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Archive for January, 2021

Why Is it Important to have Filtered Water for Ice Machine

Posted by Rayne Water

If you haven’t been filtering your ice machine water, the benefits of doing so may surprise you. The quality of your water can impact the taste of your ice and the beverages it is placed in, as well as the longevity and efficiency of your ice machine, whether it be at your home, restaurant, or other business. 

Protecting your investment comes down to passing the right water through your ice-making system through the use of an ice machine water filter.

Why Filter Your Ice Machine Water?

The main reason you want to filter the water going into your ice machine is because, with the right filtration system, you’ll be able to reduce the number of hard minerals passing into your ice machine. This can have a big impact on the longevity and efficiency of your ice maker system. Let’s take a closer look at why that is.

What are Hard Minerals?

The term hard minerals refers to mineral ions that are attached to water molecules. Water hardness can be caused by a variety of different mineral and metal ions, including:

The level of hard minerals found in tap water supplies varies depending on where you live, the general environment around your water supply source. Calcium and magnesium compounds are the most common dissolved minerals that contribute to water hardness.  The mineral content of the soil near your water source will play a big role in how hard your water is.

Why are Hard Minerals Problematic?

The main problem with hard minerals is that they can impact the efficiency and lifespan of your ice machine over time. Hard water leaves behind mineral deposits when it is heated or evaporated, which is often referred to as “scaling”. 

Scaling can impact nearly any appliance or surface hard water comes into contact with in your home, but is especially problematic in appliances that heat water. This includes your ice maker, but also includes your water heater, washer, dishwasher and coffee pot. 

If your water is only moderately hard, or rather contains only a relatively small number of dissolved minerals, the effect of this mineral buildup will be more gradual. You may notice your ice making system producing less ice over time, or having to work harder to produce the same amount of ice. However, if your water contains very high levels of dissolved minerals, the buildup will occur much faster. The rate at which water hardness affects your ice machine will be relative to how hard your water is.

The effects of mineral buildup in your ice making system can be mitigated through regular descaling. However, if you have very hard water you will need to descale your ice machine more frequently to ensure it continues running efficiently. A far better solution is to reduce the mineral content of the water before it passes into your system.  

Get started today! We specialize in providing the purest water possible!

 

What’s the Best Way to Filter Your Ice Machine’s Water?

If you’re looking for the best way to filter your ice machine’s water, you may want to start with a water test. Testing the water in your home is an excellent way to determine how hard your water is, as well as what other contaminants are in your home’s water. This is a great starting point for determining an effective filtration solution for the water in your home. 

Some ice machines have specific needs when it comes to water filtration. While dissolved minerals are bad because they cause buildup, you may also need to be sure that the water passing into your ice machine is appropriately conductive. Conductivity refers to the ability of water to pass an electrical current through it, and is measured in Siemens/cm (S/cm). Some water filtration methods remove so many salts and hard minerals that the water no longer has a conductivity level appropriate for the ice machine you’re using.  

Your best bet is to consult your ice machine’s documentation to determine if a minimum conductivity level for your filtered water is required, and then ensure that you have an appropriate filtration system in place that produces water at those levels. 

For the best tasting ice, you may also want to use a filtration system that captures a wide range of contaminants. This can ensure that substances which alter the flavor of your ice are removed, such as disinfectants like chlorine and chloramines.  

Filtration systems that utilize reverse osmosis filtration, which can be installed under your kitchen sink, are often capable of this. Reverse osmosis systems can also be used to provide filtered water for cooking, making coffee, or filling your water bottle. If you’re looking for the best water filter for coffee, cooking or ice, a kitchen water filtration system is generally an excellent option. Reverse osmosis filtration can be used in addition to more common methods of removing hard minerals from water like an ion-exchange system. Ion-exchange systems are generally used to soften water for your entire home, which provides the benefits of soft water throughout your home.

Top Benefits From Filtering Your Ice Machine Water

Filtering the water passing into your ice machine offers these key benefits:

Finding the Right Solution for Your Needs

Searching for an appropriate water filtration system for your residence or commercial building can be challenging because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Different filtration methods remove different types of contaminants, making them appropriate for one situation and less ideal for another.

If you’re looking for the best filtration system for your particular needs, consider consulting with a Rayne Water specialist. The different capabilities and benefits of water filtration systems can be dizzying, but finding a solution to your water filtration needs doesn’t have to involve tens of hours of research. Instead, rely on the experts who have decades of experience with water filtration.

Our Rayne Water experts will listen to you to find out what you want out of your water filtration system, and help you find an appropriate solution that fits your needs and budget. Whether it’s a point-of-use kitchen water filtration system that provides water for drinking, cooking, and your ice-machine, or a point-of-entry ion-exchange system that removes hard minerals from all of the water flowing into your house, our team at Rayne Water can help you find the right solution for your needs.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to get the most out of your ice machine while producing the best-tasting ice possible, you’ll definitely want to look into filtering your ice machine’s water. Many ice machine manufacturers recommend filtration because using hard water will cause mineral buildup on the ice making components of the system. That mineral buildup will affect the longevity and efficiency of your system, and require more frequent maintenance to ensure your system is producing enough ice. At the same time, ice made with unfiltered water tends to taste worse and appear more cloudy, both of which are unappealing.

Finding the right water filtration system for your ice machine can seem a bit daunting due to the fact that some ice machines have certain requirements for the minimum electrical conductivity for water passing through the system. This means that you want to filter your water to reduce the number of hard minerals, while also ensuring that the water you are using is appropriately conductive for your specific machine. 

Our team at Rayne Water can help you find the balance in your water filtration system. Whether you’re looking for a point-of-use system for your kitchen that provides clean, filtered drinking water and supplies water to your ice machine, or a water filtration system for your entire home, our experts can help! To learn more, contact us at Rayne Water today.

Sources:

  1. “Water Conductivity” https://www.lenntech.com/applications/ultrapure/conductivity/water-conductivity.htm
  2. “Drinking Water Problems: Corrosion” http://publications.tamu.edu/WATER/PUB_water_Drinking%20Water%20Problems%20Corrosion.pdf
  3. “How Ice Makers Work” https://home.howstuffworks.com/icemaker.htm
  4. “Commercial Ice Machine + Water Filter = Pleased Customer + Fewer Service Calls”
  5. https://www.katom.com/cat/ice-makers/advantages-to-pure-water-filtration-for-your-commercial-ice-maker.html 

 

4 Reasons to Install a Water Kitchen Filtration System

Posted by Rayne Water

Have you been wondering whether a kitchen water filter is right for you? While a kitchen water filtration system is a great way to improve access to clean, filtered drinking water for everyone in your home, that’s not the only reason you should consider installing one. 

Kitchen water filters offer a number of benefits that can transform the meals you cook and the beverages you drink. Here are our top reasons why you should consider installing a kitchen water filter system!

 

#1 Cost-Effective Protection Against Contaminants

Kitchen water filtration systems are one of the most cost-effective methods to protect your household against common contaminants in tap water supply. A point-of-use (POU) filtering system enables you to leverage the low cost of tap water to cost-effectively produce filtered drinking water on demand.

Though tap water in the United States goes through a series of treatments to ensure potability, millions are exposed each year to waterborne contaminants and diseases. Common contaminants in tap water include:

Kitchen water filtration systems offer a drinking water solution that provides clean water and ongoing protection against these contaminants and many others. At the same time, they offer a more environmentally friendly option than bottled water, and provide access to a nearly unlimited supply of filtered water that can be used for cooking, beverages, and ice.

#2 Better Tasting Coffee and Tea

If you haven’t been using filtered water for your morning pot of coffee, you should definitely consider it. When brewing coffee, water acts as a solvent that picks up flavor molecules from your ground coffee. Water that is considered hard or very hard, meaning it has a relatively high number of dissolved minerals attached to the water molecule, is less capable of picking up the desired flavor molecules. While most coffee connoisseurs recommend using water with some dissolved minerals, water that is too hard will result in a cup of coffee with muted or altered flavor.

Alongside the mineral content of your water, the presence of disinfectants like chlorine will also have a big impact on the taste of your brew. Thankfully, the best kitchen water filtration systems are capable of removing both excessive minerals and flavor-altering disinfectants from your faucet water. If you’re curious about the best water filter for coffee, check out our article on the subject!

Get started today! We specialize in providing the purest water possible!

#3 Better Ice

Do you love ice in your drinks but hate the taste of ice you prepare at home? The trick to great tasting ice at home is an ice machine water filter. Not only does filtering your ice machine water for contaminants result in better tasting ice with no chlorine taste, but it will also reduce the maintenance required for your machine and extend the lifespan of your equipment.

Ice machines are particularly sensitive to the buildup of dissolved minerals in hard water. As the water is formed into ice, some of those minerals are left behind on the ice-making components as mineral deposits. Over time those mineral deposits will cause your ice maker to work harder to produce the same amount of ice. To maintain consistent ice production with hard water you’ll have to perform more frequent maintenance.

To remove hard minerals and other flavor altering contaminants from your ice, you’ll definitely want to use an ice machine water filter. The great news is that ice made from filtered water will be clearer and have a better taste. With a kitchen water filtration system, you’ll have great tasting ice alongside as much filtered water you need for drinking, cooking, or beverages.

#4 Consistent Cooking and Baking

The quality of the water you use in the kitchen can have a big impact on the taste of your food or the quality of your baked goods. Contaminants contained in your water supply, including heavy metals and disinfectants will end up in your food, altering the flavor profiles of your favorite meals while posing a potential health impact. Cooking with filtered water will eliminate the risks posed by those contaminants, while also resulting in more consistent flavors.

For baked goods, the quality of the water you use will have a big impact on the final product. This is especially true for baked goods that utilize yeast as a leavening agent. Water is crucial for leavened products like bread because it is necessary for the formation of gluten and fundamental for the leavening process. The presence of certain contaminants, like chlorine or hard minerals, can slow the fermentation process while also impacting the formation of gluten. 

For more consistent baking and and cooking, use a kitchen water filtration system for easy access to filtered water. You may be surprised with how much of an impact it will make!

Closing Thoughts

The addition of a kitchen faucet water filter for your home offers a cost-effective solution for drinking water that also makes it easier to produce better tasting beverages, ice, and cooking. Integrating filtered water into your kitchen activities offers a great way to reduce your household’s exposure to waterborne contaminants, while also enhancing the meals and beverages your family consumes on a daily basis.

Aren’t sure what the best kitchen water filtration system is? Reach out to our team at Rayne Water today to learn more about our kitchen water filtration systems from under sink water filter options to countertop water filter options! Our systems are small enough to fit in tight spaces, yet powerful enough to produce a nearly limitless supply of clean, filtered drinking water at your kitchen sink tap. To learn more, contact us today!

 

Sources:

  1. “Top 3 Benefits of Cooking with Filtered Water” https://www.thepeachkitchen.com/2019/07/top-3-benefits-of-cooking-with-filtered-water/
  2. “Experimenting with the Effect of Water Quality on Coffee” https://www.fivesenses.com.au/blog/experimenting-with-the-effect-of-water-quality-on-coffee/
  3. “Implications of Waterborne Disease Estimates” https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/burden/implications.html

 

3 Reasons You Should Be Cooking with Filtered Water

Posted by Rayne Water

Ensuring the safety of our drinking water should be a top priority for everyone, but when it comes to cooking the benefits of filtered water may not be immediately clear. What you may not realize is that many of the samthe best water filter for coffee whe benefits you get from filtering your drinking water also carry over into your cooking. Let’s take a closer look at some of the top benefits that come with using filtered water for your cooking!

#1 Reduced Exposure to Contaminants

If you’re wondering, “should i use filtered water for cooking?”, the answer is yes! The key reason you should consider filtering the water you cook with is to reduce your exposure to any harmful contaminants that your water supply might contain. While tap water in the United States is generally considered safe because of   treatment protocols, the water flowing from your tap may still contain contaminants that can cause concern  .

How common is waterborne disease in the United States? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that approximately 7.2 million people in the United States contract a disease from their water. Diseases can be contracted through our water systems not only by drinking contaminated unfiltered tap water, but also simply by breathing it in. Additionally, relying on treatment methods isn’t enough, as many of the most serious waterborne illnesses result from biofilms growing inside aging water delivery systems.

Water purification before cooking is the best way to protect yourself and your family against any unexpected contaminants that your water may contain. A kitchen water filtration system can allow you to cook exclusively with filtered water. These point-of-use systems are small enough to be installed under your sink, yet powerful enough to be used for drinking water for your entire family, cooking water, and even as an ice machine water filter.

#2 Better Baking

Common contaminants found in tap water may be affecting your baking more than you realize. As any baker knows, baking is both an art and a science. Achieving consistently great results with your baking requires high-quality ingredients and precise measurements. Water is necessary for gluten to form, for dispersing salt, sugar, and yeast throughout your dough, for yeast fermentation and for the consistency of your dough.

The key culprits in unfiltered water that will impact your baking are dissolved hard minerals and disinfectants like chlorine. Water is considered hard if it contains certain hard minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium, though heavy metals like lead and aluminum can also contribute to water hardness.

While some amount of hard minerals in water is fine for baking bread, excessively hard water will reduce the rate of fermentation and tighten the gluten in your dough, altering the texture. Additionally, the presence of chlorine will reduce fermentation rates and alter the taste of your final product. 

Cooking with soft water or using it in your baking is a great way to improve your consistency with your favorite dishes and recipes. Look into water softeners here.

Get started today! We specialize in providing the purest water possible!

 

#3 Consistent Flavors

Have you ever made the same dish on multiple occasions and gotten a slightly different flavor profile? Or tried the same dish at a friend’s house and noticed a flavor you can’t quite place? The cause may be the water. The flavors in the water you cook with often carry over into the final dishes you create. Though the changes may be subtle depending on the dish, they can be quite noticeable.

Chemical disinfectants, such as chlorine and chloramine, are often very noticeable in the water flowing from your tap. That’s because water suppliers need to ensure your tap water is treated all the way to your home, which means using long-lasting disinfectants that provide protection against microbes throughout the journey through your water system. 

Unless you leave your water sitting out for a long period of time to allow disinfectants like chlorine to evaporate, those flavors will enter the food you eat. Other common contaminants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can also alter the flavor of your tap water, and consequently the flavor of the foods you prepare with that water. 

Cooking with filtered water can   eliminate the disinfectants, chemicals, and other contaminants that alter the flavor of your meals, resulting in more accuracy in your favorite recipes. Those contaminants won’t just affect your food, but also your favorite beverages. That’s why serious coffee drinkers ensure they use the best water filter for coffee when preparing their morning cup of coffee.

Closing Thoughts

Though discussions surrounding the benefits of water filtration tend to focus on drinking water systems, many people don’t realize that the contaminants contained in unfiltered water also end up in our food. Cooking with filtered water will reduce your exposure to contaminants, improve your baked goods, and result in more consistent flavors for your favorite dishes. 

Using filtered water for your cooking doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Point-of-use filtration systems can be installed in small spaces, such as under your sink, and use filtration methods such as reverse osmosis and activated carbon filtration to remove a wide-range of contaminants. Though small, these systems are more than capable of providing enough filtered water for drinking, cooking, and all of your favorite beverages.

Have questions? Our team at Rayne Water are here to help! With decades of experience helping households and businesses install affordable water filtration systems, we’d love to help you find a solution that fits your needs. To learn more, contact us today!

Find a location near you!

 

Sources:

  1. “Water” https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/pro/reference/water
  2. “Cooking Pasta in Alkaline Tap Water” https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/6708-cooking-pasta-in-alkaline-tap-water%20?j=16897&[email protected]&l=26_HTML&u=5708065&mid=7211371&jb=221&sk=A5D7F533EE080F9DBF7A1FCE59B885B7&extcode=LQ16E5QAA&sourcekey=CQ16055AA&cds_response_key=IEQ16EEAM&cds_tracking_code=&tag=cionewsletter-20&atc=cionewsA&Survey_id=
  3. “Top 3 Benefits of Cooking with Filtered Water” https://www.thepeachkitchen.com/2019/07/top-3-benefits-of-cooking-with-filtered-water/
  4. “Implications of Waterborne Disease Estimates” https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/burden/implications.html

Filtered Water: Why it is Essential for the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Posted by Rayne Water

If you’re a coffee lover, you know the joy that a freshly brewed cup brings. Whether you prefer a hot cup of coffee in the morning, or an artfully prepared cup of cold brew coffee on a hot afternoon, to get the best flavor profile out of your selected coffee you’ll want to use filtered water.

An expert brewer understands the importance of filtered water, but to the everyday coffee drinker the nuances of coffee preparation can be lost. How much of a difference can the water you use to brew your coffee really make? Quite a lot actually. Let’s take a closer look at why.

Get started today! We specialize in providing the purest water possible!

 

Isn’t the Bean More Important?

The coffee bean you use to brew your coffee is very important for the flavor you end up with, but the mistake most people make is focusing only on which type of coffee you purchase. At least equally as important is the water you use to brew your coffee. Here’s why:

Is the water more important than the coffee bean you use to brew with? Maybe not, but it’s close. Both the coffee bean and water you use work together to create the perfect cup of coffee. To get the richest, most accurate flavor profile from your favorite coffee bean, you’ll need to use an appropriate coffee water filter.

Viewing Water as a Solvent

If a chemist is interested in making the perfect cup of coffee, they are going to look at the water used in the process not as the vehicle for carrying flavors extracted from the coffee bean, but as the solvent that does the extraction in the first place.

Water is sometimes known as the “universal solvent”, but what exactly does that mean? It simply means that water is capable of dissolving many substances. 

Water is able to dissolve substances it comes into contact with because of its chemical composition and physical attributes. A water molecule consists of a positively charged hydrogen atom and a negatively charged oxygen atom. These charges enable the water molecule to become so strongly attracted to other molecules that it can actually break up, or dissolve, the bonds that hold the other molecule together. 

This is important for coffee brewing because water acts as a solvent as it passes over the ground coffee, breaking apart the bonds that hold certain flavor molecules to the coffee bean and carrying them into the final brew. 

There are two significant factors that can affect which flavor compounds get carried into your final cup of brewed coffee:

Water temperature and the presence of certain hard minerals can have a big impact on how your water supply acts as a solvent as it passes over your ground coffee beans. However, the contaminants contained in your water can affect the flavor profile in other ways as well. It’s worth spending some time to understand the impact that contaminants in your water have on your favorite beverage. Be mindful that these contaminants will also end up in the food you prepare, which is why cooking with filtered water is such a great idea.

Contaminants are Mostly, but not Always, Bad for Coffee

If you are a coffee aficionado, you’ve almost certainly been told to never brew your coffee using a tap water supply from your faucet. The reason for that is because of the contaminants That may be in your tap water. That advice stems not from the fact that contaminants in tap water can negatively impact your health, though they certainly can, but rather that contaminants commonly found in tap water will alter the flavor of your coffee.

Disinfectants

One example of this that is easy to test is the presence of disinfectants. Disinfectants, primarily in the form of chlorine and chloramine, are used by municipal water suppliers to treat water for microbes that can cause waterborne illnesses. Microbes such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa are the leading cause of waterborne illness in the United States, leading to the infection of around 7.2 million Americans every year. Chlorine and chloramine provide an important safeguard against these illnesses, and are a crucial aspect of water treatment in the United States.

Unfortunately, for disinfectants to be effective they need to persist in the water long enough for it to get to your house, due to the risk from waterborne diseases in biofilms in your water delivery system. That means that when water flows out of your tap, you should expect that disinfectants may be   present. If you aren’t sure, pour a glass of tap water and smell it. You will almost certainly smell the sharp, chemical scent of a disinfectant.

Those disinfectants will alter the taste of your coffee. To remove them, you’ll need to use a filtration system in your home that is capable of removing disinfectants and their by-products. Most commonly this is accomplished through granulated activated carbon (GAC) filtration, which traps disinfectants and their by-products. A kitchen water filtration system is a great option for filtering water for coffee, since it is easily accessible for making your morning cup of coffee.

Hard Minerals

The presence of minerals in your water is a more contentious topic when it comes to coffee brewing. As we’ve mentioned, hard minerals such as calcium and magnesium can actually increase the extraction of flavor compounds from your favorite coffee, resulting in a more robust flavor profile. However, the presence of too many hard minerals can also muddy the flavors of your favorite brew, obscuring and distorting it.

Not everywhere has hard water, so this isn’t a problem for everyone. Water in the Southwestern United States is generally quite hard, meaning that the content of dissolved minerals is relatively high compared to soft water, or water containing little or no hard dissolved minerals. 

Those hard minerals can cause lots of problems around your home. Hard minerals are left behind on surfaces water is heated or evaporated on, such as fixtures around your bathroom or appliances like your water heater, ice machine, and coffee pot. Using hard water to brew coffee will result in mineral buildup in your coffee pot, which will require you to perform more frequent maintenance to keep it operating efficiently. This is also true for the other appliances that we mentioned, such as your ice machine, which is why you should also use an ice machine water filter to help with water hardness.

The lesson for your cup of coffee is that, though you want some mineral content in your water for the perfect cup of coffee, you don’t want too high of mineral content. Not only will it dull or muddy the flavor profile of your coffee, but it will also impact the longevity of your favorite coffee maker. 

What’s the Best Water for a Cup of Coffee?

At Rayne Water we’re experts on water filtration, not coffee brewing. But we know expertise when we see it, which is why we’ll rely on the guidance provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of American (SCAA) for the ideal water to use for brewing your coffee. 

The SCAA breaks down both a “Target” and “Acceptable Range” for water quality, both of which share requirements for odor, color, and chlorine content. According to the SCAA, water you use to brew coffee should be clean and odor free, clear in color, and contain no chlorine. If you’re looking for the best water filter for coffee, you’ll want to use a filtration system that gets you as close to the following thresholds:

Target

For the ideal cup of coffee, according to the SCAA, you’ll want to use water that meets these thresholds:

Acceptable Range

What if you’re not a perfectionist? Good news! The SCAA has guidelines for you as well. They are:

Closing Thoughts

If you’re passionate about your coffee, you’ll definitely want to use water filtration for coffee you brew. The ideal water used for coffee should be free of disinfectants like chlorine, clear and odorless, have a neutral PH, and some, but not too many, dissolved solids. Striking the right balance is key for drawing out and showcasing the flavor profile of your favorite coffee bean.

While water filtration is important for creating the best cup of coffee, it is also important for protecting the health of yourself and those you live with. Installing an effective water filtration system in your home is the best way to ensure your family is protected against any unexpected rise in contaminants in your tap water. At the same time, home water filtration offers many benefits, including saving you money over time!

If you’re curious about home water filtration systems and want to learn more, reach out to us at Rayne Water today! We’ve spent decades helping households and businesses improve access to clean, filtered drinking water systems, and we’d love to help you find the ideal water treatment solution for your needs. 

Whether you’re simply looking to produce the best cup of coffee possible, or you’re looking for a whole-house filtration system for comprehensive protection, our expert team at Rayne Water has got you covered. To learn more, contact us today!

 

Sources:

  1. “SCAA Standard | Water for Brewing Specialty CoffeePublished by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA)” https://scaa.org/PDF/ST%20-%20WATER%20STANDARD%20V.21NOV2009A.pdf
  2. “Experimenting with the Effect of Water Quality on Coffee” https://www.fivesenses.com.au/blog/experimenting-with-the-effect-of-water-quality-on-coffee/
  3. “What Is The Best Water For Coffee?” https://www.craftcoffeeguru.com/coffee-and-water/
  4. “You should never brew coffee with tap water. Here’s why” https://www.mashed.com/206767/you-should-never-brew-coffee-with-tap-water-heres-why/?utm_campaign=clip