BestCup Water Softener Cartridge

[Endo]

My water hardness is back up to 100ppm so I think it's time to change my softener cartridge. (The filter booklet says replace at 3 months max).

I asked my retailer and he had no idea where to get a replacement cartridge. Does anyone know where I can buy one in Canada or US?

There is a European website, but with no contact or retailer info in North America:

http://www.water-and-more.com/EN/Produc ... artridges/

I tried asking LaSpaziale and the filter manufacturer, but no answer yet.

[fiddlefly]

have u tried union or the retailer in calgary ( im sure u thought of that already)

[Endo]

have u tried union or the retailer in calgary ( im sure u thought of that already)

Cafe-Union had no clue. Caffe Tech in Edmonton only sells machines from Chris Coffee (i.e. no filter). Tried PlanetEspresso in Mississauga as well. None there either.

That's all the places I know of in Canada that sell S1s. I don't think any of the US sellers carry it since they all seem to sell the mk2.

I think I may need to get one shipped from Europe, where they sell the Mini mk1. I guess I'll order a few. Any idea how long a softener cartridge can be stored? I thought I remember them having some sort of shelf life.

[JohnB]

Why don't you tell the company that sold you the machine that you expect them to support it? Let them pay the freight from Europe.

[Endo]

Why don't you tell the company that sold you the machine that you expect them to support it? Let them pay the freight from Europe.

I tried that. They didn't say no, but I don't get the feeling it will be arriving any time soon. After my last discussion with them, I figured I better find it myself or else I'll be trying to descale that sealed Mini boiler with a syringe (not looking forwward to that).

I'm starting to think about making my own Mini steam boiler (easily turned from from solid bar stock) with a proper bolted end-plate and gasket (cut from the existing boiler).

[oton]

I think I can buy bestcup filters in my country, but i'm not sure yet. Don't know the price. In case you couldn't buy them, I could send them to you.

[Endo]

Wow! That would be awesome.

Let me know if you find one.

[Endo]

Chris Coffee now stocks the cartridges:

http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom ... ndsoftener

At $25 each for something that needs to be replaced every 3 months, I think I'll just stick with my RO water (which costs me only $10 every 3 months).

[HeeBeeGB]

Plus that water unit looks cool

[Endo]

I also noticed on the CC website that they say the cartridge in only recommended if your water is already below 10 grains. So I assume this means it can only bring down the hardness by 7 grains. So if you are at 12 grains, the RO may be a better choice.

They also say the cartidge has 100g of resin which makes it good for 13 gallons (that's 16.5 reservoir refills).

[HeeBeeGB]

Yes.....my convo with chris:

"Im no rocket scientist but if I understand this correctly given that the average water hardness here is 11.5 grains/gallon, thus 100/11.5 = 8.7 gallons
8.7 gallons x 3.8 liters/gallon = 33 liters. The mini vivaldi tank is 3 liters correct? If so, Ill need to replace a cartridge after 11 fills...."

That could be alot of cost for cartridges...

[Endo]

I picked up a few Bestcup M water softener cartridges for my Mini last time I was at Chris Coffee. But I'm now down to my last. Does anyone know if there is a Canadian on-line seller of these cartridges yet?

[JohnB]

Considering the cost of those filters why don't you just install one of these set ups under the kitchen sink: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom ... enersystem The replacement filters cost about $10 each & last 8-9 months or longer. I have one installed in the Speedster coffeebar & another under our kitchen sink feeding a dedicated cold water faucet. We use the water from the kitchen set up for the MIcrocasa & my wife's hot water pot. I added a manual mixing valve to each system so I can add hard water back in between the softener & carbon filters to bring the overall hardness up into the 2-3grain range as I don't care for the taste of fully softened water.

[Endo]

Usually when I run out of mini softeners, I just buy some RO water fro my cooler and do a 50/50 with tap water. It's cheaper, but less convenient since it involveds me making a trip to the grocery store.

The plumbed in softener sounds good. But I'm not really into any plumbing right now.

[Doug]

Seattlecoffeegear.com sells the Best Cup S filters for $12.50 plus free shipping for over $50.

[LDT]

What's the difference between a Best Cup S and Best Cup M?

[cuznvin]

If my tap water is below 3 grains... do I need to use the filter ? Can I use the water directly from the tap?