Water and the Mini

[pvrick]

I just got my Mini II from Chris Coffee. Installed in about 20 minutes. So far so good!

Question re water. I live in LA. I tested our tap water and the strip indicated 7 ppm. i realize the ideal is 3.

If I filter tap water with a Britta pitcher and have the internal filter in the water tank, do you think I will be OK re water quality? Would I have to test the water coming out of the machine to validate.

Thanks

Rick

[Endo]

The Brita doesn't do much for hardness. It might drop it from 7 to 6 grain, but only for a week or two.

You have 3 choices:

1. Use the existing hard water and descale.
2. Use RO water and mix 50/50 with tap water (this is what I do).
(edit): 3. Use the stock resevoir softener/filter (best?)

(You can also use 100% RO water and never need to descale, but most people don't like the taste and it can accelerate corrosion).

Since the Mini has a sealed steam boiler which can't be manually descaled (a design flaw in my opinion), I opted for option 2.

Even then, I wouldn't worry too much. Worse comes to worse, in 15 years you may need to change your boiler. They are less than $200 (cheaper than the bloody timer!!)

[pvrick]

Does the filter that is in the water reservour that comes in the Mini have any effect?

If you mix RO and tap water, do you just buy bottled water like Aquafina that is RO filtered or do you have an in line filter?

Thanks

[Endo]

Does the filter that is in the water reservour that comes in the Mini have any effect?

Yes! The stock resevoir filter is both softener + filter specifically designed for espresso machines by BestCup. It works great (I guess I should have mentioned that in my first post. Sorry ).

They need to be replaced every 3 or 4 months at $20 a pop. Not so bad I guess.

If you mix RO and tap water, do you just buy bottled water like Aquafina that is RO filtered or do you have an in line filter?

Bottled water would be SUPER pricey. Forget that.

Most grocery stores have a distilled water or RO machine for refilling 19L (5 gallon) plastic tanks at about $3 a refill. That's what I do, but it probably works out to be a bit more expensive than simply buying the replacement resevoir softener/filters.

Here's a photo:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1148#p14103