Fitting a BWT Bestmax water filter, what hardness should I be aiming for?

Jack Blackmore

Hi all,

I've got a Londinium L1 (pre 2017) and I'm just about to fit a BWT Bestmax premium filter and was hoping to get some feedback on what hardness I should be aiming for to prevent scale forming in the boiler? I've got a BWT drop kit for Total and Carbonate hardness and the results are currently coming in at:

Tap Water:
Total Hardness: 15 drops / d°GH
Carbonate Hardness: 8 drops / d°KH

Bottled Water currently using (Tesco Ashbeck):
Total Hardness: 3 drops / d°GH
Carbonate Hardness: 1 to 2 drops / d°KH

Given how difficult it is to descale the boiler I'd like to target the upper limit where scale is going to be negligible if possible. Also forgive my ignorance but is it the Carbonate hardness I need to be worried about regarding scale? If so could anyone summarise what affect the total hardness has?

Cheers,

Frans Goddijn

Reiss just answered this yesterday in another thread, so if you look around in recent discussions you will find it!

Jack Blackmore

Well... this is embarrassing

Just found the post https://londiniumespresso.com/forum?view=topic&catid=5&id=911&start=30#13527 with Reiss recommending not to exceed 70ppm Carbonate Hardness ideally targeting 50ppm.

I found an article online that says you can convert from KH to ppm by using a multiplication factor of 17.86 so I should be aiming for 3 drops. I'll report back once the filter's installed!

Jack Blackmore

So finally got round to fitting this over the weekend and I'm actually a little astounded how much difference it has made! I'll try not to sing its praises too much to stop this sounding like a sales pitch but it was a breeze to fit, the water is a dream to drink and the espresso has leapt to a new level!

I've started on a bypass setting of 1 and will test again once it has bedded in a bit but I'm getting results that look to be pretty bang on what I'm after.

Total Hardness: 5 drops / d°GH
Carbonate Hardness: 2 to 3 drops / d°KH

I was really surprised at the noticeable difference between this and the softer bottled water I've been using, looking at the portafilter during extraction it appears darker and blondes later although this could just be a placebo, the taste whoever is noticeably better which is seconded by my better half who doesn't really care for all my 'messing about'

Reiss Gunson

hi jack

thanks for reporting back. i take from what you write that it is an under bench model?

kind regards

reiss.

Jack Blackmore

It certainly is, we should get around 1,300 litres before it needs replacing based on the current settings so it's worked out cheaper than buying bottled and I've no longer got the gilt of using so much plastic!

Reiss Gunson

and a volumetric alarm to tell you when to change the filter, if I'm not mistaken?

that's a nice tidy install there, well done.