Got hard water?

[scesnick]

This is a topic I m VERY familiar with. I will tell you right now, if you do have water problems DO NOT buy the Rainsoft or even the Culligan water treatment systems. I have had both and they are both overpriced pieces of junk !! Rainsoft was at my house "fixing" the system every month and then charging me for warranteed parts !!
I finally had enough and look on the net and I found these guys BUDGET water softener - water treatment system - iron filters - water softner Their system was half the price and actually works !!! I have not had a problem since. My system uses pyrolox for the iron content and I never have to buy salt or any other additive.
I highly recommend them especially for their pricing.

[RayH]

Ok, take this for what its worth. In a weak moment about 8 years ago, I bought a set of magnets that clamp to the pipe. The kit came with a set that go on the water line coming in from the well and a set for the hot line from the water heater.
We built about 8 years ago and we have hard water. Our neighbors have sodium softeners and still go through water heater elements and coffee makers. We are on the same heater element, coffee maker, dishwasher and only on our second showerhead. Every once in a long while I have to clean the lime off of the screens in the faucets. 8 years and havent had a hard water issue. Im as skeptical as the next guy, and more than most, so I wont go as far as say the magnets have done anything. I will go as far as say that we have had nothing on our water system except those magnets, no softener, no filter, just straight out of the well, for 8 years, and we have had less hard water issues than our neighbors. Is it because of the magnets, I dont know. Ive often wanted to remove them for a period of time to see if we start having problems but that seems kinda dumb. I have no plans to remove them or replace them with anything else.
Oh, something else, you wont be able to test to see if the magnets work or not because they supposedly dont remove any of the hard elements, they just change their chemical characteristics so that they dont "stick" to heating elements and pipes and so forth, they just pass right through. the instructions that came with my magnets stated that I would have to clean the faucet screens off daily for about a week after installing the magnets because they would cause scale that had already formed on elements and pipes to break loose. To my surprise, that did actually happen. For a couple days after installing them, we had to clean the screens daily. Go figure!
I would actually like to see some other people try these and come back with an honest appraisal just to see if there is actually something to it.
My honest appraisal is that 8 years, we have magnets and fewer hard water issues than our neighbors without magnets. Thats as far as I can go. I guess put me in the same catagory as phil, satisfied, surprised and still skeptical.

[Phils]

You crack me up RayH!

"Ive often wanted to remove them for a period of time to see if we start having problems but that seems kinda dumb."

Already, ME TOO. Installing two more is what I'm doing. Will it get "softer" yet? Or will it do absolutely nothing detectable or noticeable? I've been off camping for a few days and been using forest service water.... I'll edit this post (rather than bringing it back to the top) if any change "slaps me in the face". I've already gotten my money's worth provided it doesn't 'wear out' after some short period of time, and it sure doesn't seem likely THAT would happen.

Phil

[Egon]

Can one juse use ordinary magnets or must they be of a special type?

[Phils]

"Can one juse use ordinary magnets or must they be of a special type?"

If someone could answer the question of "how do these things work?" they could probably answer your question too.

If you have some magnets and you suffer from hard water, try 'em! Then post back here and let us know. I saw a few different places that offered differing styles. As I said, logic would dictate that stronger magnets are better. But, logic would dictate that they wouldn't even work.

Phil

[RayH]

Originally Posted by Egon

Can one juse use ordinary magnets or must they be of a special type?

The magnets that I got are very, VERY strong permanent magnets. If they get together, its a real struggle to pull them apart without sliding them and they are formed in a "(" shape so when you put a set of two magnets on a pipe, they wrap almost all the way around it (looking at the end of the pipe, something like this (O).

[RayH]

Here are the magnets I bought.Water Softener, Water Softeners, Water Softening, Water Conditioning, Magnetic

[PitbullMidwest]

Anybody know any cheep and easy testing services?

Our County Health Department will test water for free, doesn't get any cheaper or easier than that. You might call your local health dept. and ask.

[Phils]

It sounds like testing would serve no purpose as the minerals are still in the water. That they "act" differently wouldn't be something I'd expect any test to show.

RayH's link has some interesting info, specifically that these things will counteract acidic water. When my friend gets back into town we'll take one of mine and try it for that at his house.

And I'm glad RayH has had a similar experience... that these things actually work. I almost didn't make the orginal post because it sounds so outlandish.

Phil

[kensfarm]

Here's an interesting read...

Scale and Water Hardness. Non-Chemical Technologies. Federal Technology Alert.