# Hard water



## silvester667

I live in Kent which has some of the hardest water in the country. I just received a DeLonghi ESAM 4200.S as a gift. Havent had an espresso machine for over 20 years and usually rely on my trusty Tassimo for my morning fix.

My question is:

As I live in a hard water area is it advisable to filter the water prior to using it? Will this reduce limescale?

I see some people are debating the best bottled water to use, for me this may be a bit extreme.


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## aaronb

Yes, a water filter will help but not remove all of it.

Volvic water is quite well balanced and is recommended a lot, I use it on my L1. It did seem extreme at first, but the descaling procedure for the L1 is far more extreme!


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## El carajillo

Brita filter reduces the hardness but not by a lot ,Volvic good but expensive Waitrose essential good and economical. If you do not take steps to reduce hardness your M/ch will quickly scale up and it is NOT covered by warranty


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## The Systemic Kid

Tesco's Ashbeck is very similar to Volvic make up-wise but only £1.20 for a five litre container.


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## glevum

Not only is Ashbeck cheap it also makes coffee smoother tasting over filtered tap water. I highly recommend Ashbeck.


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## CoffeeJohnny

There's nothing extreme about ensuring the component that makes up the majority of the drink is the best you can reasonably get. Neglect that and you could get CoE certified best crop coffee roasted by world champion roasters but if your tank is sitting in a citric acid Bath chances are it wouldnt make any difference then









Get ashbeck your machine will Thank you by delivering amazing coffee time after time and save you the time and money involved in clearing scale from the system.


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## silvester667

Looks like the ocado delivery man will have more water to bring up 3 floors of stairs.


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## Geordie Boy

Round by me, the 6 x 2 litre packs of Ashbeck works out way cheaper per litre than the 5 litre bottles... as per usual you need to go shopping with a calculator to see what the best buy is!


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## mym

El carajillo said:


> Volvic good but expensive Waitrose essential good and economical.


Volvic is far too much IMO, but would you take the Waitrose over the Ashbeck?

Last time I checked the Waitrose has significantly more dissolved solids.


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## silvester667

When I finally got home and set up my ESAM4200, loaded it with Pact espresso then the only choice was tap water or the girlfriends highland spring. To cut a long story short it became a quiet night because I used her last 3 bottles to fill it so she never had one to take to bed. Trying to explain that her body could deal with hard water better than my machine could didn't cut it.

For my first attempts I was really impressed with myself (ok the machine did it all). This mornings large flat white was absolutely great. Now have to set the alarm 30 minutes earlier to allow me to saviour this great coffee. Oh brave new world. I cant see this machine lasting too long as I am already addicted to the taste.

Even entered the raffle to try my luck.


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## El carajillo

mym said:


> Volvic is far too much IMO, but would you take the Waitrose over the Ashbeck?
> 
> Last time I checked the Waitrose has significantly more dissolved solids.


I do wonder if W/Rs essential depends on who supplies close to store/distribution point. I did compare the Volvic label with the local W/Rs essential and they were quite favourable. I will check with T D S meter.


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## El carajillo

El carajillo said:


> I do wonder if W/Rs essential depends on who supplies close to store/distribution point. I did compare the Volvic label with the local W/Rs essential and they were quite favourable. I will check with T D S meter.


Just checked with T D S 75 ppm Stretton Hills water.


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## coffeechap

thats really good water..


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## HizerKite

I live in Suffolk and the water is hard and also tastes terrible (like tcp) so have used volvic for the last 5 years. The element in my Izzo Alex is still shiny and looks new after 18 months and I have never descaled. Not sure any other water will be as effective but would be very interested to know the results of any tests as this is an expensive way to make coffee, especially as I also use volvic to test machines I repair and get through gallons of it!

Richard


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## joffy

Just been told by a Philips support guy that bottled water is as bad as tap water for scaling up the machine because of the mineral content.


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## HizerKite

joffy said:


> Just been told by a Philips support guy that bottled water is as bad as tap water for scaling up the machine because of the mineral content.


18 months of no descaling my Izzo plus 4 years with my previous machine prove otherwise...


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## The Systemic Kid

joffy said:


> Just been told by a Philips support guy that bottled water is as bad as tap water for scaling up the machine because of the mineral content.


Depends on which bottled water - they vary.


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## glevum

Isnt evian very high mineral content. Reiss stated in one of his blogs its as bad as London tap water for scaling


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## Drc

The Systemic Kid said:


> Depends on which bottled water - they vary.


What's tesco ash beck like for scaling - I've seen it recommended a lot in terms of taste and price compared to volvic but not sure if it's also good on the no scaling front?


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## The Systemic Kid

Ashbeck is closest to Volvic, make up-wise, and kind to your equipment as well as your pocket.


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## El carajillo

It would appear that bottled water does vary quite considerably.I bought a bottle of "BRECON CARREG" to test..TDS 155 ppm.

Little different from my tap water. Although the water supplied to Birmingham from Wales is soft it depends which part of Wales it comes from .


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## SimonB

Drc said:


> What's tesco ash beck like for scaling - I've seen it recommended a lot in terms of taste and price compared to volvic but not sure if it's also good on the no scaling front?


I think when I compared it came out with a lower PPM than even Volvic so you'd hope it would be fairly safe.


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## glevum

I like Ashbeck for the taste in espresso, a big difference over filtered Brita maxtra tap water in my severn trent area. I dont worry about scale as i descale every 10 weeks anyway. 6 x 2ltr for a couple of quid is a no brainer. My Brita jug has been binned.


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## El carajillo

ASHBECK just bought some 53. PPM VOLVIC 90.PPM WAITROSE ESSENTIAL 75. PPM

I am happy to use any of these.


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