Water and scale

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Johnlyn

Water and scale

Post by Johnlyn »

I've been using the search function and have read a couple of things in posts of a different nature, but I can't seem to find a dedicated topic for water and scale. So I thought I would start one. If there is one please point me to it.

Given that the steam boiler is difficult to descale and expensive to replace, I want to get into good habits early. Here are some observations:

I have tested various forms of water available to me using test strips:

house (through water softener), 180 ppm +
Same water through RO for drinking water, 180 ppm + and the taste is only OK (better than without the RO)
town water, 180 ppm- (very tasty and clean, but still hard)
RO town water from grocery store, 40 ppm - (still quite flavourful, better than typical city water)

Here's the kicker:

RO water after going through the tank filter as measured coming out of the grouphead, exact same reading as the RO water going in? which begs the question of whether the filter is making any kind of a difference or maybe that it is different because it is filtering RO water? Is there any way that I can take better readings to understand what is going on and base decisions accordingly? Otherwise, I am thinking of sticking with straight RO water with no in-tank filter.

I have also noticed that the no water light still comes on. Is there any other real disadvantage to straight RO water?
MDL
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Posts: 329
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:29 am
Location: San Diego

Re: Water and scale

Post by MDL »

Given that the house softened, RO for drinking and the town are the same I doubt that your softener or RO unit are working correctly?

If you feed RO water into the Vivaldi the in tank filter is unlikely to do anything; you have already removed the minerals by RO.
Last edited by MDL on Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Endo

Re: Water and scale

Post by Endo »

I suggest you first use another method to measure the hardness. You say you are using strips but it seems they are not working correctly.

For example, my TDS meter will not work for an ion exchange softener, since it only exchanges one type of ion with another. Therefore my TDS will be the same. Perhaps you have something similar?
LDT

Re: Water and scale

Post by LDT »

I could not get the strips I used from CSS to change color (very soft water). I have a test kit designed for fish tanks. Much more accurate. Here is the link to the product I am using: http://www.apifishcare.com/products/pro ... oductid=74
Endo

Re: Water and scale

Post by Endo »

+1 on the aquarium kit. I use the same and it seems to be much more accurate than other methods. Not something you would want to use too often since it is a bit of a pain, but usually you only need to do it once or twice.
Johnlyn

Re: Water and scale

Post by Johnlyn »

The ones I used were hot tub test strips. I'll try the Aquarium ones to get more accurate results. It's just good to know where the water is at in order to treat the machine well.

And the home water is softened to the results obtained. Otherwise there it is very hard well water.
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