Setting water hardness on a De'Longhi, how are people testing it?

[Thomas Martinez]

Recently I've been looking up info on teh water hardness settings on De’Longhi machines since it seems to be a topic that gets ignored in comparison to descaling. The machine actualy asks for you to measure your water and program in the hardness level. The official setting uses an Aquadur strip that comes with the machine, however any aquarium test strips (like API) will work the same. You dunk the strip for about a second, shake it off and look for how many red square there are. There will be somewhere between 1 and 4 red squares which will correspond to the hardness setting on the machine. The same measurements that the API and other aquarium water test strips measure are the same that De’Longhi machines use to determine water hardness. Both measure water hardness by measuring the amount of calcium in the water. So a reading of 3 on an API strip means the same as 3 red squares on a De’Longhi strip. Thus any deviation outside of that would be a matter of personal preference.

 

[M.C. Escher's]

I just set mine to 4 and call it a day. I live in one of the hard water areas of the country so why pretend that the water is any other than hard.

 

[History of the Karate]

I did compare the API and the Aquadur strips myself last year. Both lined up in roughly the same reading. API showed 3 squares and the Aquadur strip also read 3. It’s essentially the same measurement so I’d be shocked if someone had wildly differnt readings. However, the Aquadur strips have red squares that change colors more crisp so if you get a borderline reading with your API, run a second strip to establish what the true reading is.

 

[Attractive A]

Wait does it matter what setting the machine is in? Is there really that big of a deal between setting 3 and 4 in regard to when the machine will ask you to descale?

 

[Enviou]

I just set mine to 4 and call it a day. I live in one of the hard water areas of the country so why pretend that the water is any other than hard.

You dont want to default to the highest setting. You want the machine to ask you to descale at the appropriate interval. If you turn it to 4 in soft water it will ask for descaling much more often than you should of had to.

 

[M.C. Escher's]

You dont want to default to the highest setting. You want the machine to ask you to descale at the appropriate interval. If you turn it to 4 in soft water it will ask for descaling much more often than you should of had to.

Descaling extra isnt going to hurt anything, calc buildup will. I’d rather over-descale than find a brick in my boiler in 3 years.

 

[Enviou]

Descaling extra isnt going to hurt anything, calc buildup will. I’d rather over-descale than find a brick in my boiler in 3 years.

Citric acid and descaler are not free passes, they will eat away at your machine seals over time.

 

[Attractive A]

You dont want to default to the highest setting. You want the machine to ask you to descale at the appropriate interval. If you turn it to 4 in soft water it will ask for descaling much more often than you should of had to.

Ok but how often does it really ask you to descale? Is it every 2 month versus every 6? Is it less than that perhaps?

 

[Misty Mandrill]

The rinse cycle for 5 seconds varies by model. My Magnifica S use a different cycle so always check the manual that came with the machine prior to starting the cycle.