Breville Water Filter Guide: BWF100 Compatibility, Replacement & Installation

Breville has not used one filter across the range. Here's how to tell which system is in your tank, how often to change it, and when Breville says to remove it entirely.

Replacement charcoal water filters for Breville espresso machines beside a cup of espresso

Quick Answer

Breville uses more than one water filter system. Several of its espresso machines, including versions of the Barista Express, Barista Pro, Oracle and Dual Boiler, are documented in their instruction books as using a two-part filter holder, the BWF100 style. Other machines use the newer ClaroSwiss (BES008) cartridge instead. The replacement interval is not the same everywhere either: two months on Barista Express and Barista Pro, three months or 40 litres on the Oracle, and on the Dual Boiler an on-screen alert timed by the water hardness you program. Check the holder in your tank and the interval in your own book before ordering.

  1. Lift the water tank out and look at the filter already in it.
  2. Short puck in a two-part holder with a date dial? That's the BWF100 style.
  3. Taller cartridge, no date dial? That's likely ClaroSwiss, a different part.
  4. Follow the interval in your own manual, since it differs between systems.
  5. No filter holder at all? Your machine doesn't use one.

Jump to: The two filter systems · Which one do you have? · Model guide · What it actually does · How to install it · The date dial · How often to replace · If you use filtered water · If yours takes ClaroSwiss · Filter, clean, or descale? · Buying replacements

The puck clipped inside your Breville's water tank is the cheapest piece of maintenance the machine has, and the one most owners forget. Breville is unusually direct about why it matters: in its own instruction books, replacing the filter on schedule is described as something that reduces how often you need to descale. The complication is that Breville has not used one filter across the whole range, so the first job isn't buying a replacement, it's working out which system your machine uses. This guide covers that, then the replacement interval, the installation steps from Breville's own books, and how the filter fits alongside cleaning and descaling.

Before you order anything:
Breville has used different water filter systems across its espresso machine lineup, and the same model name can cover more than one production version. A filter that fits one version may not fit another. Check the filter and holder already in your tank, and your model-specific instruction book, before buying a replacement.

The Two Filter Systems You'll Run Into

BWF100 style ClaroSwiss (BES008)
Looks like A short puck that clips between the two halves of a plastic holder, which has a rotating date dial on it A taller cartridge that pushes onto an adapter in the tank, without the two-part holder and dial
Typical interval Varies by machine: two months on Barista Express and Barista Pro, three months or 40 L on the Oracle, hardness-timed alert on the Dual Boiler Every 90 days, per Breville's ClaroSwiss product page
Reminder A date dial on the holder. Machines with a display also have a filter alert timed by your hardness setting Per the machine's own display
Commonly found on Barista Express, Barista Pro, Infuser, Dual Boiler and Oracle, per their instruction books Barista Touch, Barista Touch Impress, Oracle Touch, Oracle Jet and Oracle Dual Boiler. Breville also lists it for the Oracle and Dual Boiler

This article is about the BWF100-style filter, since that's the one GoodCups makes replacements for. If your machine turns out to use ClaroSwiss, follow the instructions that come with that filter and your machine's book instead.

Which One Does Your Machine Use?

Ten seconds, no model number needed:

  1. Lift the water tank out of the back of the machine.
  2. Look inside. If there's no holder or adapter at all, your machine doesn't use a tank filter.
  3. If there is one, look at the filter in it. A short puck sandwiched between two plastic halves, with a small dial marked with months on the outside, is the BWF100 style. A taller cartridge that clicks straight onto an adapter, with no dial, points to ClaroSwiss.
  4. Still unsure? Take the old filter to the parts page for your exact model, or check the water filter section of your instruction book. Breville's books name the filter they ship with.

Model Guide: What Each Instruction Book Says

This table reports what each machine's own Breville instruction book describes, which is the most reliable evidence available. Two things to keep in mind: Breville also lists the newer ClaroSwiss cartridge for some of these machines, and production versions change, so the holder actually sitting in your tank is the final word.

Model Holder described in its book Replacement guidance in that book Note
Barista Express (BES870) Two-part holder with date dial Every two months, more often in hard water No filter alert on the machine
Barista Pro (BES878) Two-part holder with date dial Every two months Same system as the Barista Express
Infuser (BES840) and older machines such as BES900XL, BES860XL, BKC600XL, BKC700XL Two-part holder, commonly listed Follow your own book Confirm against the holder in your tank
Dual Boiler (BES920XL) Two-part holder, with a stainless steel mesh to rinse No fixed number of months. A NEW FILTER alert appears, and how often depends on the water hardness level (Hrd1–Hrd5) you program at setup Breville also lists ClaroSwiss for this model
Oracle (BES980) Two-part holder, in every manual revision we checked including the 2023 edition Three months or 40 L (10.6 US gal), whichever comes first. The 40 L figure assumes hardness level 4; at level 2 it can be extended to 60 L CHANGE FILTER alert, also timed by your hardness setting. Breville also lists ClaroSwiss for this model
Oracle Touch (BES990), Oracle Dual Boiler (BES995), Oracle Jet (BES985), Barista Touch (BES880), Barista Touch Impress (BES881) Listed by Breville for ClaroSwiss Every 90 days, per Breville's ClaroSwiss page Not a BWF100-style machine

Dual Boiler and Oracle: the confusing pair

These two deserve a note, because the evidence points two ways and owners get contradictory answers online.

Their instruction books describe the two-part filter holder, the BWF100 style: soak the filter five minutes, wash the holder with care to rinse the stainless steel mesh, insert the filter between the two parts, align the base with the adapter inside the tank. That text appears in the US Dual Boiler book and in every Oracle revision we checked, including the 2023 edition.

At the same time, Breville's current ClaroSwiss page lists both machines as compatible with that cartridge. The page doesn't mention BWF100, doesn't say ClaroSwiss supersedes it, and doesn't mention an adapter.

The sensible reading is that earlier production of the Dual Boiler and Oracle shipped with the two-part holder, and Breville has since offered or fitted ClaroSwiss for these machines. Which means there is no safe answer from the model number alone. Pull the tank, look at what's in it, and buy for that.

What the Filter Actually Does

Breville's Barista Express book puts it in two sentences: the provided water filter "helps prevent scale build-up in and on many of the inner functioning components," and "replacing the water filter every two months will reduce the need to descale the machine."

Two things are worth being precise about here, because replacement filters are not all the same inside.

  • Filter media differs. Activated charcoal primarily targets chlorine, odors, sediment and taste. Ion-exchange resin is the medium aimed at reducing water hardness, the dissolved calcium and magnesium that become limescale. Some filters use one, some combine both. Breville's own documentation describes its filters as part of the machine's defense against scale; a given third-party replacement may or may not use the same media, so check the listing rather than assuming.
  • No filter replaces descaling. Breville's wording is "reduce the need," not remove it, and every one of these machines still has a descale routine. Depending on its media, the filter can help manage incoming water quality and scale-forming minerals, while descaling removes mineral buildup that has already formed inside the machine.

How to Install a BWF100-Style Filter

These steps follow Breville's instructions for the BWF100-style filter holder used in machines such as the Barista Express and Barista Pro. If your machine uses a different filter system, such as ClaroSwiss, follow the instructions supplied with that filter and your own machine's book.

  1. Soak the new filter in a cup of water for 5 minutes. Dry filter media holds air, and soaking lets water through properly from the first shot.
  2. Rinse it under cold running water. This carries off loose particles from manufacturing.
  3. Wash the filter holder with cold water, paying particular attention to rinsing the stainless steel mesh. A new filter in a dirty holder is half a job.
  4. Insert the filter between the two parts of the holder and close it.
  5. Set the date dial to the replacement month specified for your machine. On Barista Express and Barista Pro, that's two months ahead.
  6. Install the holder in the tank. Align its base with the adapter inside the water tank and push down to lock.
  7. Slide the tank back into position, pushing down completely to lock it in place.

One detail worth getting right: the tank has to seat fully. A tank that isn't pushed fully home can prevent the machine from priming properly or cause unusual pump noise, and it's easy to get wrong right after refitting a filter holder.

Two years of changes:

12-Pack BWF100-Compatible Water Filters for Breville

Activated charcoal replacement filters sized for BWF100-style holders, targeting chlorine, odors, sediment and off-flavors in the water before it reaches the boiler. Soak five minutes, rinse, clip into the holder. Twelve filters covers two years on a two-month schedule.

Price: $12.95 for the 12-pack · 6-pack for one year · Free U.S. shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee · Check your machine takes a BWF100-style filter before ordering

The Date Dial

The BWF100-style holder has a small rotating dial marked with months, and Breville's installation steps for models such as the Barista Express include setting it two months ahead. On machines without an electronic filter reminder, that dial is your maintenance reminder. Turn it to the month the filter should come out, not the month you installed it.

If the dial is broken or missing, tape and a pen on the tank do the same job, as does a recurring calendar reminder. Machines with a display, such as the Oracle and Dual Boiler, prompt you instead, but only if you set the water hardness level when you first used the machine.

How Often to Replace It

There is no single Breville interval. Each book sets its own, and two machines even hand the job to an on-screen alert instead of a calendar:

Machine Interval How you know
Barista Express, Barista Pro Two months The date dial you set yourself
Oracle (BES980) Three months or 40 L, whichever first CHANGE FILTER alert, timed by your hardness setting
Dual Boiler (BES920XL) No fixed months given NEW FILTER alert, timed by your hardness setting
ClaroSwiss machines Every 90 days Per Breville's ClaroSwiss page and the machine's own display

Set the hardness level, or the alerts mean nothing. On the Dual Boiler and Oracle, the first-use sequence puts Hrd3 on the display and asks you to set the water hardness, using the test strip supplied in the box. Breville is explicit that this setting determines how often the filter alert appears, and on the Oracle it drives the descale alert too. Skip it and the machine keeps reminding you on a default schedule that may have nothing to do with your water.

Hardness is the variable behind all of these numbers. The Oracle book spells the relationship out: its 40 litre limit assumes hardness level 4, and at level 2 you can stretch it to 60 litres. The U.S. Geological Survey classifies water as hard above 121 mg/L of dissolved calcium carbonate and very hard above 180; your water utility publishes an annual report with the figure, and test strips cost a few dollars.

On Barista Express and Barista Pro there is no alert at all, so symptoms are the fallback: water from the tank tasting flat or of chlorine again, or the machine asking to be descaled noticeably more often than it used to.

If You Already Use Filtered or Bottled Water

Breville's Barista Express book addresses this directly: "The water filter should be removed if using filtered or bottled water." Don't double-filter. Take the holder out of the tank and brew without it.

One important limit, also from Breville: the manual recommends cold, filtered water and specifically does not recommend demineralized or distilled water. Oracle documentation carries the same warning against highly filtered, demineralized or distilled water. Espresso machines need some mineral content in the water, for taste and for the machine's sensors and heating behavior. "Filtered" here means a domestic filter that removes chlorine and some hardness, not water stripped of everything.

Filter, Clean, or Descale? Three Different Jobs

Conflating these is the most common maintenance mistake Breville owners make.

Job What it deals with When
Water filter The water going in: chlorine, taste, and depending on the media, scale-forming minerals On the interval for your filter system
Cleaning cycle Coffee oils in the group head, via a back-flush with the cleaning disc and a cleaning tablet When the machine asks for it
Descaling Mineral scale already inside the boiler and water path When the machine asks for it

On certain Breville models, including specific Barista Express versions, one CLEAN / DESCALE indicator covers two of those jobs, and the difference is how it behaves. In that book, the light flashing means a cleaning cycle is required, described as a back-flush and explicitly separate from descaling, while the light solid on means descaling is required. Flashing deals with coffee oils, solid deals with scale. Indicators, messages and button combinations differ between models, so check your own book for the exact behaviour rather than assuming it matches another Breville.

In that same Barista Express book, descale mode is entered by pressing and holding the 2 CUP button and then the POWER button together, and the manual carries one firm warning: the water tank should never be removed or completely emptied during descaling. Breville specifies its own descaling powder, one sachet dissolved in 34 fl oz of water. A compatible descaling solution can be used according to that product's own directions; where your manual specifies a particular product, follow it. Not sure whether to reach for vinegar or a commercial descaler? Our guide to vinegar vs. descaling solution covers the trade-offs, and why espresso machines are the category where a formulated descaler makes the most sense.

For the other half of the job:

GoodCups Coffee Machine Descaler, 8.45 fl oz

Universal, odorless descaling solution for Breville, Keurig, Nespresso, Cuisinart and Ninja machines. Dilute per the bottle directions and run your machine's own descale routine. One bottle covers two treatments.

Price: $12.95 for the 8.45 fl oz bottle · 2-Pack, $16.95 · Free U.S. shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee

If Your Machine Takes ClaroSwiss Instead

ClaroSwiss (part BES008) is Breville's newer cartridge. Breville describes it as reducing chlorine, heavy metals and minerals, and says it needs replacing every 90 days. It is a different shape from the BWF100 puck and does not use the two-part holder with a date dial, so the two are not interchangeable.

Breville lists it for the Oracle Touch, Oracle Dual Boiler, Oracle Jet, Barista Touch and Barista Touch Impress, and also for the Oracle and Dual Boiler whose books describe the older holder. If the cartridge in your tank is a taller unit that pushes straight onto an adapter with no dial, that's the one you need.

The Bambino is a special case. Breville's ClaroSwiss page names the Bambino (BES450) in its compatibility text but leaves it out of the shorter "works with" list on the same page, and the Bambino Plus (BES500) instruction book describes a two-part holder of the older style, with a three-month interval. If you own either Bambino, check the holder in your own tank rather than relying on a compatibility list.

Buying Replacement Filters

Breville sells the original under the code BWF100, usually in packs of two, and ClaroSwiss under BES008. Compatible BWF100-style filters come in packs of six, twelve and twenty-four at a lower price per filter. Compatible filters can be an alternative to Breville's own, but check three things before buying:

  • System, then fit. First confirm your machine takes the BWF100 style at all. Then check the filter seats properly between the two halves of the holder and lets it close. Too large and the holder won't clip shut; too small and water runs past the edge.
  • Media. Activated charcoal targets chlorine, odor, sediment and taste. Ion-exchange resin is what targets hardness. Listings should say which they use, and the answer should match what you're trying to achieve.
  • Sealed packaging. Filter media should arrive individually sealed and stay sealed until the day you install it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which water filter does my Breville take?

It depends on the model and production version. Breville has used more than one system, including the BWF100-style puck in a two-part holder with a date dial, and the ClaroSwiss (BES008) cartridge. Lift out the water tank and look at what's installed, and check your machine's instruction book before ordering.

How often should I change the water filter in my Breville?

It depends on the machine. Barista Express and Barista Pro: every two months. Oracle: three months or 40 litres, whichever comes first. Dual Boiler: no fixed months, the machine shows a NEW FILTER alert timed by the water hardness level you set. ClaroSwiss cartridges: every 90 days. Follow the interval in your own book.

Do I need the water filter if I use filtered or bottled water?

No. Breville's Barista Express book says the water filter should be removed if you're using filtered or bottled water. Take the holder out of the tank.

Can I use distilled water in a Breville espresso machine?

Breville does not recommend demineralized or distilled water, and Oracle documentation also warns against highly filtered water. The manuals recommend cold, filtered water.

Why do I have to soak the filter for 5 minutes?

It's the step in Breville's installation sequence for these filters. Soaking wets the media so it works from the first use, and the rinse afterwards carries off loose particles.

Does the water filter mean I don't have to descale?

No. Breville says replacing the filter on schedule will reduce the need to descale, not remove it. Every one of these machines still has a descale routine.

What's the difference between the CLEAN and DESCALE light on a Breville?

On certain models, including specific Barista Express versions, one indicator covers both: flashing calls for a cleaning cycle, a back-flush with the cleaning disc and a tablet, while solid on calls for descaling. Flashing deals with coffee oils, solid with mineral scale. Indicator behaviour varies between models, so check your own manual.

Are compatible filters as good as Breville's own?

Compatible BWF100-style filters can be a practical alternative, but performance depends on fit and filter media. Check that the replacement fits the holder correctly, arrives sealed, and clearly identifies the media it uses, since activated charcoal and ion-exchange resin target different things.

The Bottom Line

Work out which system your machine uses before you buy anything: a short puck in a two-part holder is the BWF100 style, a taller cartridge without a dial points to ClaroSwiss. For BWF100-style systems the routine is simple: soak the filter for five minutes, rinse it, wash the holder, install the new filter, and set the reminder according to your machine's replacement schedule. On models with a two-month interval that's six filter changes a year and only a few minutes of work each time, and Breville's own books link doing it on schedule to needing fewer descales. If you brew with already-filtered or bottled water, take the holder out instead.

Related guides

Sources

Instruction books and parts listings differ between Breville models, regions and revisions; follow the book that came with your machine where it differs. Breville® and model names are trademarks of Breville Pty Ltd. GoodCups is not affiliated with Breville.

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