Ice Machine - Use soft, or untreated water?
 

I have just got an ice making machine (Whirlpool K20)

Now, I am unsure if I should use water directly from the mains, water from
my water softener (the type that uses salt) or filtered water in the unit.

I live in quite a hard water area (Orpington, Kent)

Using soft water will obviously stop the machine getting scaled up, however,
I didn't think it was good to drink soft water (we don't)

using filtered water will remove any nasties in the water, but I don't think
it will stop the scale

using soft, filtered, or filtered soft water would be impractical, as it
would mean I would have to re-plumb things! (Although, if soft, then
filtered is the way to go, I could get another filter for the ice machine I
suppose.)

Thanks for any advice!

Sparks...

Sparks wrote:

using soft, filtered, or filtered soft water would be impractical, as it
would mean I would have to re-plumb things! (Although, if soft, then
filtered is the way to go, I could get another filter for the ice machine I
suppose.)

Surely you don't drink _that_ much ice/water do you?
I would connect it to the soft water myself and carry on drinking the
hard/filtered water if particularly concerned.

If you check on tinternet WRT salt consumption and softened water etc
general belif seems to be there is much more salt in milk than in
softened water anyway, so health concern shouldn't be an issue particularly.

(however for compliance I will be having a filtered hard water supply on
a 3 way kitchen tap, but wouldn't be worried about supping the soft
stuff apart from possible tase changes etc.)
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In article ,
lid says...
I have just got an ice making machine (Whirlpool K20)

Now, I am unsure if I should use water directly from the mains, water from
my water softener (the type that uses salt) or filtered water in the unit.

I live in quite a hard water area (Orpington, Kent)

Using soft water will obviously stop the machine getting scaled up, however,
I didn't think it was good to drink soft water (we don't)

using filtered water will remove any nasties in the water, but I don't think
it will stop the scale

using soft, filtered, or filtered soft water would be impractical, as it
would mean I would have to re-plumb things! (Although, if soft, then
filtered is the way to go, I could get another filter for the ice machine I
suppose.)

Thanks for any advice!

Sparks...



As part of one of my jobs(!), I install and service ice making
machines that are in use commercially. They are not allowed to be
connected to the output from an ion exchange water softener, due to the
saline levels in the water, so I have no experience of what a softener
would do to the internals of the machines.

I have dismantled a number of machines over the years which have
been directly connected to a tap water supply. The inner surfaces of
the machines, where they are immersed or splashed by the water, get
covered with an unpleasant slime, something like a thinned down
vaseine. When this builds up sufficiently to begin to break away, it
attaches itself to the ice cubes, which is not pleasant. It also is a
time consuming job to try to remove it all from the various nooks and
crannies within the machines.

All the machines that I install are fitted with in-line activated
carbon cartridge filters, which are changed usually annually, and this
prevents the above problems.

I have never seen an ice-maker with an undue amount of scale
within, as, in general, there is little evaporation taking place
throughout the machine's cycle...

--
Regards,

Will.