Hi Christian. Our tap water is also very hard and I was not interested in the hassle of descaling my Brewtus IV so I use reverse osmosis water from our local supermarket. Cost is $2 CAD to refill our 11L bottle so it is not expensive. I had heard that sometimes the sensors do not work properly with water that is too low in minerals but I have not had a problem in that regard. You can mix the reverse osmosis and hard tap water to get the "perfect" water and I did that a few times but I didn't notice any difference in either taste nor operation of the Brewtus so I don't bother anymore.
However, I haven't taken my machine apart to see how well my strategy is actually working. It seems like it should be good but I don't actually have any evidence. Peter On Saturday, September 29, 2012 12:08:18 AM UTC-7, christian wrote: > > Hello all, > > I have my brewtus IV since about 2-3months. Recently I had to replace the > defective temperature probe. When I removed the old one, I was unpleasantly > surprised to see limestone already building up on it (see attached photo). > Of course I was using the water softener for the reservoir (which was > renewed after one month). Also recently I began to pre-filter the water > using a Britta device. > Now, after so short time this is a bit alarming, but maybe to be expected > since the water is really very hard in my area 15°D in medium up to 17°D > max. > So this situation, I have a few questions for you experts out there. > > a) My seller recommended to send in the machine in about 10 months for > maintenance. Given the quick pace in which the scale seems to build up (see > photo): do you think I should wait that long? Do you think I should better > use bottled water instead in the meanwhile (e.g. in the Long Water FAQ they > recommend Volvic)? > > b) Concerning de-scaling: there seems to be a strong discrepancy between > recommendations from the side of people on this forum and sellers. While > here it seems to be the general opinion that de-scaling is not too risky > given one performs the correct steps (e.g., Barry Luterman posts his > procedure in > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brewtus/T2V7_dGS6Tc/BPLRsu53GEQJ, or on > home-barista they recommend using a siphon tube > http://www.home-barista.com/tips/descaling-expobar-brewtus-3r-t12047.html), > sellers usually warn users not to do it and better to give the machine to > professional maintenance. > Now for people like me who live in hard-water areas this is pretty much a > letdown: to send in the machine in frequent intervals is not just costy > (shipping + maintenance) but you also don't have your machine around each > time for at least a week. > So it seems like it's best to learn it yourself at some point. Now in my > case this is problematic since if I do anything wrong I will lose my > guarantee. > - Is de-scaling really that risky for parts of the machine? (e.g. done by > Luterman's procedure, or by means of a siphon tube which seems to me even > less problematic since the machine doesn't even heat up with the citron > acid inside) > - Are there people in this group who would advice me against de-scaling > myself and for what reasons? > > c) Barry Luterman mentions in his procedure "directions in manual for > draining steam and brewing boiler". I cannot find these in my > expobar-manual. I know that there is also a manual of this group, and that > bellabarista have their own manual. I cannot find links to these manuals. > It would be great if someone could send me links or the manuals to my > email. There may be other useful information I am missing out. E.g. I heard > that in the bellabarista manual there is also an instruction for > de-scaling... > > Thanks a lot for all replies in advance, > > Christian > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brewtus/-/GplDy_Ex5pQJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
