Water and filters

Water: what Rancilio asks for

The 2024 manual: the water's hardness "must be about 5 °dKH, 9 °fKH or 89 ppm". If yours is harder, it recommends a suitable filtering system, and says to get the figure from your water supplier or a hardness test. It names no product.

Rancilio North America's blog (2026) asks for 30 to 150 ppm dissolved solids, 2 to 3 grains per gallon of hardness and pH 6 to 8, and never reverse-osmosis or distilled water without minerals.

The US retailer Clive Coffee aims for 35 to 85 ppm and suggests an in-tank softening pouch first, lasting 4 to 6 months.

Clean the tank and seat the tubes

The tank sits under the top, behind the cup tray, and comes out upwards.

1. Switch the machine off.
2. Lift off the lid.
3. Lift the tank out.
4. Wash it and fill it with fresh drinking water.
5. Put it back with both tubes down in the water and not floating, as the manual asks.
6. Refit the lid.

Rancilio Silvia V6: every job