# Should I use bottled water ?



## otterolly (Sep 22, 2015)

Hi everyone

great forum for all coffee needs !









been a lurker for a while now and just in the process of buying a Rocket Apparamento. Read a few posts on bottled water and wondered if it is recommended over tap/mains water for longevity of the machine ?

thanks


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Yes - without doubt better for the machine.

I have owned my machine for 3 years with no sign of scale - only using Volvic


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## otterolly (Sep 22, 2015)

Glenn said:


> Yes - without doubt better for the machine.
> 
> I have owned my machine for 3 years with no sign of scale - only using Volvic


thanks Glen


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## 1stattempt (May 5, 2016)

I would add that it depends where you live


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

Tastes better as well ... Well, I prefer it


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## Vieux Clou (Oct 22, 2014)

Depends on what comes out of the tap, particularly calcium content. And also depends on the brand of water, since some have high calcium concentrations. We're fortunate: our tapwater comes out of clay and sandstone and is very low on calcium. I use it and decalc my machine every 3-4 months, seems fine.


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## MarkT (Nov 21, 2015)

I also use volvic/Waitrose essential 50/50 ratio with my Barista Express. It certainly is good for your machine.







you could check the minerals in your tap water from your water supplier and they will also tell you how hard the water is.


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## AssuredPatsy (Jul 5, 2016)

My parents have a coffee shop and they use a water filter. It protects the machine and I don't think I'm imagining difference in taste


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## monkey66 (Aug 8, 2014)

For me with delicious but very hard London tap water it is such an improvement. Even using a water filter (which was no friend of flavour ) I still had to descale every month or two. Since switching to Volvic / Ashbeck three years ago or so I have not descaled once.


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## Greenpotterer (Nov 29, 2009)

I've been using the cheap option Lidl bottled water at 17p for 2 litres. I haven't had to descale in two years


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

Yes .. It tastes better ... But tap water isn't totally evil, I live in Bristol with crsp quality water, my hx machine is 9 years old ... Could be 10 by now and most of its life fed tap water ... It's on all its original parts, same pump, same e61 internals ... It only started getting bottled when I joined here.

i strip it down to descale from time to time and everything is just peachy ... When I descale IT I give everything s nice proper clean, take all the panels off etc, check wiring look for abnormalities.

So so don't fret if it gets the odd tank of tap, it really isn't the end of the world


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## rjw (Jul 10, 2016)

Rather than bottled water I've recently started using a filter you attach to the end of the water inlet pipe (on my Gaggia classic) - only cost a few quid each and meant to last a good few months or so. The name was Domfilter (not sure if I can put in my post site I purchased it from?) - anyone got any experience with those?


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

rjw said:


> Rather than bottled water I've recently started using a filter you attach to the end of the water inlet pipe (on my Gaggia classic) - only cost a few quid each and meant to last a good few months or so. The name was Domfilter (not sure if I can put in my post site I purchased it from?) - anyone got any experience with those?


here it is at happydonkey and just £3.60 - worth a punt

http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/domfilter-in-tank-water-filter.html


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## caramel (Jun 22, 2016)

Our water is really soft, my kettle is a couple of years old and shows no scale so I figured my machine would be fine on tap water. Out of interest though I bought some Ashbeck and the coffee tastes better with it so that is what I use at the moment. I'm going to try Volvic next around to see if it tastes any different in the cup.


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