Re: RO water bad for coffee machines?
Hi cremakid,
I had a chance to talk to him last night, and his professional opinion is that there is no chance of corrosion in this context. He bases this on the use of marine brass (also called naval brass) in power stations and other industrial plants. As far as I know, all brass coffee machine boilers use marine brass. This has additives (I think arsenic or tin) which prevent de-zincification. They are not toxic when added to the alloy in this way. Any brass components in plants like power stations can only be used with de-ionized water to avoid scale, which otherwise can cause catastrophic failures, so marine brass is always used.
Yes, this also includes distilled water, if it has no minerals added back in, of course. A regular flushing schedule must be maintained for closed boiler systems like a steam boiler. I believe I have described what he said accurately, but any mistakes will be mine, not his.
In the case of your single boiler, its not mineral concentrations but scale that you have to watch. Flushing will not protect you from this. If the water is sufficiently hard and alkaline, then scale will precipitate out at boiler temperature until the hardness falls to a level where the Langelier Index is 0. Therefore, you must soften your water or descale regularly. Have a look at the "Insanely Long water FAQ" referred to earlier, here: http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html
matt
Hi cremakid,
I had a chance to talk to him last night, and his professional opinion is that there is no chance of corrosion in this context. He bases this on the use of marine brass (also called naval brass) in power stations and other industrial plants. As far as I know, all brass coffee machine boilers use marine brass. This has additives (I think arsenic or tin) which prevent de-zincification. They are not toxic when added to the alloy in this way. Any brass components in plants like power stations can only be used with de-ionized water to avoid scale, which otherwise can cause catastrophic failures, so marine brass is always used.
Yes, this also includes distilled water, if it has no minerals added back in, of course. A regular flushing schedule must be maintained for closed boiler systems like a steam boiler. I believe I have described what he said accurately, but any mistakes will be mine, not his.
In the case of your single boiler, its not mineral concentrations but scale that you have to watch. Flushing will not protect you from this. If the water is sufficiently hard and alkaline, then scale will precipitate out at boiler temperature until the hardness falls to a level where the Langelier Index is 0. Therefore, you must soften your water or descale regularly. Have a look at the "Insanely Long water FAQ" referred to earlier, here: http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html
matt

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