Limescale Eliminator

littlesos

I live in a hard water area now, and after moving from having lovely soft water I hate it. I have been looking at a water softening system, but came across a Limescale Eliminator.

Basically you attach it to you incoming water pipe ( it wraps around the outside of the pipe) and it removes the limescale. Does anyone have any experience of using one of these as it looks like a bit of a gimmick to me. I can't understand how it can remove the limescale from the water when it isn't connected into the pipe.

Thanks

Rachel

Lotus-eater

Got one, it doesn't work.

Meepster

What the device does is generate a low frequency radio wave, which basically stops the limescale from building up, something to do with the way the waves "alter" the water.

I was dubious about it too, until I saw it in action from the manufacturers, when I was working in my old job.

Sirbendy

parents have one - clamps to the incoming pipe. Net effect? You have a lump on your pipe, and nothing to show for it.

Lots of scale, in the shower, kettle etc.

Mutton_Geoff

Plenty of information on the internet about these. You'll usually find them alongside devices that double your cars economy by adding water to the petrol etc!

I installed a proper softener/filter that works very well but the unit alone is around £800.

littlesos

OK,

So it's as I expected a waste of money. So back to looking for a water softener.

Can you drink softened water??

I have looked around this morning and it's a mass of information any clues as to what I need to look out for? I'm tempted to go with rainwater harvest for the loo and washer, but that won't solve my shower/bath/dishwasher problems.

I already have a filter water tap in the kitchen (a proper brita one with three handles) I would like to keep it if possible.

Thanks

Rachel

Avoriaz

littlesos wrote: »

..Can you drink softened water??…

I already have a filter water tap in the kitchen (a proper brita one with three handles) I would like to keep it if possible….

Rachel, a water softener works by replacing the calcium and magnesium ions that cause the water hardness with sodium ions derived from salt. Artificially softened water therefore has higher levels of sodium than hard water or naturally soft water.

Most people can safely drink softened water but a few people are sodium intolerant and drinking softened water is not advisable for them. Neither is it advisable for very young babies for making milk formula etc. It is fine for washing and cleaning etc.

However none of that really matters as you can have a water softener and still have hard water for cooking and drinking.

Forget the fancy gadgets that fit to your pipe. They do not work in any realistic manner.

Install a proper water softener. Install a hard water pipe bypassing the softener feeding a drinking and cooking water tap at your kitchen sink. Fit an inline filter to this tap or use your existing Brita tap.

The softener will supply softened water to the entire house, including the hot and cold taps at the kitchen sink. Use that water for everything except drinking and cooking. For cooking and drinking use filtered hard water from the Brita tap.

Try Ebay for water softener bargains. They are easy to install for a competent diy plumber if you know someone with those skills.

TonyMMM

We have one of these - given to us by someone who was having a water softener fitted and didn't need it anymore. I was a bit sceptical but they assured me it worked for them so I fitted it anyway and I can say it does make a noticable difference.

We are in a very hard water area and used to descale the kettle every few weeks - we now only do it about every 4-6months. Scale does still build up, but much slower than it did before.

27col

We have had one for years. I cannot say that I have noticed the slightest difference.

walmslei

Right, three methods of reducing limescale are common, so I'll break them down with basic information:

Polyphosphate Doser
High reliable, a polyphosphate doser is basically a small unit which connects near your rising main (it requires a little plumbing in) which doses the incoming water supply with food grade scale inhibitor (sounds scarier than it really is) - hexemeta polyphosphate. Unlike radio/magnets a doser does chemically alter the water, and whilst it will not affect the taste, many people looking for a budget solution 'prefer' this as it's a direct contact solution. Boiling the water does not break down the limescale, so it's an ideal low cost solution for dealing with scale and protecting things such as combi boilers. Typical cost, circa £40 and cartridges will set you back anything from £15 to £25 or so every six months depending on the manufacturer.

Radio/Magnets
We supply these systems (we supply all three technologies in fact) and the general opinion is in many cases they work and in some they don't - most good companies will give a money back gaurantee. The key here I think is this technology is pretty well proven on large circulating industrial systems where it's been used for many years, but in a smaller residential applications the permutations and combinations of plumbing, pipework and such mean there are a lot of different issues which may affect performance. For a house of 2 to 5 bedrooms, you can pay £40 to £350 - common sense dictates if you are going to the £250 plus mark you maybe ought to look at a cheap water softener instead as a much better solution.

Water Softeners
Now I live in Lincolnshire and I have an ion-exchange softener and they are a godsend.. It is the only proper way to 'remove calcium and magnesium' from the water supply, BUT, your costs are £340 or so for the most basic of models, ranging to £1000 or more for a brand name with a fancy valve design. In truth the Fleck series of valves used on water softeners costing between £350 and £500 common to many manufacturers are about as rock solid as you can get - they are what industry rely on basically, and whilst not as 'elegant looking' you are going to get years and years of service from one, and spares are cheap, readily availabe and anyone can fix one. One key issue to note is don't get dragged into the salt usage debate..

Pretty much, the amount of salt used is dependent on your water hardness and the amount of water you use - the difference a valve or machine can truly make is.. well, look at it price wise. You can spend an extra £500 on a softener claiming to be at best maybe 20% more efficient than another, yet, in order to recoup that at say £7 per 25kg is going to take you 357 bags of salt.. or 29 years at a bag a month. Far longer than the service life of the machine. A decent Fleck softener ought to give you ten years life (or more), which for £350 makes it a pretty good medium term investment.

Many companies quote water consumption too.. well again, put it into perspective. The difference between a softener using 65 litres and 45 litres is the equivalent, based on Anglian Waters rates, of about £6 per annum, based on daily regenerations (mine regenerates every 2 or 3 days - so realistically far less).

jbainsi

Magnetic water treatment can reduce limescale. A Trinity College Dublin study demonstrated this.
Magnetic water treatment J.M.D. Coey , Stephen Cass
Physics Department, Trinity College, Dublin 2,Ireland.
Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 209 (2000) 71—74
"Passing water through a magnetic field subsequently favours formation of aragonite rather than calcite in our experiments and the influence of the treatment persists for more than two hundred hours. "
Aragonite doesn't stick to pipes, Calcite does.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate says about Magnetic and Electrical conditioning devices
"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."

At a typical cost of about £60 for a device guaranteed to keep its magnetism for 99 years and your money back if it doesn't work, it must be the cheapest and least polluting option.
If you want more info, try http://sound-ideas.info/5.html