advance.

        LMSC Did they drink the water from Osmio Zero before ? A couple of weeks, I would have thought any one to convert.

        No, they haven’t. I’d love to buy one, but I fear it would be only me drinking, and, knowing my wife, she won’t touch it either, and make a point that the tap water is just fine. 🤷

        If I were to buy one, I’d maybe drink one or two litres a day from it. Problem is, as soon as I go back to the office, I’d drink even less from it. So yeah, it’s distiller for me, for the time being at least.

          13 days later

          I decided to test my water , both tap and Ashbeck with 20mg of Bicarbonate of Soda added per 5l.

          The first pic below shows my tap water giving a reading of 5 drops per 20ml equating to 2.5 German Total hardness (44.8mg/l) and 2 drops per 20ml giving a German Carbonate hardness of 1 (17.8mg/l).

          The second pic is Ashbeck with 20mg of Bicarbonate of Soda per 5l giving a reading of 7 drops per 20ml equating to German total hardness of 3.5 ( 62mg/l ) and 4 drops per 20ml giving of German Carbonate hardness of 2 ( 36.6mg/l )

          I’m thinking that taste aside, I’d be better using my tap water ?

          Anyone ?

            @DavecUK , lol, I’m thinking I could use the fridge supplied filtered tap water, just a boggo standard filter for taste and odour.

            But , on the scaling side of things then would you reckon my tap water is good enough ?

            DavecUK If you like the taste of Chlorine, rust etc.. sure.

            Waitforme I’m thinking that taste aside, I’d be better using my tap water ?

            He did say “taste aside”… ;-)

            @Rob1 is the resident expert.

            I have no idea.

                Flippin ekk as like!! Where do you live?

                Waitforme Nice…..can’t imagine how that would scale but I’m no expert, as has been said Rob1’s yer man!

                  20mg Sodium bicarb to 5 litres will give you an extra 2.4mg/l alkalinity….not worth bothering.

                  It’s very difficult to accurately measure 10 or 20mg of anything, with ordinary scales of a 0.00 resolution you might be accurate to 0.1g (100mg).

                  Your test would indicate the label on the Ashbeck is significantly out of spec given you’ve only added 2.4mg/l alkalinity with the Sodium bicarb the Alkalinity should be about 27mg/l and hardness should be bout 42mg/l….so I have to ask, did you stop adding drops at the sign of first colour change or did you keep going until it was a “bright” colour? The accurate test would be the one where you stop at the first colour change.

                  What is the resolution of your test kit? It say 1drop = 1degree but are you supposed to use a 5ml, 10ml, 20ml sample etc?

                  If you made a mistake and added 200mg (0.20g) then you’d end up with about 50mg/l alkalinity with the ashbeck and at least 25mg/l with your tap water……..that’s if the tap water had no alkalinity to start with. So either way something has gone wrong somewhere……or the ashbeck you have is way out to start with.

                  Thanks @Rob1 , my mistake, it’s actually 200mg bicarbonate of soda I’m adding to the 5l of Ashbeck.

                  The test kit asks to use 10ml and 1 drop equals 1 degree of German hardness, but I used 20ml and just divided by 2.

                  According to my water report the alkalinity of my tap water should be approx 25mg HCO3/l

                  Does the above make more sense of my test results ?

                  Here’s the thing with the test. 17.848mg/l is 1 degree. So with a 10ml sample each drop will count in 17.848mg/l increments. With 20ml each drop will count in 8.914mg/l increments.

                  So to reframe your results:

                  Tap water: GH >44.8 - <53.714; KH >17.8 - <26.714

                  In other words, based on your water report for alkalinity, it appears you haven’t added any sodium bicarb at all.

                  Onto the Ashbeck:

                  Ashbeck GH 41.88 KH 20.5

                  With 200mg/l Sodium bicarb: GH 41.88 KH 45.

                  Your test: GH >62 - <70.914; KH >36.6 - <45.514.

                  So your test results for KH in the case of Ashbeck appear somewhat accurate, but not for GH…..this is assuming you added 200mg/l Sodium bicarb to Ashbeck and it is within its spec to start with.

                  As I asked before, are you adding drops until the first sign of colour change or are you adding until you get a “bright” colour? If you’re waiting for the colour to change to a bright/solid colour then that would explain why your result is so out for GH. If you did the same thing for the KH sample then that will also be out by a similar % (e.g. just of 50% overestimated).

                  Basically, it looks like you haven’t weighed the sodium bicarb correctly and have not stopped adding reagent at the first colour change in the case of Ashbeck. In the case of your tap water it looks like you haven’t added any Sodium bicarb at all, as 200mg/l Sodium bicarb in distilled water will give 25mg/l alkalinity (just within your measurement). For your test to be accurate for tap water you would have to have almost 0 alkalinity to start with.

                  So all in all it looks like the GH (and maybe the KH) test was not correctly conducted for Ashbeck and Sodium bicarb was not accurately measured for your tap water.

                  Measuring 200mg means you’re probably going to be out by up to 100mg….maybe more depending on the response time of the scales. The spec sheet of the scales will usually tell you how accurate they are e.g. accurate to 100mg, respond to 50mg etc. Usually, they have a minimum threshold below which they don’t work properly too, so they might say accurate to 100mg from 500mg etc. This is why making a concentrate is recommended….though logically volume should be accurate assuming you can find a scoop of the right size.

                  To conduct the test accurately, shake the reagents and hold them vertically over the sample to release drops of the same size (holding at an angle will give you different sized drops). Also, worth checking the expiration date. Stop adding drops the moment the colour changes from whatever to Green and Red. You obviously have to mix after every drop, I do it in a cup and just stir as I’m adding drops and wait a moment between each drop.

                    Rob1 10ml sample each drop will count in 17.848mg/l increments. With 20ml each drop will count in 8.914mg/l increments.

                    Rob, unless his test kit is for 10ml sample, the standard drop kit — mine — is for 5 ml. So, 5 ml sample of 1 drop will be 17.848 mg/l and will be a quarter that for 20ml. Happy to be corrected! 😊

                    Edit: Perhaps, this isn’t an API test kit. The KH test colour is red in his case, while it is yellow in mine.

                      @Rob1 , thanks for taking the time to respond.

                      I haven’t added anything to the tap water, just to the Ashbeck.

                      @LMSC According to the kit I have the sample size should be 10ml but I’ve used 20ml to try and get a more accurate reading.

                      I’ll run both tests again tomorrow and pay particular attention to the moment I see any colour change. And be sure to drip vertically.

                      My scales display in 0.01g increments but doesn’t say how accurate they are.

                      • LMSC replied to this.

                        Waitforme Ah. That’s different. Rob’s correct for your sample size. Thx for the clarification mate.

                        Edit:

                        The spec should tell you the minimum, which will be the accuracy level.

                          So I carried out the tests again, twice for both the tap water and the Ashbeck.

                          Only the Ashbeck has the 200mg of Bicarbonate of Soda added per 5l.

                          My scales appear to be accurate to 0.01g

                          I shook the reagents prior to dropping and dropped vertically into the containers.

                          The results for the tap water were the same as I got previously in both tests today , total hardness 5 drops in 20ml / 2 giving 2.5 degrees German, and 2 drops for Carbonate hardness in 20ml / 2 giving 1 degree German.

                          The Ashbeck test gave results of 7 drops for Total hardness in the first test today and 6 in the second test , giving 3 - 3.5 Degrees German and 6 drops for carbonate hardness in the first test and 5 in the second test giving 2.5 - 3 degrees German.

                          Do these results make any more sense @Rob1 ?

                          Not really, not based on the spec of Ashbeck. It could be really inconsistent for all I know though. Presumably, the tap water is reading at the lower end of the samples taken from the water authority?

                          The carbonate hardness, or alkalinity, should be about 24mg/l from 200mg in 5 litres. So Ashbeck should be showing about 44mg/l based on the label so your test seems accurate for that.

                          If you want to verify the accuracy of your kit the only way to do it is to do two samples with different amount of sodium bicarb added and measure the predictable difference.

                          Thanks @Rob1 , if my results for the tap water are accurate is it boiler safe water, it would appear to be better than the Ashbeck is my understanding?

                          Local authority test results for my postcode are 25mg HCO3/l and 31.24 CaCOmg/l , although they were taken in 2019.

                          I must carry out the test with different levels of Bicarbonate added to the Ashbeck.

                          One final question , is there a particular test kit for home use that is more accurate than another ?

                          Ok , one more ….. Is a TDS meter worth using ?

                          Thanks again.