Peak water filter

hthec

Hi! Any members here have experience with the Peak water filter? I was about to pick up a zero water jug and go the remineralisation route, but I see the peak water starter set and filters going for 50% off on Gorilla Gear’s website… My main question is whether it can be as boiler safe as Pavlis water made by remineralising Zero water? (starting to feel the water level rising over my head here…)

CoyoteOldMan

Not sure how much more/less expensive the Peak is on offer vs. the Zero at normal price (in the UK, they seem to come up pretty much at the same price - the GorillaGear “standard price” in NZD is 2x), but two things to consider in addition to the “functionality” aspect you bring up:

What is the cost of the filters at standard price (if this is a promotion, it will end, sooner or later)? At UK prices, they seem to be about 2x the Zero’s.
Is the offer because this is unsuccessful, so they are trying to shift stuff before they stop stocking the line? If so, what does that imply for your ability to get filters down the line?

FWIW, as far as I can understand it, the difference is that the Peak jug/filter has an adjustable bypass, so you can keep partly-mineralised water by not stripping ions from a variable % of the tap water you feed into the filter. You can achieve exactly the same result by re-mixing with tap water in the appropriate proportion (maybe carbon-filtering the tap water if it doesn’t taste/smell great out of the tap). Not worth 2x the spend in my book.

As long as the bypass can be completely closed (position 5?), then you’ll end up with de-ionised water just the same as from a Zero jug, which you can then remineralise to your heart’s and coffee’s content.

hthec

CoyoteOldMan I’m in Singapore and at retail, both Zero and Peak are about the same price. This applies for both the jug and the filters. So 50% off on gorilla gear for me really is half off!

As for clearing stock for discontinuation, I have no way to tell… There are 1 or 2 local coffee companies that sell Peak, so even if GG decides to drop it I could still get Peak filters I suppose.

My thought is that if the peak filter is just a simple bypass, it would mean there’s still Ca in the water to form scale… I have keyed in my local tap water into Rob’s spreadsheet though and according to that I shouldn’t really have scale problems. Unless I’m not reading the sheet correctly…
@LMSC Zero does seem like the most foolproof, but the potential for 50% savings is a big deal to me and in my situation I’m in no rush to jump in to water making so I just thought I’d ask around and ponder it further

LMSC

It’s probably not a good news. I could be wrong. Please check this thread and see if it helps.

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/536-water-for-espresso-machine/50

A safe bet is zero water. @dutchy101 can tell you all about it.

dutchy101

I’ve been using a Zero Water jug ever since I bought my Minima (late January) and it works really well for my needs. I live in London with very hard water and I tend to get around 30-35 litres of water per filter before I need to change it. I am using the water exclusively for the Minima and bought the jug as a stop gap for feeding the machine until I receive the Skuma RO water unit I have had on order since last year. Buying 4 filters works out to £12.50 each with the Zero jug.

hthec

dutchy101 The skuma system looks interesting, but the website is pretty scant on details and doesn’t look very updated. Have you received any updates on your unit’s arrival? The website states Summer 2022 as a targeted delivery date… I’d also like to know what they mean by zero waste and how the Skuma achieves it. From what I know of RO systems, there’s a significant amount of waste water produced… I also wonder if there are details available about the composition of their coffee balance infusion

LMSC

hthec If your tap water is soft, it is a good for you. We just wanted to bring that thread to your attention plus the adv of zero. I am neither sure if that thread was useful nor if we have any peak water users here.

CoyoteOldMan

hthec if the peak filter is just a simple bypass, it would mean there’s still Ca in the water to form scale

From what they say on their website, that’s what the “big difference” is…

Peak Water is the world’s first adjustable water filter jug, allowing you to create café-quality water at home — anywhere in the world. *

The unique design utilises a gravity-fed bypass with variable settings, allowing you to decide how many of the minerals in your water are filtered out or retained.

From https://peak-water.com/pages/how-it-works

If the setting at “5” means that the bypass is closed, and therefore there are no/negligible ions in the water, then it’s equivalent to a Zero filter from a de-ionisation perspective.

hthec the potential for 50% savings is a big deal to me

Assuming the bypass can be closed, the variables are duration and cost of each filter… filter duration could be half as much as the Zero (if the TDS meter supplied with a Zero jug is calibrated in CaCO₃ equivalents, then the Peak’s expected duration is about half; if it is calibrated in NaCl equivalents, then it’s about 60%), and we have discussed the cost above - at best (half the price and 60% duration) it’s 20% cheaper than the Zero, at worst (same price and half the duration), it’s 2x as much.

dutchy101

There’s more details on the Indegogo campaign page:

Alex from Skuma is posting on here and there is a Skuma thread if you have any specific questions:

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/799-skuma

Units should be shipping this month and next for those who joinrd the campaign.

The unit makes 4 litres of RO water to 1 litre of waste water (which can be used for watering houseplants)

hthec

dutchy101 ahhh I had seen that recently but somehow stopped following it before he posted about the discount code. That looks a good price, now how do I sell it to the missus…

hthec

CoyoteOldMan the Peak’s expected duration is about half

how did you get to this? from the recommendations on the user guide page? Thanks so much for the calculations by the way, my brain always blanks when it comes to “hobby” stuff!

CoyoteOldMan

hthec Yes, from the user guide - where they say that a filter with water testing at ~240 KH and <20% bypass (“4.2 out of 5”, assuming a linear scale) will last 40 litres, so less than that if there is no bypass water.

The Zero Water website (https://zerowater.co.uk/pages/how-long-will-my-filter-last) gives filter duration based on TDS, not KH, but at 240 TDS (which is not a perfect 1:1 comparison for KH, and depends on how the TDS meter is calibrated) they estimate a duration of ~80 litres.

[Edit - I misread the description on the Peak website of their test strips, and they do say the test strips they provide are KH strips, not GH ones]

MWJB

The peak jug is aimed at KH/temporary hardness (“bicarbonate” test strips), not total hardness/GH.

The Zero TDS meter isn’t calibrated for any kind of hardness, nor CaCO3. It’s an EC TDS meter, not sure of the scale (500, 640 etc.) as mine read a bit low.

There’s nothing wrong with having some, or more, total hardness in the water, than temporary hardness.

Once you’re set up with the Peak setting, it should save you having to calculate/mix water every time you fill up (I found this easy enough with the Zero though).

CoyoteOldMan

MWJB It’s an EC TDS meter, not sure of the scale (500, 640 etc.) as mine read a bit low.

So is mine… reading at about 440 for a 500 ppm NaCl solution, though perhaps it’s water temperature (~20 vs. 25 °C for calibration?)