Limescale Protection for Coffee Machines
Added: (Thu Apr 06 2006)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
Limescale has been a perennial problem for coffee machine manufacturers and their users. Because coffee machines are heating water almost continually, scale builds up on internal heating elements, as well as around outlet pipes and jets. The 'harder' the user's water the worse the problem. Some high-end coffee machines now feature in-built protection using the patented Hydroflow technology from Hydropath. This unit prevents limescale adhering to internal surfaces on the coffee machine. The same protection can now be offered to coffee machines that have not been fitted with such protection, but are connected to a mains water supply. By adding a stand-alone Hydroflow HS38 unit to the cold feed, the entire unit will be protected from limescale build-up. This prevents blockages and maintains the energy efficiency of the machine.
The technology is being rapidly adopted after successful trials with leading manufacturers including Astoria, CMA, Wega, Lavazza, Nespresso and Selecta. Not only is Hydroflow proven to prevent limescale build up, it even removes existing deposits over time. It works on filter, percolating and espresso machines. An added, invisible advantage to customers is that the valuable minerals are transferred to the drink offering nutritional benefits .
Hydroflow works by emitting randomly-varying electric fields. This enhances the precipitation of the bicarbonates from solution to suspension by introducing clusters of ions in the water to act as seed for suspended crystallisation. The resulting suspension therefore does not adhere to pipework or internal surfaces but remains in suspension in the water.
Traditionally, the only method of dealing with the problem of limescale build-up was to soften the water chemically, via the zeolite or ion exchange method - whereby magnesium and calcium ions are exchanged with sodium ions. This relies on the use of sodium in the softener's resin reservoir and the method has its own inherent problems. The potability of the water is affected, the salt reservoir must be periodically replenished and calcium carbonate deposits still occur; these ultimately need removing by acid cleaning. All these have associated costs in addition to undesirable environmental aspects relating to the discharge of salt water to the watercourse. Another undesirable side effect of softened water is that the resulting solution is corrosive and can affect the machine's internal parts. For Hydroflow to work effectively, it is essential that users do not soften the water that supplies the coffee machine.
For information about the Hydroflow range of water conditioners, contact Hydropath on Tel: (0115) 986 9966.
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