# What is the best water filter



## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

Hi can anyone out there recommend a water filter for a mobile coffee unit the water is being fed to the machine with a Flojet,


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

Depends on your local water and also the pressure the the flojet can provide.

If you are generally happy with the water but just want to take out the chlorine/fluorine etc.. then BWT Bestmax or some of the commercial brita filters would all work. If you are looking to remove more (i.e. very Hard Water Area) then Bestmax Premium. These cartridges will have minimum input pressures specified, hence my point about what the flojet is providing. I'm presuming that RO is out as it's a mobile unit? If you can give some info on the water going in then people will be able to advise, you can usually get a water report from your water supply company using your postcode. It may also be beneficial to purchase a water testing kit such as the BWT one that coffee hit sell, this will allow you to determine General and Carbonate Hardness.


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## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

Hi Xpenno thanks for the info the Flojet output is up to 3.8 liters/minute (8 gallons/minute)

Maximum pressure 2.8 bar (40psi)

I live in a very hard water area the reading is 316 ppm any advice would be welcome.


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## jjprestidge (Oct 11, 2012)

What's the breakdown of calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate?

RO is OK if you have the right proportions of these, just too much, but is useless if they're wildly unbalanced, as it just reduces proportionally.

JP


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

Xpenno said:


> Depends on your local water and also the pressure the the flojet can provide.
> 
> If you are generally happy with the water but just want to take out the chlorine/fluorine etc.. then BWT Bestmax or some of the commercial brita filters would all work. If you are looking to remove more (i.e. very Hard Water Area) then Bestmax Premium. These cartridges will have minimum input pressures specified, hence my point about what the flojet is providing. I'm presuming that RO is out as it's a mobile unit? If you can give some info on the water going in then people will be able to advise, you can usually get a water report from your water supply company using your postcode. It may also be beneficial to purchase a water testing kit such as the BWT one that coffee hit sell, this will allow you to determine General and Carbonate Hardness.


Hi Spence, has your system settled in yet? I was getting some haywire readings the other day, which has settled down, I reckon that the cold weather was affecting the TDS meters, temp was below 5 degrees last week.


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

sjenner said:


> Hi Spence, has your system settled in yet? I was getting some haywire readings the other day, which has settled down, I reckon that the cold weather was affecting the TDS meters, temp was below 5 degrees last week.


Hi Stephen,

I spoke to the technical manager (can't remember his name) as my TDS never went above 20 after two weeks. He mentioned that that one possible problem could be that the Magnesium adding compound was not used regularly and as a result could have degraded. He shipped me a new filter made from a new batch which has been giving me some crazy high readings but looks to be settling down now. I'll report back once it has bedded in. Results now look similar to yours. I'm not sure what it will settle down to eventually but it's certainly better than the previous version


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

jjprestidge said:


> What's the breakdown of calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate?
> 
> RO is OK if you have the right proportions of these, just too much, but is useless if they're wildly unbalanced, as it just reduces proportionally.
> 
> JP


Useless is a bit strong! It may not be ideal but the ratio of hardness to alkalinity is more important than the ratio Ca to Mg in my testing at least. If you are looking for completely idealised water then of course you would be looking for a good balance of Ca and Mg but I don't think it's the be all and end all. I'm not even sure how exactly you would find this out as my water report does not say how much Magnesium is in the water, it lists many other chemicals but this does not seem like something that is generally tested for unless you send a sample off to a lab which would be expensive.


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

jjprestidge said:


> What's the breakdown of calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate?
> 
> RO is OK if you have the right proportions of these, just too much, but is useless if they're wildly unbalanced, as it just reduces proportionally.
> 
> JP


Presumably in Bath, you have reasonably soft water JP?

If not, are you using RO and which dry substance do you you employ for bicarbonate? I ask because the only bicarbonate that I can find in dry form is sodium bicarbonate... I think I understand that carbonates interact with the hydrogen atoms in water to create bicarbonates... But I really can't find a definitive answer to this so far.


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

sjenner said:


> Presumably in Bath, you have reasonably soft water JP?
> 
> If not, are you using RO and which dry substance do you you employ for bicarbonate? I ask because the only bicarbonate that I can find in dry form is sodium bicarbonate... I think I understand that carbonates interact with the hydrogen atoms in water to create bicarbonates... But I really can't find a definitive answer to this so far.


Hi Stephen,

Sodium Bicarbonate doesn't reduce pH very much due to the extra Hydrogen proton it therefore doesn't really help us with RO water as this is usually acidic. This is even worse given the SCAA guideline of 10mg/L sodium max in the water as it can alter the sensory perception of the coffee's taste. You are getting your Alkalinity from the Calcium/Magnesium Carbonates that you are running through the filter so you should not need to add any more. My filter actually provides slightly more Alkalinity that ideal at the moment but I'm hoping that this will still down one the filter is bedded in.

Bath has software water so my guess is that JP is either using ion exchangers to replace Ca with Mg as Ca is naturally more abundant. Otherwise some kind of RO and then mixing back in a percentage of filtered source water to achieve the correct mix of Bicarb to Hardness.

One other option that I was looking at to add buffer is either Sodium Carbonate (instead of Bicarbonate) as this is actually soluble in water where Calcium/Magnesium Carbonates are not very soluble at all.

Spence


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## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

jjprestidge said:


> What's the breakdown of calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate?
> 
> RO is OK if you have the right proportions of these, just too much, but is useless if they're wildly unbalanced, as it just reduces proportionally.
> 
> JP


Well you guys have completley lost me I am however looking to find out the numbers for you JP

Ray


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Ray let me know if you want a brita 1200


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

blueray said:


> Hi can anyone out there recommend a water filter for a mobile coffee unit the water is being fed to the machine with a Flojet,


If you are using a Flojet, presumably you are also using a bottle? Is it not worth considering using a suitable supplier of bottled water?


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## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

Hi Dave

Hope your keeping well do you have these available most of the time

can you just confirm price and is it a complete unit PM me if you prefer.


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## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

Stephen that sounds as if it could be an option I will look into that possibility thanks for the idea.


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## blueray (Sep 29, 2014)

coffeechap said:


> Ray let me know if you want a brita 1200


Hi Dave

I have PM'd you await your reply.

Ray


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## kyoczek (Apr 25, 2013)

Is there any way to check water quality in my area? I live Edinburgh and use Brita filters but I'm not quite sure if it's enough?


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## michaelg (Jul 25, 2013)

kyoczek said:


> Is there any way to check water quality in my area? I live Edinburgh and use Brita filters but I'm not quite sure if it's enough?


You should be fine there - if anything Scottish water is perhaps too soft. If you are really keen you can get the full reports on the Scottish Water website by entering your postcode.


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