Free water testing

[Rebel1]

I responded to an ad for free water testing. Of course, the testing is designed to scare you into buying a whole-house reverse osmosis system for over $3,000. But one thing the guy did scared me.

He tool two drinking glasses and filled on with water from my Brita container and the other with water he brought along that supposedly is from the output of the system he's trying to sell me.

He had a electrolysis gadget, about 9" long by 1.5 x 1.5 with two pairs of electrodes. He stuck one pair in each glass, plugged into a wall outlet, and turned it on. After 15 minutes or so, the garbage that was in the Brita water was scary; his water glass was only slightly tinted yellow. I pointed out that one electrode of each pair was eroded. He offered to swap the glasses and repeat the test, but I declined.

I measured the voltages across each pair of electrodes: 240 VAC and 110 VDC. The unit had a decal on it that says waterfilteronline.com, but when I went to the site there was no such product. And their tech support guy had no idea what I was talking about.

So what was all this garbage in the electrolyzed Brita water? I'm sure it was a scam; the guy left nothing in writing about his measurements, insisted the electrolyzed water be poured down the drain and didn't even leave a business card or other way of contacting his company, Florida Water Analysis.

[Rebel1]

I responded to an ad for free water testing. Of course, the testing is designed to scare you into buying a whole-house reverse osmosis system for over $3,000. But one thing the guy did scared me.

He took two drinking glasses and filled one with water from my Brita container and the other with water he brought along that supposedly is from the output of the system he's trying to sell me.

He had a electrolysis gadget, about 9" long by 1.5 x 1.5 with two pairs of electrodes. He stuck one pair in each glass, plugged into a wall outlet, and turned it on. After 15 minutes or so, the garbage that was in the Brita water was scary; his water glass was only slightly tinted yellow. I pointed out that one electrode of each pair was eroded. He offered to swap the glasses and repeat the test, but I declined.

I measured the voltages across each pair of electrodes: 240 VAC and 110 VDC. The unit had a decal on it that says waterfilteronline.com, but when I went to the site there was no such product. And their tech support guy had no idea what I was talking about.

So what was all this garbage in the electrolyzed Brita water? I'm sure it was a scam; the guy left nothing in writing about his measurements, insisted the electrolyzed water samples be poured down the drain and didn't even leave a business card or other way of contacting his company, Florida Water Analysis.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, For the money you spend on Brita filter, how about installing RO filter under sink for drinking? You can have one like, paper roll filter>> GAC filter >> Carbon block filter >> RO filter >> polishing filter >> UV light >> drinking tap.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Marketplace: Clean Water, Dirty Sales:

The Water Test Scam - How It Works:

[trader_4]

That about covers it. I think Rebel's observation that one electrode was eroded is also interesting. I think they'be chosen the metal alloy to make this dirty effect. Common vaporizers use electrodes suspended in water to heat the water and generate steam. It's not a resistance heater, they just use two electrodes separated by about 1/2". I've used a few different ones over decades. After running over night, most of the water is gone, yet what's remaining doesn't look anything like that brown/yellow crap. It's not as clear as tap water, but definitely not a disgusting color. I would think picking the right alloy for the electrodes is what makes it give off such an obviously terrible color.

Also the instructions for that type of vaporizer typically say something about optionally adding a bit of salt if it's not working due to your water being unusually free of minerals.