Magnetic Water Treatment For
Limescale
The problems associated with hard water are the result of our
natural water supply filtering through sedimentary rock (particularly limestone
and chalk) and the water absorbing additional minerals. These minerals form
chemical compounds which form layers of scale in plumbing and
appliances.
Government research
shows that just 6mm of limescale (an average of 4 years accumulation) reduces
energy efficiency by 40%. For the average household that means nearly £200 per
annum extra in fuel costs. Add to that extra cleaning products, chemicals to
soften the water, reduced appliance life, increased maintenance and the true
cost of hard water is revealed.
Traditional
Water Softeners
These are designed to remove the
compounds that cause hardness. Water passes through the softener containing
resin beads which attract the compounds and are cleaned with chemicals.
Households fitted with a water softener must leave at least one
tap connected to the rising main to provide safe drinking and cooking water.
There is growing concern by environmentalists over this type of softener as the
used chemicals become yet another 'waste' product disposed of into the
Ecosystem.
The UK
Drinking Water Inspectorate says
“Some of these devices have been shown
to be effective in reducing the amount of fur or scale that actually sticks to
pipes or heating elements. They do not soften water. However, not all products
on the market give satisfactory performance. You are advised not to buy one of
these devices unless the supplier will agree to a sale or return, subject to
satisfactory performance.”
Cranfield University,UK, says
"The subject of Antiscale Magnetic
Treatments remain controversial and are still labelled as gadgetry in some
scientific circles. The debate is understandable; for many years the positive
effects well documented in trade literature resulting from industrial
applications have been undermined by the apparent lack of good results from
laboratory tests. In addition, some manufacturers continue to promote
ineffective devices (with dubious literature) for applications where no real
evidence exists, anecdotal or otherwise to show that they could ever, or have
ever worked. However, many devices on the market have reasonably good track
records, but even these have occasionally proven ineffective in certain
situations.
One thing is for sure - there is an interaction between a
magnetic field and crystallising matter which can, on occasions affect its
scaling behaviour. As engineers we are primarily interested in deducing a
satisfactory design basis and the conditions under which the process will
repeatedly work, as scientists we want to know how it
works."
Trinity College Dublin says
"This is a controversial subject. Tens, maybe
hundreds of thousands of devices have been sold worldwide which purport to
control limescale formation from hard water. Some involve
steady magnetic fields, low-frequency or radio-frequency ac fields, others
create electrostatic fields. Our work so far has been aimed at discovering
whether or not there is anything to explain. In our experiments, water is passed
through a magnetic field produced by permanent magnets.
A first series of blind tests was conducted
on well water drawn through a commercial magnetic device and a second series
involved pouring out mineral water with a magnetic collar around the
neck of the bottle. In every case there was
a control where no magnetic field was applied. Limescale was produced by heating
the water to 80 °C afer waiting for some time ti and the
scale was examined by scanning electron
microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Two structural polymorphs of CaCO3
- calcite and aragonite - were identified in the study conducted by Stephen
Cass. Aragonite has the higher density, and it is less prone to form hard
scale
The remarkable results are i) that
at the 99.9 % probability level the scale
from treated water contained more aragonite than scale from untreated water, and
ii) that the effect of magnetic treatment persists for more than 200 hours.
"
As you can see, there seems to be a consensus
that something happens to reduce scale, but no-one yet knows the mechanism. If
you wish to try it for yourself, get a good money back guarantee and if it
doesn't work, try another make that also has a good money back
guarantee
