water softeners

[rachmc]

we're having renovation work done at the moment and our builder has come across a device called the 'water imp'.

Apparently it uses an electric current to magnetise water to minimise limescale, neither he nor I have ever heard of it and I'm wondering if anyone has used one before? We have pretty bad hard water and currently spend a fortune on treatments to descale appliances etc. (test on water when we got our new dishwasher showed it was at the worst end of the scale working out salt loads etc) They are very cost effective compared to other types of water softeners which we've previously ruled out as either absurdly expensive or fiddly to maintain so i'm hoping the word on this option is good? thanks.

[Andy Hall]

Please have a look through the Google Groups archive of this newsgroup to learn more about this.

There are two ways that are known to work to prevent scaling.

One is to use an ion exchange water softener, which uses salt for regeneration and does soften the water, resulting also in less use of detergents and shampoos - in effect paying for the salt. The resultant water will also gradually dissolve lime scale in hot water cylinders etc.

The other is to use a phosphor dosing system like a Combimate. These devices use special pellets which dissolve and need to be replenished normally annually at a cost of about £20. This type of device will prevent scaling but not soften the water, so no detergent saving.

The electrical/electromagnetic/magnetic devices have not generally been shown to be effective, so they are not cost effective either. One or two people have reported success, but the vast majority of people who have tried them have found them to be a waste of money. They are sufficiently cheap that most people don't bother to take them back.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[The Natural Philosopher]

Note that even when they are claimed to be effective, its not for softening, merely preventing scale build up.

The theory appears to be that the calcium crystals that form are slightly different, and don't stick together, but wash away.

So scums and high detergent usage will still be the order of the day.

ONLY ion exchange softeners soften water. Or distillation.

[Grunff]

Or reverse osmosis.

[Andy Wade]

Path, this electromagnetic water treatment technology is now out of date. What you need is a quantum coherence generator - see

*Warning:* remove coffee from proximity of keyboard or monitor before accessing this site.

[Grunff]

Genius!! Makes me sad I chose a more conventional career - I could come up with this stuff. Do you think they make much money?

I wonder if anyone has considered applying the principles of quantum coherence to speaker cable and hifi interconnects...

[Andy Hall]

For the water treatment devices, the clever marketing was to set the price point to a level where most people wouldn't bother to return it when it (obviously) didn't work.

However, this device costs $475 a go so must be targetted at the extremely gullible who "believe it works - brothers and sisters".

It should go over well in the UK, where 95% of people buy lottery tickets - taxation for the gullible.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Grunff]

Don't get me started on lottery tickets...

[John Laird]

I imagine it would be ok in a 24oz FlexoElectric E Mug, however. Its "fifteen foot field of protection in all directions from computers and all environmental chaos" should prevent any accidents.

That one's gone in my Favourites ;-)

[Huge]

[Andy Hall]

I can affirm that I have never bought one - but then I never was a "go with the flow" type of person.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Ian Middleton]

Just fit a proper, salt fed water softener and be done with it. No more scale, no more shower/bath cleaning every time used. Loos remain scale free, no more salt in dishwasher, clothes come cleaner and softer, no longer use fabric conditioner.

I fitted one called The Wizard

under the kitchen sink, actually under the sink trap as it is not very high. Consumes about about 12kg of salt (1/2 a bag) a month as it is metered rather than timed. As my water is verging on very hard I get about 340l of softwater per cycle (use the 98p test kits from B&Q to check), you set the amount of water before regeneration and as dual cylinder just switches to other cylinder whilst one regenerates.

It is interesting to note that a mate has a simple timed softtener (regenerates at 2am) that consumes over a bag (25kg) of salt a month (twice as much as mine) and as he is in a hard water area ends up exhausting the softener most days. His is quoted 1000l capacity @200ppm, but as we measured after a typical family day in the evening and it was giving out hard water implying the water used by his family that day had exhausted it as his water was obviously much harder than 200ppm.

[Wanderer]

Now why is it that the illustrations on that web site immediately made me think of the three cups used by the confidence tricksters in the 'Spot the Coin' scam.........

:-))

[Paper2002AD]

What's wrong with lottery tickets? I won a million the other day.

Oh, and my two pandas keep having cubs, which up until now I just drown. Anybody want one from the next litter?

[Jan Wysocki]

You rang sir?

Permit me to supply you with a pack of genuine requantised electrons to replace the tired electrons in your HiFi. Although the electrons in you mains are continually revitalised, he elctrons in your HiFi remain trapped and become incoherent with continued use. Please note that we recommend super-coherent requantised quark fortified electrons to stabilise passage through thermionic valves.

Prices start at 30 guineas per atto-mole of standard requantised electrons.

[Owain]

"Jan Wysocki" wrote | > I wonder if anyone has considered applying the principles of quantum | > coherence to speaker cable and hifi interconnects... | Permit me to supply you with a pack of genuine requantised electrons | to replace the tired electrons in your HiFi. Although the electrons | in you mains are continually revitalised, he elctrons in your HiFi | remain trapped and become incoherent with continued use. Please | note that we recommend super-coherent requantised quark fortified | electrons to stabilise passage through thermionic valves. | Prices start at 30 guineas per atto-mole of standard requantised | electrons.

HIFis are old technology. You should use two mini systems in parallel. Separate music in lounge and bedroom. Backup if one fails. For a party you just run both together. Does not need large loudspeakers so leaves more room for insulation round the walls. Very popular in Milton Keynes. A win, win, win, win, win situation.

Owain

[Grunff]

Yup, same here. Never bought one.

[Grunff]

That is just superb...

[Jim Warren]

Me neither. But when the lottery started, I did pick out 6 numbers to check every week. If I had actually paid a pound to use the numbers rather than conducting a paper exercise, I would be £472 worse off today, the difference between the ticket price and my occasional winnings.

Jim

PS Yes, I know it is a sad thing to do.

[MBQ]

Peter belt is still going strong with his silver (and now rainbow) foils

's *still* one born every minute.

MBQ