Lelit in-line filters and hard water

Ernie1

I’m still waiting to move into the house we are buying when I plan to plumb-in the Bianca with one of the multi stage in-line filtration systems.

I’m currently using Volvic but occasionally it’s not easy to get and I’ve been known to forget to pick up a bottle when out and about. In a pinch it would be good to just top up with tap water for a day or so if I haven’t got bottled water to hand.

How good are the Lelit filters with hard UK water? I’ve no idea what they actually consist of and if I did, I must admit I don’t know much about water quality other than I shouldn’t be using straight tap water in the machine.

The short question I suppose is whether it’s ok to use the Lelit filter with tap-water occasionally without too much risk?

Waitforme

What about using Ashbeck ( Tesco) with 0.2 gm of Bicarbonate of Soda added per 5 litre bottle to bring the Alkalinity into the correct zone.

It has a lot less TDS than Volvic.

LMSC

Waitrose Lockhills is another choice.

I would rather make a pour over or have tea than risking a hard water. I don’t know about Lelit filters, but I l know a few Lelit users use distilled or RO or just bottled. 😊

dndrich

I am using a Lelit filter on my tap water in California, USA. It is working well to soften the water down below 25 ppm. I am not checking anything else like TDS or pH, so who knows about that, but in terms of soft, it works.

Rob1

The filters are probably simple salt softeners so will replace Ca and Mg with Na. This doesn’t do anything for alkalinity so how good your coffee depends both on that and how much Sodium you end up with. It’s not really possible to say whether or not it will scale more or less than Volvic unless you know what’s in the tap water pre-filtration at least.

dndrich

Rob1 Yes, that is all they are. They can be recharged apparently with salt. I am testing weekly with cheap test strips to see at what point I need to recharge the filter. I am hopeful my tap water will be sufficient over the years in this manner. The thought of going hog wild with water testing is just not appealing to me.

Grif

Huge variance in water accross the UK ours is very poor and very hard, one of those filters would’nt do anything.

Funnily enough I’m just sitting here testing Lockhills….TDS 114 KH 54mg/l CaCO3 GH 102mg/L CaCO3

Ernie1

Thanks all.

I haven’t got the kit to test, but I know I’m in a ‘very hard’ area.

Better stick to bottled!

dutchy101

Zero water jug?

Ernie1

dutchy101

How have I not heard of these! Thanks!

Seems like the filters last about 55 litres, for £12.50 in four pack so much cheaper than Volvic too.

Grif

Ernie1 £12.50 in four pack

Where are you seeing them for that? £49.99 for 4 on zero’s site HERE

dutchy101

I’m using a Zero water jug whilst I await delivery of my Skuma Reverse Osmosis unit. I live in London with very hard tap water (around 335 TDS). The Zero takes it down to zero and then I add in 320 mg of sodium bicarbonate to 5 litres of zero water to bring up the alkalinity.

I’ve just changed my 1st filter after about 30 / 35 litres.

dutchy101

Think he means the filters cost £12.50 each in a 4 pack i.e. £50 for 4

Grif

Ah yes £12.50 (each) in a 4 pack. The worse your water the more expensive they get……TDS on my tap water yesterday

was 383!

Ernie1

Yes sorry £12.50 per filter when buying 4.

The other issue I have with using bottled water is that if buying in the most cost effective and least plastic wasting way then obviously 1.5-2 litres bottles are the way to go. However I sometimes barely use 300ml in the tank each day so a 2l bottle sits open for nearly a week. It’s in the fridge but I’m sure I’m not getting the best quality of water five days after it’s opened.

The reviews on the Zero jug seem a bit mixed, but unsure if they’re just from people who haven’t changed the filter as suggested.

Grif

Ernie1 The reviews on the Zero jug seem a bit mixed, but unsure if they’re just from people who haven’t changed the filter as suggested.

They will be from people who live in a mega hard water area (like me) and are p.o’d the filters did’nt last long at all, did’nt do their research and suddenly realise £12.50 a pop for maybe 30l of water is rather expensive!

dutchy101

If you are using it for every day drinking water it would get expensive, I’m using mine solely for feeding my Minima.

My family get tap water

Grif

dutchy101 Indeed, big difference, but I guess the people leaving the neg reviews were wanting to use it for

everyday drinking water.

LMSC

Grif What’s your set up please ? Most of us here will be using Distilled or RO or bottled for the machine.

If you are also looking at a set up for drinking, remineralised RO is the way forward. Some of us have Tap -> Salt block -> Remineralised RO -> coffee machine, all beverages, drinking and cooking. This is also our set up.

dutchy101

Grif

Yeah, I go through about 4 litres of water a day at home (Britta filtered).

The Britta filter lasts a month - the zero would be done in a week. £12.50 a week (without the coffee water) would be bloody expensive.

Grif

LMSC I am currently using a Robot so not too concerned about water, I use Black Berkeys for our drinking water which would be no good for an Espresso machine as they don’t remove the scaling minerals. If…..or more likely when I buy a machine I will remineralise distilled water as I won’t need very large quantities, certainly not enough to justify an Osmio.