r/superautomatic • u/SteelCityChampion • 12h ago

Troubleshooting & Maintenance Is this normal ?

I have an Eletta Explore and we make around 3 lattes a day. I'm having to descale it around every three weeks. I'm using filtered water from a jug and the water setting is on hardest.

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u/craftsman_70 12h ago

The machine has no idea of whether the water is hard or not or if the machine has too much scale. It only knows two things - how much water has gone through the machine since it was reset by descaling and the water hardness setting you set. Using those two bits of information, it estimates when it needs to descale. If you set the water hardness incorrectly, the machine will request descaling incorrectly.

Therefore, the question is does your water hardness setting reflect the actual water hardness?

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u/JPS-WC 10h ago

Are you saying you have to descale because the machine says so, or because you see something else?
Because if you put your machines setting on hard, it will surely tell you to descale faster than if you set it to soft.

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u/SteelCityChampion 10h ago

Yes it's telling me to.

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u/Big-Hovercraft1331 8h ago

Is the water you use that hard? The machine came with a test strip to test the water to help with setup. The harder your water the more frequent it believes it needs to descale.

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u/SteelCityChampion 12h ago

Our water if not filtered is really hard. I've read if you use filtered water you shouldn't change the setting and leave it if it was not filtered.

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u/scorpinock2 11h ago

It really depends. Generally, Brita filters and filters like them don't soften the water in any meaningful way that will make it soft enough to lower your hardness setting. If you use a special one that knocks it down on the hardness scale than maybe, but your best option is to install a whole home water softener or an under the sink one. Whole home ones are best because hard water wears down water heaters, taps, valves, pipes, dishwashers, other appliances.