Hard water - not filtered by water board?

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Turning one on with no water when it's full of scale makes a big mess.

[Tim+]

Notice who you?re replying to...

Tim

[NY]

I decoked my coffee maker: the sort that gurgled and spluttered while it heated water as it was drawn from a cold-water reservoir to the nozzle that dripped it over a filter of coffee grounds. Something in the descaling solution attacked the metal pipe and it began to leak. Maybe it had already corroded and had only been kept watertight by limescale that had now been dissolved.

I went over to the low-tech solution of a kettle of hot (but not boiling) water into a cafetiere. Quicker, quieter and no descaling needed. At least with a kettle you can heat the element with no water in for few seconds, and then drench it with a jug of cold water to shatter the scale off the element.

Living in a soft water area now, I no longer have a limescale problem.

[NY]

My kettle is probably about 10 years old. The only "breakage" was temporary when the thermostat which switches it off when the water boils failed so the kettle would not stay on. I got used to holding the switch down with the edge of a plate, and manually switching it off. I tend to make coffee rather than tea, so I don't want the water to get as high as 100 deg C anyway. One day I accidentally let the kettle boil for a minute or so before I switched it off. From then on, the thermostat has worked fine again: the switch now latches down again and clicks off when the water boils.

But no leaks. I still remember when I first heard about plastic kettles being developed, in the late 70s, and it made me think of chocolate teapots, because I though of plastics as things that softened and melted well below

100 deg C - not realising that new types of plastic were being developed that would withstand that temperature.

[Martin Brown]

It is interesting in the case of coffee that the right amount of hardness is critical for getting the best possible brew.

I was at a lecture on the chemistry of coffee making (sponsored by a maker of commercial barista coffee machines) and with an expert present with all the methods of making the stuff and tasting some very exotic single estate coffees and single species/varieties.

The most fun was him making coffee with different qualities of water:

1. Pure water (reverse osmosis potable grade)
2. Newcastle tap water
3. Evian water

It was recommended to taste them in that order too.

#1 was OK but rather soft, dull and lacklustre. #2 was a very nice balanced cup of coffee. #3 was disgusting with free bases that tasted really bitter.

Turns out Newcastle tapwater is almost perfect for coffee making.

[NY]

Yes my parents had an old-fashioned kettle - the sort that was low and wide, rather than tall and narrow like a jug - and it was made of "silver" (nickel?) plated steel. That worked for as long as I can remember. It may have been a wedding present, in which case it probably lasted about 25 or 30 years. Like you, I think my parents replaced it for a jug kettle that was easier to use, turned itself off and didn't leak steam from the lid onto your hand as you picked it up by the handle to pour it - jug kettles have the handle at the side rather than in the path of any steam that may come from the lid/spout.

[tim...]

you don't need it to drink either - it tastes awful

tim

[NY]

What prevented the soap leeching into the water after that? Obviously he'd wash out majority of the soap residue fairly well, but I'd have though the water would always taste very slightly soapy afterwards.

[NY]

After many years of use, my parents' cistern had a limscale tide mark round it - in fact it had several where the cutoff had been set at different levels. Being a porcelain cistern (unglazed on the inside), the limescale clung very tenaciously and couldn't be removed, so we left it. The toilet still flushed fine. With a plastic cistern you can chip the scale off as long as you do it frequently and don't let too much build up.

[Rob Morley]

Which Newcastle?

[Tim Streater]

No, but they fur up. Then bits of the fur break off and get into your tea/coffee.

[Tim Streater]

Had you not heard of bakelite? You could almost put that on a gas stove.

[Tim Streater]

What d'ye mean "breaks it up"? Are there little imps with miniature hammers who swim up and down the pipes chipping bits of limescale off?

[Graham.]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2017 17:02:24 +0100, "NY" coalesced the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful comprehension...

Russell Hobbs K2. If you boiled it dry the big round connector shot out of the socket.

[Tim Streater]

Yes they do. Our such filter fell to pieces as it got furred up.

[Tim Streater]

I've added to your long URL. You're welcome.

Now: how is that thing supposed to work?

[Ed Pawlowski]

RO water is pure, and that is a problem. The best water has some minerals in it. Some bottled water is RO processed and then some minerals are put back in so it has a good taste.

[Ed Pawlowski]

The only one that matters, in Delaware. Am I right?

[charles]

When I rebuilt our kitchen I removed a length of old iron pipe which had bee in use a the main supply to the kitchen tap since the house was built - about 60 years previously. It was virtually clogged. No way of seeing through it. But then we live in an "insanely hard water area"

[Tim Streater]

No available: model too old. Kettle itself works fine, although I could wish it turned itself off slightly sooner. But it'll soon be moot as we are getting a boiling water tap.