# Bottled Mineral Water



## niallzagreb (Jan 2, 2020)

Hello All, I have just moved my espresso machine abroad to Croatia and have been looking for a decent Mineral Water to replace Volvic or that Tesco one people use in the UK.

I have found one with the following mineral content

Calcium 21.5 mg/l

Magnesium 4.3 mg/l

Potassium 0.27 mg/l

Sodium 1.1 mg/l

Bicarbonate 84 mg/l

Nitrate 1.5 mg/l

Chloride 0.22 mg/l

dry residue @ 180 degrees 74mg/l

Water hardness 6.6 degree F or 0.66 mmol

pH of the water is 8.1

do any of you experts out there have a view on how this water will affect my machine - like will it save it from lime scale and corrosion?

many thanks


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## 9719 (Mar 29, 2015)

@MWJB is your man for this...


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## niallzagreb (Jan 2, 2020)

Thanks - have asked on his feed


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Looks a little high on the bicarbonate, but not far off the ideal range.

Maybe add 2 parts of this to 1 part distilled/DI/RO water.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

With any alkalinity of 70 you'll get scaling at service boiler temps above hardness of 14 at 125c.


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## niallzagreb (Jan 2, 2020)

Thanks Rob, I am far from expert - can you clarify what scale you are using for the water hardness of 14 number? Thanks


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Can be found here along with other stuff. http://users.rcn.com/erics/Water Quality/Water FAQ.pdf


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## niallzagreb (Jan 2, 2020)

MWJB said:


> Looks a little high on the bicarbonate, but not far off the ideal range.
> 
> Maybe add 2 parts of this to 1 part distilled/DI/RO water.


 Thank you for this info - do you think that this combination will probably prevent scaling? The Coffee tastes fantastic with just using this mineral water without and dilution...


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

niallzagreb said:


> Thank you for this info - do you think that this combination will probably prevent scaling? The Coffee tastes fantastic with just using this mineral water without and dilution...


 If it adversely affects the taste use a bit more of the raw bottled water.

It will scale less with the dilution recommended.


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## niallzagreb (Jan 2, 2020)

Thank you Rob 1, what an incredibly informative - if a little detailed analysis! I am on the right track now with both your and MWJB's advice.

Just as a matter of interest Jim Schulman's assertion that Volvic is a bottled water that will not scale seems to be at odds with his calculation suggestions of Hardness and alkalinity. Volvic has alkalinity of 58 which according to his table would allow a maximum hardness of approx 21 before scaling kicks in at 125 degrees. Yet Volvic has Calcium of 11.5 mg/l and magnesium of 8 mg/l giving it a hardness of 62 according to his method of Hardness calculations...

so one would expect Scaling with Volvic - albeit mild - with his calculations


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

niallzagreb said:


> Thank you Rob 1, what an incredibly informative - if a little detailed analysis! I am on the right track now with both your and MWJB's advice.
> 
> Just as a matter of interest Jim Schulman's assertion that Volvic is a bottled water that will not scale seems to be at odds with his calculation suggestions of Hardness and alkalinity. Volvic has alkalinity of 58 which according to his table would allow a maximum hardness of approx 21 before scaling kicks in at 125 degrees. Yet Volvic has Calcium of 11.5 mg/l and magnesium of 8 mg/l giving it a hardness of 62 according to his method of Hardness calculations...
> 
> so one would expect Scaling with Volvic - albeit mild - with his calculations


 Fairly certain the 11.5 and 8 are presented "as CaCO3" already.

Could be wrong though. Never checked.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Rob1 said:


> Fairly certain the 11.5 and 8 are presented "as CaCO3" already.
> 
> Could be wrong though. Never checked.


 The Ca & Mg values on bottled water labels aren't presented as CaCO3, so the total hardness is as @niallzagreb says around 60mg/L as CaCO3


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