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Combating very soft water (very slight yellowish water out of group)
Recently gotten my LR , i ran it with tap water in filter fitted water tank and pulled plain water with very slight yellowish colour. i consulted reiss about it and he said it might be the water been too soft and became acidic, didnt know SG tap water can be this soft and those fish keeping folk here are complaining it been too hard. Is it possible for me to add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) as a ph buffer to combat the acidic situation?
Comments
Why not add the link you sent me that provides the profile for your water?
I seem to recall an alkalinity value of 18ppm average and a range that started at 6 or 8ppm
This isn’t a subjective ‘Reiss said’ issue, this is an objective water chemistry issue
Kind regards
Reiss
pH Value Units - 7.7-8.3
Total Dissolved Solid mg/L - 74-263
Chlorine Note(3) mg/L - 2.00 - 2.98
Monochloramine Note(4) mg/L - 1.60-2.95
Total Alkalinity (as CaCO3) mg/L -5 - 47
Total Hardness (as CaCO3) mg/L - 35 - 138
Chloride mg/L - 6 - 65
yes you can add baking soda; give it a good stir to mix it in
i also recommend some serious flushing - there is always some water left in the machines from testing at the factory, and you can never be sure how it is going to react with your water. you have also had the BWT softening cartridge in place initially and now removed it as it was softening unnecessarily, so the effect of this also needs to be flushed through
let us know how you get on
there are other machine owners in Singapore, we would be interested to hear what water you are using in your machines
best
reiss.
you have high TDS (good), yet low levels of scaling compounds (good), and the water is slightly alkaline (good) and not high in chlorine or other contaminants
the more i look at your water profile the less i think you have a major issue
there is an interesting table of reactivity with copper plumbing here; https://copperplumbing.org.uk/sites/default/files/content_attachments/guide-to-suitability-with-chemicals.pdf
i will be most surprised if it doesnt flush clear
let us know how you get on
reiss.
i will be getting ph meter next week , just to be sure.
what may be happening is the loxeal is trapping coffee grounds in it and the coffee grounds will cause the discolouration
unplug the machine
remove the shower screen
pump the lever 40 times to drive any excess loxeal to the bottom of the sleeve
wipe the excess off with a paper towel or rag
use a citrus solvent to dissolve the loxeal from the shower screen
refit shower screen
that i think is the source of the discolouration: coffee grounds trapped in the excess loxeal
reiss.
I'd flush more water than that since you're not flushing it out like you would a toilet, but rather diluting it very gradually.
If you throw out the contents of a wine glass and rinse it 3 times, all wine color will be gone from the glass.
On the other hand If you take a gulp, then add water to the wine in the glass and take another big gulp, then filling it up again, etcetera, you will need more water before you see the wine color disappear.
So whatever it was that looked 'yellowish' to you I am confident you will lose it but not with just a few flushes. The brew group will clear up first, then later the boiler water as well. No cause for worry, just cause for being practical.
Abit shocked to black lubricant grease underneath the seal and the towel was black when i wiped the piston with it.
Do you have the option to use bottled water of the correct value?
Can try volvic but its exp here.
all this experimenting and worrying is expensive too