Do these really work?!

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In my own experience - yes and no!

Yes - they seem to prevent scale formation in heat exchangers to the extent that boilers manufacturers insist on them.

No - they have little effect on the 'perceived hardness' of the water when used for washing etc. Difficult to see how they could, given that nothing is added or taken out of the water. As I understand the principle of both magnetic and 'electronic' limescale preventers (note - NOT 'softeners'), they cause a PHYSICAL change in the 'hardness' in the water which stops it from depositing or crystallizing for a while. But if the water then goes into a storage tank, the effect will 'fade away' after a time (a few minutes?).

So they may make your boiler last longer but 'saving soap' is less certain :confused:
 
If you look at their guarantee, you can have your money back if you can see that it hasn't made any improvement after three months. You'd be lucky to see there's a problem on a new system in 3 months. The guarantee is not brimming over with confidence is it?

Search the forum for water conditioners or possibly Cranfield University. They wrote a report on these, and similar devices, I'll leave you to form your own conclusions from the report.

I don't know manufacturers who recommend this type of device, at least in for oil boilers.

A reliable device is Combimate, which a silicone-polyphosphate device. The process is well known and so is how it works. Made by Cistermiser, again, try searching the forum.

I have been fed garbage about these electronic devices, such as you can wind the coil round steel/iron pipes and it will still work, (don't ferrous metals "short circuit" magnetic flux?) and yet it won't work with lead pipes which short out magnets. Well, try putting a lead cover over a magnet and picking up some nails. It works fine; so that bit of info was duff then.

As I understand how these devices work, it is they get consumers to part with their money and give a nice guarantee which is not too long.

If you are buying one of these devices, you may find it will be benefical to spend a little more and buy a magnetic bracelet as well. This will cure all manner of ailments, and you could hang it over the bath tap to treat the water and save soap as well.
 

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