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derekgw

Help: interpreting hard water test strip from Bosch (or Miele?...

Derek87
12 years ago

hello guys,

i hope i can get some help. i received a water hardness test strip in order to properly set up the water softener in our new Bosch 800 plus dishwasher. unfortunately, the manual is unclear (at least to me) as to what i should be looking for.

i followed the instructions of dipping the test strip in water for 1 second, shook it off, and i see four bars that are beige in tone. after 1 minute, those bars did not change at all.

so, what does "red" look like? is the beige really red?

neither a "zero" or "four bar" reading makes sense if i am to trust our water district. we supposedly have water that is typically in the 8-10 grams/gallon range although it occasionally can be more or less depending on the blend of well and other water sources. with 8-10, i would have expected 1 or 2 of the bars to "light up" at most.

anyway, i am not sure what to think. does the 4 beige bars (best described as flesh tone or maybe the color of a bandaid) indicate soft water (maybe it's a "soft water day" in our area)? i know for a fact that our water is moderately hard, as evidenced by the white residue that accumulates in our black dishdrainer, and other accumulations in water basins in our house.

can anyone else share their experience with these test strips?

i'm attaching a link to a photo, but it doesn't really show exactly what i see. the bars are much fainter or lighter beige than is shown in this photo with the righmost (towards the edge) bar being slightly darker...the second one is moderately darker, and the other two are faint...

but definitely not red or pink...beige...

Here is a link that might be useful: confusing test water strip?

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