Description
A vial of fifty strips that read total hardness in about thirty seconds. Dip one in a glass of cold water from the tap you actually fill the machine from, shake the drop off, and read the pads against the chart printed on the label.
The scale runs from 0 to 425 ppm in five steps. That is coarse next to a titration kit and precise enough for the decision in front of you: whether to soften, which filter cartridge to buy, and how often to descale.
Espresso machines want something between 50 and 100 ppm. Below that, the water starts pulling metal out of the boiler; above it, scale builds on the element and the flow through the group quietly drops off over a season.
Keep the vial shut and dry — the pads read high once they have sat in a humid cupboard with the cap loose. Fifty strips is a couple of years of monthly checks, and there is a date stamped on the base.
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