# BellaBarista Hardness Test Kit



## PeterL (Aug 5, 2015)

Anyone used one? The instructions are indecipherable.

I had to use 14 drops and their data chart is neither linear or in any way related to the text.


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## PeterL (Aug 5, 2015)

No one? I am 2 calls out awaiting their expert to respond....

Will put a photo up in a bit to debate what it MIGHT be trying to say....


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## PeterL (Aug 5, 2015)

Any guesses????


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

all you do, is put the required sample of water into the supplied bottle. Add one drop of reagent. Put top on and shake. Then repeat until the water changes colour. Then each drop you have put in equates to whatever the mumbo jumbo the chart is! What do you expect for 2 shillings and sixpence?


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## GlennV (Mar 29, 2013)

It's just a conversion chart, so 1 degree of German hardness (1 drop) is the same as 0.18 milli moles/litre or 17.8 ppm as CaCO3 etc, your 14 drops is therefore about 250ppm as CaCO3 total/general hardness. More concerning though is the fact that this is not the sort of hardness you need to know about for predicting scaling (if that's why you bought it). For that you need a carbonate hardness (alkalinity) test kit. (Strictly speaking, temporary hardness is the smaller of general or carbonate hardness - in practice though it's almost always the carbonate hardness that's the smaller.)


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## PeterF (Aug 25, 2014)

That's one off my Xmas list!


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## PeterL (Aug 5, 2015)

GlennV said:


> It's just a conversion chart, so 1 degree of German hardness (1 drop) is the same as 0.18 milli moles/litre or 17.8 ppm as CaCO3 etc, your 14 drops is therefore about 250ppm as CaCO3 total/general hardness. More concerning though is the fact that this is not the sort of hardness you need to know about for predicting scaling (if that's why you bought it). For that you need a carbonate hardness (alkalinity) test kit. (Strictly speaking, temporary hardness is the smaller of general or carbonate hardness - in practice though it's almost always the carbonate hardness that's the smaller.)


You sir are quite quite awesome...









On your point, it was bought to both predict filter life and to test for expiration of same. If this is not a good kit for the job what is other than VCR type instructions aside?

In real terms I have a filter of unknown capacity and I want to get closer to known as I am putting a tap on it for a kettle as well.


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## PaulL (May 5, 2014)

So is this kind of water analysis helpful or is a TDS meter generally adequate?


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

I use the kit from screwfix for about £2.50


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## mathof (Mar 24, 2012)

GlennV said:


> It's just a conversion chart, so 1 degree of German hardness (1 drop) is the same as 0.18 milli moles/litre or 17.8 ppm as CaCO3 etc, your 14 drops is therefore about 250ppm as CaCO3 total/general hardness. More concerning though is the fact that this is not the sort of hardness you need to know about for predicting scaling (if that's why you bought it). For that you need a carbonate hardness (alkalinity) test kit. (Strictly speaking, temporary hardness is the smaller of general or carbonate hardness - in practice though it's almost always the carbonate hardness that's the smaller.)


Is this what you mean?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Salifert-KH-Alkalinity-Profi-Test-Kit/220553608222?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3D1cfcb9b6a0fc461782563015743c934f%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D161563894183


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## GlennV (Mar 29, 2013)

PeterL said:


> On your point, it was bought to both predict filter life and to test for expiration of same. If this is not a good kit for the job what is other than VCR type instructions aside?
> 
> In real terms I have a filter of unknown capacity and I want to get closer to known as I am putting a tap on it for a kettle as well.


Glad to be of help.

Your carbonate hardness is likely to be 3 or 4 drops/degrees less than the the total hardness, so around 180-200 ppm as CaCO3 (this difference seems typical for hard water areas in the UK). In any case, the difference between the two types of hardness is unchanged by brita/bwt/claris type filters, which use cation exchange, so the kit will be fine for spotting when it's expired.


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

PaulL said:


> So is this kind of water analysis helpful or is a TDS meter generally adequate?


Those kits are checking for specific minerals in the water (calcium isn't it?) while a TDS meter is measuring how conductive the water is due to the number of contaminants (harmful or not). Both useful things to know but neither the last word.


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## mrsimba (Mar 17, 2014)

A TDS meter measures the conductivity of the water not the hardness, I used an electronic TDS meter on my water filtered & unfiltered & it measured exactly the same! Both 243.

yet when I used the Londinium water hardness test kit on the same water it measured 180ppm un-filtered & 75ppm filtered.

the electronic TDS meter has sat in the draw ever since!


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## Brewer in training (Feb 7, 2015)

mrsimba said:


> the electronic TDS meter has sat in the draw ever since!


I'll give you a pound for it, just so you can free up valuable drawer space.......


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