electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

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4t5
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electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by 4t5 »

my water softener broke down today, and I see there are these devices that help mitigate hard water issues without the need for salts ( money saver), anybody here have real world experience with them ?
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Larkbill
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by Larkbill »

I investigated these pretty thoroughly back when we remodeled our kitchen. Lots of strong claims, but most of the science doesn't hold up. As my dear old Dad liked to say "if it sounds too good to be true..."

Bottom line was that it "could" provide some benefit if all conditions are right, but far from a slam dunk.
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horsesoldier03
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by horsesoldier03 »

My water softener was on the blink and wasn't quite getting the job done. I purchased one of the electronic scale reducers and it lasted for about 2 years. I ended up going with another water softener. The water Softeners in my experience are a lot more cost effective.
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jeepnik
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by jeepnik »

Heaven’s not this again. I spent the last twenty years of my working live in industrial water treatment. Everything from ultra purified water for pharmaceutical manufacturing to highly toxic industrial waste water.

Industries spend billions of dollars a year on pretreatment alone. One of the primary steps is the removal of calcium and magnesium hardness. Those are what cause scale.

These devices you read about tout the use of the Farady principle. And the principal is sound. But to date none of the devices has worked in practical application.

Simple explanation of a very complex principle is this. An introduced electrical charge causes the ions to be pushed away from the pipe. Think of two sides of a magnet with the same polarity pushing away from each other.

The problem is that after a very, very short time the polarity returns to normal and the hardness once again causes scale.

If you ever talk to anyone selling these devices asl one question. “Where does the hardness go”? It has mass it has to go somewhere.

The other thing to consider is this. If it works why do companies spend so much annually on tried and true methods such as ion exchange that traditional water softeners use?
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4t5
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by 4t5 »

I appreciate the responses you guys gave, thanks, I'll be going the softener route again :) .
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Larkbill
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by Larkbill »

Jeep, you and I may have crossed paths. I finished my working days at GE Mobile Water. We supplied mobile water treatment, mostly to power plants, in the form of de-ionization units, filters and reverse osmosis trailers. Also dropped at quite a few refineries and chemical plants, plus activated charcoal at a Pepsi plant.

I was a "delivery specialist" as opposed to the more common "truck driver". I guess you could make a case for the higher title since we had to put the DI equipment in operation before releasing it to the customer.

Interesting business.
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jeepnik
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by jeepnik »

Larkbill wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 2:27 pm Jeep, you and I may have crossed paths. I finished my working days at GE Mobile Water. We supplied mobile water treatment, mostly to power plants, in the form of de-ionization units, filters and reverse osmosis trailers. Also dropped at quite a few refineries and chemical plants, plus activated charcoal at a Pepsi plant.

I was a "delivery specialist" as opposed to the more common "truck driver". I guess you could make a case for the higher title since we had to put the DI equipment in operation before releasing it to the customer.

Interesting business.
If you were in California, Arizona or Southern Nevada very possibly. I was mostly in the engineering and consulting end of it. My company didn't do De ion, filters or RO portable units, only stationary. We worked with most of the big suppliers of that type. A very good relationship as we weren't in competition only cooperation.
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Larkbill
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Re: electric anti scale devices(plumbing)

Post by Larkbill »

Only was in Arizona once. We had a west coast service center but sometimes we had to haul units out there when they were short. I dropped a DI trailer at the Springerville Generating Station when they were overhauling their in house water plant.

Also dropped once in Blaine, Washington. Same type of deal.

I worked out of the St. Peters, Mo service center and stayed mostly in the center of the country but also did several trips to Homestead, Fl.
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