Posted Tue Apr 8, 2008, 4:52am Subject: Water softener question
I've done some research and now am seeking sage advice. I am opening a small coffee shop (one Espressimo 1750, one Bunn CW APS and one Bunn CDBCF Twin APS) that are hard lined. I have installed a Bunn EQHP-54L inline filter for all of the equipment and the ice maker and a filtered water faucet. Should I add an inline water softener or is the built in scale inhibitor in the filter enough? I want good tasting coffee and espresso but I don't want to add something I may not need.
If the consensus is that I should have one what do people think of the Bunn EQHP-SFTN?
First thing you want to do is determine if you really need a water softener to begin with. Is this city water? You can call and ask what the hardness in "Grains" is and determine if you need to soften at all. If it's city water I doubt it is actually too hard, and softening will probably just degrade the taste of your coffee.
Thanks for replying! Yes it is Virginia city water and I've been told it's fairly hard. I'm wondering if the lime inhibitor in my filter is enough to counteract the hardness or if I need the softener for a 240 ppm rating or if I'm just confused about what the lime inhibitor does.
I bought and installed my whole house softener (from this vendor - I had 21 grains of hardness!) after lots of research. You have about 14 grains of hardness. What you want to do is ultimately balance the size (capacity) of the unit with the estimated volume of water usage and a reasonable regeneration schedule. Apparently most people undersize the unit. Even if you ultimately call in a local professional to supply the unit (at a huge premium) , this is good background knowledge.
Per your original post, a scale inhibitor without softening is not enough.
Note: I am not a professional but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express :)
Thanks for the reply! Well I talked to Bunn and the think that the lime inhibitor should protect the equipment and I really don't want to soften the water if I don't have to as it has a nice flavor out of the filter. I guess I'll just keep an eye out for scale in the hot machines and see how it goes. I can always add one later.
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