The water will change substantially, sometimes a few times a year. The water reports will show an average for a period, not what you’re going to get out of your tap every day. Last I checked, mine was between 40-60mg/l alkalinity with about 40-80mg/l hardness….inconsistency like this is one reason, along with a desire to avoid contaminants, people would use RO or some similar treatment and remineralise to a spec. Bottled water is probably no better in terms of consistency either. I’d test on a regular basis if using tap water. Using a drop kit to test a sample will give you the most accurate results.
Water composition help
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Rob1 I never realised that the water would alter to such a degree.luckily I took your advise previously on the other forum and bought the api test kit and test frequently. I am still looking at a RO unit as I currently fitted a brita purity c and 3 way tap. Due to lack of space. The water at 20% bypass give me a Kh 27/31Gh 55/58but the ph is 6 heading towards 5. by the colour. There was a blue tinge in the kettle when I was at 30% bypass which concerns me. @ 30% bypass Kh 40/45 Gh 85/90. I might have to get the Ro unit and just make space. Sorry for jumping in on the post.
You likely won’t see scale even at higher temps e.g. 125c in a service boiler. The concern really is if alkalinity is too low it won’t be good for the taste and the water could be more corrosive than you’d like.
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Rob1 I was hoping the Brita would have solved everything. Is there anything that I can do to raise the ph like mixing tap and filtered water. Or would that be to hit and miss. Is there anything that you could suggest. If not it will have to be the ro unit and use the brita for tea water might stop the kettle scaling to quick.sorry for jumping in on the post
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Meldrew You can raise pH with bicarbonates and hydroxides e.g sodium bicarbonate. They will also raise the alkalinity. I aim for 40-50 alkalinity and <30 hardenss. With the 30% bypass you’d have to descale the service boiler, which you’ll have to do anyway unless you want to be draining it all the time. I don’t know how the filter works, or what effect it has on pH, or how to explain the blue tinge, so I can’t recommend anything really.
Rob1 Thanks Rob I appreciate your help. I thought that I understood some of this but the more posts I read the more confusing it seems. I have tested the bypass at 0% and at 10% .
0% bypass
GH-22
KH-9
10% bypass
GH-22/26
KH-14/18
20%- bypass
GH-53/58
KH-27/31
30%-bypass
GH-85/90
KH-40/45
The reason for two figures is that the first is when I thought I saw a change in colour during the test and the higher number was a definite strong change in colour
Could I go down to 0% or 10% bypass and just add the Bicarbonate. If so would that elevate descaling at all. Sorry to be asking more questions but hopefully I will finally get it. I am hoping to get a Vesuvius from Paolo so do not want to mess the machine up. Again any suggestions which might be the best route.
8 days later
For taste I like between 40-50mg/l. The water will be on the corrosive end of LI. I can’t comment on how much you should be concerned by this, if at all, water will either be scale forming or corrosive at different temperatures, you basically have to decide which way to go. I may decide to go for water that is really good at brew boiler temps but scaling at service boiler temps…..or I may try and find a way of getting hardness and alkalinity without scaling potential (alkalinity would have to come from non-carbonate sources).