EasyWater system - real deal or snake oil?

[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.