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BWT Water Filter Pitcher + BestCup?
Just got a BWT Water Filter Pitcher to get the mentioned benefits of having Mg in the water. But as I am filling the tank I am now wondering if the BestCup filter in the tank will be filtering that Mg out? Meaning, is it a good or bad idea to use both filters? Thanks.
Comments
I would not worry about Mg
Unless your tap water is very 'hard' you might want to take out the tank filter to help make sure that the water has no extra threshold to enter the system. If the reservoir runs dry and the filter then gets air in it, it might suck air into the system where you do not need it.
if nothing else it becomes an unnecessary duplication of costs
frans is absolutely correct that you need to obtain a method to measure exactly how hard your water is - if for example it is super hard you will find the BWT filter in your water jug will be exhausted quickly in terms of its ability to soften your water, especially if you have other people in your household using it too and putting an unknown volume of water through the jug for treatment
they might provide time lines for how frequently a filter needs to be replaced, but this is a fairly useless measure - you really need to know how many litres your filter can soften to a sufficiently soft level for a given level of hardness pre treatment
we do sell a water hardness test kit if that is of interest
kind regards
reiss.
from the group (2 drops, about 40ppm) to monitor the effectiveness of the filter in the tank and when to replace it.
I used to get some water from the group, let it cool for a while and then measuring.
But then I wondered if the heating/cooling of the water can influence the hardness.
When taking water from a cold machine, the result was 3 drops (so approx. 60ppm)
Should I be measuring unheated water, or is that normal measurement fluctuation? (I previously repeated some measurements
of our tap water and did not get differences in drop counts, it's eight drops every time)
Or did the filter just then give up on me? It was about 5 weeks in use at that time, so I was expecting it to run out?
Can someone give some more informed thoughts about this?
If you want to test the effectiveness of the in-tank filter, I think it's best to take out the tank/reservoir, fill it up and tap some water from it (having it stand on a table top with the spout sticking out). Then you can compare the values of tap water / water out of that reservoir.
And it's probably more optimal to use a BTW water jug to fill the reservoir, or an inline water filter.
when i was using the BWT tank filter i measured the hardness out of the bottom of the water tank each week
when it rose to 5 drops of reagent using the londinium water hardness test kit (reaction with 1 drop = 1 grain per gallon (1gpg) = 17.1ppm or mg/L x 5 drops = 85.5ppm) i would change the filter
it is also prudent to run the test 3 times to ensure you dont get hit with an outlier and base your decisions on that result
in this way you are ensuring you are changing the filter based on the typical volume of water that you would put through the system in a given time interval - i.e. this time interval is going to vary depending on how hard the water is pre-treatment and how much water you pull through the filter
in central london for our usage this was every 3 weeks, so please be aware that if you have hard water and pull quite a bit of water through your machine that you will be replacing these little in-tank filters frequently
reiss.
However, I did not know one can remove the watertank. I assumed there were too many connections (outlet + low-water sensor)
that have to stay watertight and dry too make that an easy job. Until now I just cleaned the tank in situ as best as I could!
How do you remove the tank exactly? How do you empty it before removal?
Is there a manual or support page with this sort of things? Maybe I missed more of such important facts about my LR...
it won't break so dont be afraid to grip very firmly on both sides of the box between fingers and thumbs in both hands and pull upwards strongly.
if you do it when the tank is almost full you can expect a bit of water to slop out, but half full or less and you should be fine.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/wsstate16.pdf
the hardness is about 300 mg/litre or grains/gallon
If you have a choice to buy a series of the little in-tank filters or the jug with its replacement cartridges, my guess is the jug is more cost effective and it's also easier to monitor the effectiveness, assuming you will buy a test kit.
After years of mixing my hard tap water with mineral water (tap water has a water hardness of 11 dH), I am now interested in the Bestcup btw m filter that you can buy here in the shop. On the homepage of BWT, however, I find the following statement in the product description:
"Materials of the coffee machine: Decarbonated water contains, due to the process, free carbonic acid." After the filter, no installations made of copper or with nickel or zinc coating should be used. "
now I am confused ... my L1 is indeed only copper ...?
I'm a bit cautious, can I use the Bestcup with the L1 or not? Should the filter be constantly under water? Also, it says somewhere in the product description the filter should be used with water that is not warmer than 25 degrees - but when my L1 runs it takes in tank temperatures around 35 degrees ...
I hope someone can dispel my concerns about the Best Cup, because it would be very convenient. On table filter, I have no desire because you always have to temporarily store in the refrigerator.
Best regards, Thomas
the key word in the sentence you have quoted is 'coating', where perhaps if it had been translated more carefully they would have used the word 'electroplating'
it is a reference to the cheap and cheerful entry level machines that have plated costings over the internal water ways of cheap aluminium pipes. once the coating is lost the aluminium pipes are dissolved away in no time and you need a new machine and BWT are simply protecting themselves against such claims; the pipes in your L1 that are copper are solid copper and will not be dissolved away by the BWT filter
BWT are one of the largest water filter manufacturers in the world, and we are using a filter that they have specifically designed and sold to be used in espresso machines; it is absolutely fine
If you personally have doubts then by all means use some other method for your water treatment
I dont mind telling you that if you over soften any water, for example with the use of pure reverse osmosis water or any other method, the water becomes acidic at boiler operating temperatures and will slowly dissolve the boiler
this does not constitute a health hazard as copper is not toxic to the body if passing through as a dissolved metal, but you would need a new boiler after a good number of years as it would dissolve away to the point where it would start to develop pin-prick leaks
for this reason moderation is important, keeping the water not too soft and not too hard; somewhere in the middle is good
if you buy a machine with a stainless boiler you get another set of water chemistry problems, not least of all that it is a lot thinner and suffers from metal fatigue a lot faster than copper. it is also vulnerable to the hard chromium, which is the only thing that gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance, being squeezed out/migrated in areas where the boiler is stamped for fittings to be mounted on the boiler and this can result in the chromium content falling below 12% and guess what; you have a stainless steel boiler that starts to corrode like a mild steel one to the point where it leaks in the areas of the boiler where it has been stamped. it was this very thing that lead to Faema going out of business; warranty claims on stainless steel boilers and the issue has arisen with other manufacturers of stainless boilers since then as the chromium level in the stainless alloy needs to be tightly controlled both during the manufacture of the sheet metal and subsequently during and stamping processes during the manufacture of the boiler
copper is the perfect metal for boiler manufacture and if you google it you will see that since roman times we have known that is has anti bacterial properties, it is malleable, and responds better than any other metal to the repeated expansion and contraction cycle that arises from a boiler heating and cooling many thousands of times in its working life
copper is a magic metal and we'll be sticking with it
kind regards
reiss.
http://kostverlorenvaart.blogspot.nl/2015/02/getting-bestmax-premium-water-filter.html
Hope that helps.
Do test your water before / after.
short question - is this piece https://londiniumespresso.com/store/espresso-machine-parts/connecting-sleeve-for-londinium-in-tank-water-softening-and-filtration-cartridge for the tank also made for the L1? - or just for the LR? Can the pump still suck water? I ask because the LR yes otherwise sucks the water.
Thank you for the answers
i am not sure that i understand you completely, but the item you refer to was fitted from day one in both the L1(2012-2016) and the LR
does that answer your question?
kind regards
reiss.
yes that was my question, thanks for answering. I just bought an adapter for my L1, in your shop, found no in Germany. Greetings Thomas