Patent ID: 8100049

Claim:
A method of controlling and managing water flow to a coffee machine comprising: providing a water softener having a resin; determining a maximum treatable volume of water that is treatable by said resin before being saturated based on hardness of the water and type of the resin; feeding the water from a water mains to the coffee machine through said water softener while measuring flow of the water to provide a measured water flow; comparing an operating water volume determined from the measured water flow with the maximum treatable water volume; interrupting the feeding of the water to the coffee machine through the water softener by directly supplying the coffee machine from the water mains while by-passing the water softener when the operating water volume reaches the maximum treatable water volume; regenerating and then washing the resin; and restoring the feeding of the water to the coffee machine from the water mains via said water softener after the step of regenerating and washing the resin.