I am usually pretty skeptical of gadgets and other tings purporting to do something for less. I am in desperate need for a good water softener for my home, we recently had the water tested from the well and it was good on all fronts except the PH and Hardness. The hardness was the issue I saw as being the one we need to address the soonest as we do not want to damage the pipes that are already quite cruddy.
This softener does not use salt or a filtration system, you simply wrap it around the incoming water and it creates some sort of ionized water that not only removes the scale in the home but softens the water permanently.
Is this legit? For $175 I may just buy it. The Rainsoft one I was looking at previous was $2k. I’m skeptical, but am willing to try it if it will work…
How do you soften water without removing the dissolved minerals? I mean, if it’s just strapped around the incoming water pipe, either the minerals remain in the water, or they remain in the pipe, which means the pipe’s going to be clogged sooner or later.
I would go with actually removing the solids from your incoming water rather than thinking that the stuff disappears and/or becomes inert when exposed to ‘electric fields’ from the device. I presume you saw this part in that ad: “**The HardnessMaster™ system does not remove beneficial minerals such as calcium and magnesium from your source water, and, it does not address iron related water conditions.”
That device may actually help prevent future build-up (??), but I have my doubts as to overall efficacy (sounds comparable to those carburetor ‘venturi’ swirl-the-air inserts and other similar stuff that looks good on paper but worthless in practical use, imho). If it was really effective, there would be a much bigger application of 'em, I would think. I am not a chemist by any means, but am always leery of this stuff that seems so close to ‘woo’ when sold as such (imho anyways)
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You may have happiness with something more along lines of just a ‘filter’, such as this type. Yeah, it takes disposable filters ($ regularly), but nothing is free when it comes to making water better for households, ime.**
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Seems to me that something called a HardnessMaster that actually softens should be a particular body enhancement device that produces the same results, and empties your wallet at the same time.
Ok, Guess I’m not going to get away with a $175 softener. I’ll head over to home depot and see what they have. Better buy the right one than a gimmick.
You might have better luck with a company that will check your water, install the water softener, and (most importantly) maintain it for you. Water softeners are ion exchangers that need to be backwashed periodically–the backwash cycle is dependent on the hardness of your water, so you want to make sure it’s adjusted correctly, or you will either be backwashing too often or not often enough.
The systems also need to be cleaned out periodically, and the O-rings and seals need to be replaced. We have ours serviced annually.
Finally, the efficiency of the ion exchange process is dependent on the pH of the water. You may need a pH-adjusting cylinder upstream of the softener. Again, an installer will check your water and put this in place if you need it.
My area has high iron in our well water, and the developer/builder put in generic water softeners to remove the iron. Many of my neighbors have had nothing but problems with their systems since they moved in, because their softeners were improperly sized, did not include pH adjustment, and haven’t been properly maintained.
I took a credit from the builder for the generic water softener, and hired an installer to put my own system in. It has worked flawlessly, and I’m using much less salt than my neighbors.
IIRC, I live near you (in eastern Connecticut). If you PM me, I can give you the names of a couple of local installers. (I have no connection to any of them except as a customer.)
As an environmental engineer, I do have a pretty detailed understanding of the basic principles of water softening. The device in your first post is pure snake oil.
Side note, but relevant: A very good softener can be decent at removing iron, although it might not remove enough to meet your needs (not uncommon for a good softener to fall short here), and it’s not really the* ideal* way to remove iron. There are "iron fighter’’ salt pellets to help the softener remove a little more iron, but there are in-line filters that you can use to catch even more particulates. If you spend 2 grand on a softener, getting some in-line filters to supplement are probably a good idea while someone is cutting and routing pipes.
Our water softener also has an infrared light to kill organisms.
So that’s:
>RainSoft water softener and we use ‘iron fighter’ salt pellets
>Two in-line iron filters (as posted above)
>Infrared light [more or less part of the softener system, but ask about it]
That’s a good point about iron removal. The reason I originally took the credit from my builder was because I had intended to not install a water softener at all, but to instead use a system designed specifically for iron removal.
There are several other technologies available. Most involve oxidizing the dissolved iron in the water by either aerating the water or adding an oxidizing agent (which converts the dissolved iron into an precipitate) that can then be filtered out. However, despite contacting several manufacturers and their so-called authorized representatives, I could not find any installer who would stand behind them. Every installer told me that the iron filter systems were unreliable and caused nothing but problems. Every installer told me that what I needed was a water softener. I suspected that they were telling me this because it was what they were used to using, but I finally decided that I didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a system that might or might not work and needed constant tinkering, adjustment, and/or maintenance.
I also knew that, while not ideal, a water softener will successfully remove iron, and the installers would guarantee the system would work. So that’s what I finally went with. At least by installing my own system (as opposed to taking the generic one put by the builder), I got a properly sized system.
You ‘alter’ or ‘restructure’ or ‘pattern’ them using [del]magic[/del] magnets, because:
Magnets are spooky. Therefore, they can do anything.
Pretty much any device that claims to use magnets or electromagnets, strapped onto something, to make it purer, or more efficient, is snake oil.
Turns out the system in the home is a Rainsoft System installed Circ. 1994. [I know it looked old :D]
However, the technician I spoke with at Rainsoft, Denver had the account for the house I just bought in his system still so he knew exactly what I had. I’m happy I had the forethought to write down the original model numbers…
Anyway, they are going to come out and look at the old system, see if they can reuse any of the current system and make a recommendation.
I am not a cheapskate by any means, but I told they guy on the phone I don’t want to go out and buy a cheap GE or Kenmore for $300 that won’t do the job and I don’t want to go over 2-grand on parts and installation with him. He understood, but in looking at the latest and greatest from Rainsoft, they start at $1,800 for a good model. We’ll see…I just want to have good water and no more lime on everything!
