3.4 Determining water hardness
Water hardness range 4 has been pre-entered on
the appliance. If the hardness of the water in your
household should deviate from this value, the
correct water hardness range (between 1
and 4) must be entered before commencing
operation of the appliance. You can find out
the hardness of the water in your household either
by consulting your waterworks or by using the
included test strip.
– Run water from the tap for about 20 seconds to
drain off stale water.
– Fill a glass with tap water and briefly (no more
than 1 second) dip the test strip into the water,
making sure that all test points are wetted.
– Remove the strip from the water and shake off any
surplus water drops.
– You can read off the result after one minute.
– If your water contains lime, one or more of the test
areas is/are of a reddish colour and the others
stay light or greenish. The number of light (green)
areas defines the right water hardness range
setting on the appliance.
The test set must be used even if a water descaling
system is already installed in your household
because, depending on the descaling method, not
all scale-forming ions are removed.
Please also note that different designations are
used outside Germany to describe the hardness of
water.
Water hardness range
12 3 4
American hardness 1-7° 7-14° 14-21° >21°
French hardness 1-12° 12-25° 25-37° >37°
British hardness 1-9° 9-18° 18-26° >26°
Russian hardness 1-50° 50-100° 100-150° >150°
9
Number of light Water hardness Water
(green) areas on (German hardness) hardness
the test strip range
3 or more 1-7° 1
2 7-14° 2
1 14-21° 3
None >21° 4
