EasyWater system - real deal or snake oil?

[daisy dog]

Easy water is a scam. Remember anyone can pose as a satisfied customer on this forum.
I am a senior RF and Microwave engineer. I looked at the easy water web site and see that it is an obvious fraud. They show the output wire coil wrapped around a metal water pipe. There is NO WAY a coil wrapped around the outside of a conductive metal pipe can induce an electro magnetic field inside the pipe.
The metal pipe serves as a Faraday cage an shorts out the field. So the device does nothing.

There is a sucker born every day.
I am disappointed to see Sean Hannity pitching this fraud.

 

[/pine]

I don't know about all the claims this company makes but I do know that using magnets around metal water lines will indeed cut way down on mineral deposits...

You don't need to buy expensive magnets...search the Internet and you can find very cheap magnet wraps...there is no denying that fact they DO WORK to some degree...

 

[Western]

Easy water is a scam. Remember anyone can pose as a satisfied customer on this forum.
I am a senior RF and Microwave engineer. I looked at the easy water web site and see that it is an obvious fraud. They show the output wire coil wrapped around a metal water pipe. There is NO WAY a coil wrapped around the outside of a conductive metal pipe can induce an electro magnetic field inside the pipe.
The metal pipe serves as a Faraday cage an shorts out the field. So the device does nothing.

There is a sucker born every day.
I am disappointed to see Sean Hannity pitching this fraud.

What if your supply line is pvc?

 

[CrownHawg]

My question is this. WHERE do the minerals GO? I know with my system, as it backflushes, it leaves LOTS of iron and sulphur deposits. With the Easy Water system, the minerals can't just DISAPPEAR!!!

 

[/pine]

I can only attest to what I have personally experienced and magnets have significantly reduced the scaling/deposits in toilets etc...

Here is a collection of information that may or may not be helpful:
Magnetic water treatment pseudoscience

 

[Dargo]

My question is this. WHERE do the minerals GO? I know with my system, as it backflushes, it leaves LOTS of iron and sulphur deposits. With the Easy Water system, the minerals can't just DISAPPEAR!!!

According to the our city engineer, full unrestricted flow through my main inlet pipe is about 300 gallons per minute. With no ability to add more than perhaps a 6" wrap around the pipe, he estimated that the affect the "EasyWater", or any other magnet, system on my incoming water would be basically zero regardless of any of their claims. Even going through the insanely long mathematical calculation in his reference book and assuming that I only ran 20 gallons per minute max through the system at any one time, he estimated that even a very powerful electromagnet would have to encompass nearly 30' of my incoming water pipe to even remotely have a chance to change the physical properties of the water. In other words, he told me that using all his reference books and degree in hydrology, the EasyWater system likely does absolutely nothing. Perhaps that is why I no longer see their bogus TV ads anymore and haven't in almost a year. He also told me that no licensed plumbing company he knows of doing work in our county has ever installed any EasyWater or magnet based system for their customers. Taking all of that into consideration, I'd venture to guess that having your family stand at the point your water line enters your house and chanting "give us only soft water" over and over would give you the same result as EasyWater.

 

[/pine]

...full unrestricted flow through my main inlet pipe is about 300 gallons per minute...

just curious...
To get 300GPM your "main inlet pipe" must be about 3.5 inches?

 

[Jay4200]

I have to admit that when I first saw the commercials for EasyWater water conditioning systems I laughed and thought it was a complete scam. Now I don't know. Here is their homepage Order Your EasyWater System Online Today

I have three tankless water heaters and am in an area known for particularly hard water.

I've never been able to understand it when people complain that they have to keep adding salt and don't install softeners. Of course you have to keep adding salt - you keep pulling out calcium and something has to take it's place...

Regardless of whether the Easywater system works or not (which I doubt), it is considerably more expensive than both residential softeners (like Kenmore), and commercial softeners (which use identical media and primary tanks as the residential units, but use much better meters/timers, and don't bother with the attractive single plastic case). Besides, if your water is very hard, you've already ruined your tankless water heater cores, and replacing them is going to add up to at least another softener or two.

There's a bunch of companies that sell commercial treatment systems on the 'net like this one.
Water Softener and Water Conditioner Treatment Systems

Oh, just blundered across this on the above site:
Magnet Water Softener

JayC

 

[mikek555]

Ok been looking around on the internet to try and see if this is a scam or not and still not sure...

I looked the people up on the better business bureau and they haven't really had any complaints it seems:

If the link gets broke just look it up under: Freije Treatment Systems, Inc.

Freije Treatment Systems, Inc. Review - WATER SOFT AND CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT SERVICE AND SUPPLIES in Greenfield, IN - BBB Reliability Report - BBB serving Central Indiana

If someone was going to get this installed i'd at least recommend having a local trusted plumber who supports these devices come and install it, make sure the company will back up the claim.

 

[MikePA]

I have had a ScaleBan installed for 20 years. Same technology. It doesn't work, at all. The only thing it removes is money from your wallet to buy it. So, why'd I keep it installed for 20 years? It wasn't hurting anything and I thought maybe, just maybe, it was doing something. The old, 'without it things would be worse', foolish hope. Ha! Granted, it took a long time, but in November I installed a new toilet because the old one was clogged beyond belief with mineral deposits both on the input and output sides. Ditto for the furnace humidifier I replaced. I had a real water softener system installed a little over a month ago. No more mineral deposits. We use less soap. All the usual benefits of soft water. FWIW, we use potassium chloride pellets not sodium chloride. Yes, it's more expensive, but at a bag/month it's worth it not to have water with a faint salty taste and not to shorten the life of my sump pump by dumping salt water in the sump pit.

P.S.
I don't wear a copper bracelet or wrap magnets around any body parts to cure arthritis.
I don't sharpen my razor blades by putting them in a pyramid.
I don't wear a tinfoil hat to keep aliens from reading my mind.
I step on sidewalk cracks and my mother's back never broke.

 

[marimus]

ATaking all of that into consideration, I'd venture to guess that having your family stand at the point your water line enters your house and chanting "give us only soft water" over and over would give you the same result as EasyWater.

Do you need the whole family for the chanting, or should I try it alone the first time. Also does this work with PVC pipework, and how often would you reccomend we redo the chanting ceremony?

 

[Dargo]

Do you need the whole family for the chanting, or should I try it alone the first time. Also does this work with PVC pipework, and how often would you reccomend we redo the chanting ceremony?

LOL! Don't try it alone. It just won't work. You have to have the whole family chant with you and you must begin at precisely 7am and chant for an hour at least once a month. I think that about covers it. I don't think the type of pipe matters. I suppose that's just a personal preference.

 

[WTA]

I sure like the regular water softener I got from sams club. It was fairly cheap too. I installed it in our well house and am sending soft water to the whole house with it. It's eliminated all the hard water deposits, After I cleaned everything off initially, on everything in the house. It's not too bad on salt either.

Also I will say after making several billion gallons of water in my years as a navy engineer with distilling plants, I also can't believe this about the ez water. If it were that simple the navy would have started using them a long time ago too.
Our water going to the boiler feedwater tanks had to be absolutely pure so the boiler tubes don't scale up. If they do, people die when the tubes get a hot spot and rupture. It's just not as easy as some websites make it out to be.

Also with the BBB, they are a scam too. I filed a claim against a company here last year and they dropped it after they say I never responded to them. They always side on the side of the business.
All they had to do was pick up the phone and call me but instead they emailed me and I never got it. Just because of that they took my complaint out of the database. I was calling them twice a week for 2 months and finaly after 6 months or so I was told oh by the way, your claim was dropped because you didn't respond to our email. What a scam!

 

[Western]

WTA, what kind softener do you have?

BBB is a joke, they get paid by business, so it seems they are more like a lobbyist establishment. Ripoff. com has some info on them.

 

[dodge man]

People need to know that a water softner does not put salt in your water. It is used to backwash the softing media. After the salt is put into the media, it is then backwashed to remove the salt and other minerals. Does some salt get in the water, maybe a little, but not much.

 

[Egon]

It may be sodium that is left after the ion exchange. The backwash just clears the salt water from the system.

 

[heehaw]

i used a water softener for years: they work great: had a good friend that was a chemist at a local utility co: had him test my water an we were all surprised at the high level of sodium: he was using the same brand water softener on his well water too..didn't stop me from using the equipment, but i did stop drinking so much water, an started making my coffee out of distilled water....did that for a while, then said heck with it..am on rural water system now an don't use the softener.
heehaw

 

[MikePA]

had a good friend that was a chemist at a local utility co: had him test my water an we were all surprised at the high level of sodium:

If people are paranoid about sodium, use potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride in your softener.

 

[Horio]

I did a Google search looking for Easy Water reviews and this thread was one of the first ones that came up. I've had a great time reading the many comments from over the last year and there has been a lot of great input from many knowledgeable people.

Very quickly it became apparent that Easy Water in particular, and electric/magnetic water softening in general, is at the very least unproven and at worst a total scam. This has been corroboarted by several other sites on the web with links to actual scientific papers on the topic.

I've seen a few comments about salt softeners and how various brands have worked well for people over many years. I'm curious if anyone has first hand experience with EcoWater systems or any opinions on which brands are best? I was quoted $3,695 for an acid neutralizer, water softener and reverse osmosis system, fully installed (my water stats are listed below). I liked the presentation I was given (by the owner of the company, which is local to me here in NH) and he did a decent job of explaining why they chose EcoWater exclusively. I just don't know if 1) EcoWater is better than any other brand, 2) If $3695 is a decent price for a full system installed and 3) If I'm better off buying and installing everything myself (I have friends and family who all have years in the contracting, plumbing and HVAC industries).

I've explored various websites (AffordableWater.us, BudgetWater.com, etc) checking out prices and it seems like the installation cost for my system would be about $1000 - $1500 when I compare the costs (price and S&H) of comparable systems to the one I was quoted. That seems a bit high to me, but again, not being in the industry I'm not sure what is realistic.

Any feedback, advice or opinions would be most welcome. And thank you all in advance!

Water Test Results (June 30, 2009 - We purchased the house Aug 1, 09):
Analyte EPA Max Test Value
Fluoride 4.0 < 0.3
Chlorine 250 177
Nitrite 1.0 < 0.5
Nitrate 10.0 < 1.0
pH (rnage) 6.8 - 8.5 6.2 (1/23/10 pH test was 5.0!)
Hardness No Limit 57
Sodium 250 112
Iron 0.300 13.810*
Manganese 0.050 3.722
Copper 1.300 < 0.200
Lead 0.015 < 0.005
Arsenic 0.010 <0.005
Coliform Bacteria and E. Coli were absent. No bacteria in water.

All units are mg/L except for pH range.
* Iron test was done after the house sat unoccupied for 9 months through a harse New England winter (foreclosure). Previous iron test from 8/13/2007 had 2.84 PPM Ferrous iron, 6.5 for Manganese and 397 PPM Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) as CaCO3. Hardness level of 8 out of 10.
Most recent test 1/23/10 gave hardness level of 10.

 

[MikePA]

I called my plumber who suggested I take a water sample to the plumbing supply house he uses. They tested the water for iron, ph and hardness. My plumber installed the water softener they recommended. The softener was made by a local company from standard industry parts. $900 for the softener and $300 for installation. The water expert from the plumbing supply house even came out to help set it up.