Limescale and magnets - are they worth buying?

debtdesperado

I am having a terrible problem with limescale caused by hard water...one of the taps has completely blocked and the others aren't much better, and I am afraid leaving it much longer is going to cause a lot of expense.

I have seen various magnets that can be clipped to the mains pipe and supposedly sort out (or even lessen) the limescale... I just wondered if anyone has any experience of them, and whether they worked?

The layout of my flat means the stopcock is in the bathroom, so electric softeners etc are out as there is no access to any electrics.

Any advice gratefully received!

hazybubbles

sorry but I can't think of any scientific reason why that would work in the slightest.

debtdesperado

I was afraid you were going to say that! It says the same on wikipedia but but there are so many testimonials etc on web saying it's great, I just wondered if any MSE'ers rated them...

ormus

as much use as them diet tea bags a few yrs ago.

imho

We got sent some magnets for hard water only cause it was a free gift with the order. Completely useless. I put magnets i got from the £1 shop on the pipes as well. They were the ones that was toys for kids ,where you throw them in the air and they "click click together " They didnt do anything either.
I think you can get a filter things you connect to a cold pipe but they are probably rubbish as well.

SailorSam

I can't see magnets helping, i think it's a problem you may have to learn to live with if the water in your area is high in lime. The only solution seems to be take the taps off every so often and clean them, vinegar will get rid of limescale.

Mayflower10cat

My parents and my inlaws have both tried this solution................. Did it work? No!!! We also live in a very hard water area; in our last house within the first year we replaced all the taps & shower as they were seized up with scale. The amount of Viakal etc I was getting through was ridiculous. Three years later we moved a few miles away and installed a water-softener; it really has made such a difference. Everything stays cleaner for longer! What I was going to suggest was we have a combi-(oil fired) boiler here. Before the softener was installed, on the feed into the boiler was what they call an 'in-line water conditioner/softener'. It was recommended by Worcester to fit one. It comes as a canister about the size of an average aerosol can. It clicks into a joint onto the pipework and helps to 'condition/slightly soften' the water. The canister has to be replaced at least annually and perhaps more often if your water is very hard - they're about £30-40 in B&Q. I don't see why you couldn't have one fitted on the cold main before the feed to your main appliances?

moonrakerz

Only one thing will work - a "proper" water softener. All the other Gizmos are snake oil.

27col

We've had one for years. I can't say that I have noticed the slightest improvement.

misgrace

I have never even heard of magnets for limescale lol, but I bought of domestos Zero, I think its called for limescale, my god, its fantastic , it really does do the job and on stuff that I have used other limescale products on, which really didnt make any difference, but this Zero, its absolutely fantastic.

Sirbendy

not at all. We've got a brand new work building with some HUGE magnetic "softeners"...so far we're changing humidifier parts in our aircon units every 3 months due to scale and have lost 3 brand new £6k boilers due to scale..haha.."cutting edge" my bottom.