magnetic scale inhibitors

[dubdad]

hi all
does anybody have any experience with any of the magnetic scale inhibitors on the market?
i am going to install aa electric shower and the water is quite hard in my location 200+ppm if that means anything to you who are knowledgable in these areas.
i would be going onto a dedicated cold feed to the shower.
they seem to be quite inexpensive as compared to the alternatives
thanks in advance

 

[Nige F]

even cheaper if you look @ ebay next week . I`ve got one lurking in my garage or it might be an electrolytic in line one Either way it can do no harm to have one feeding the shower - basically they help stop limescale forming by disrupting the crystals

 

[kevplumb]

apart from the fact that they don't work carry on

 

[mickyg]

hi all
does anybody have any experience with any of the magnetic scale inhibitors on the market?

yes they dont work.

 

[Tibbot]

The only one worth a try is the Combimate, but it's not magnetic and needs polyphosphate balls periodically replaced. It's also 3x the price.

 

[kevplumb]

The only one worth a try is the Combimate, but it's not magnetic and needs polyphosphate balls periodically replaced. It's also 3x the price.

View media item 15077
and they DO work

 

[enb54]

Have had the Ecodyne Phosphate water treatment system (made for Amana) which uses polyphosphate crystals, for nearly 30 years, have experienced no problems with scale buildup in water pipes or faucets, all are still original (copper piping and Moen faucets). A typical crystal charge lasts about 6 months in my case, all those magnetic or electronic devices are designed to extract your money, and nothing else. For a detailed look at a United States Army Corps of Engineers report on magnetic descalers, look at http://www.cecer.army.mil/techreports/Hock_MagneticDescalers/Hock_MagneticDescalers.pdf and the conclusion is on page 34.

Please remember that lime scale is NOT magnetic!

 

[dubdad]

thanks all, especially ebn54 for the link to the research

well that puts that one to bed for me anyway. confirms what my gut instinct was telling me anyway,... any nice 'lining-up' or 'polarisation' of molecules or crystals, whatever is going to get pretty jumbled up in any heat exchange unit, more-so in the likes of an electric shower where i would imagine there is a real speghetti junction of magnetic fields from all that highly energised circuitry ,solenoids etc.

so it looks like its the other route- combimate- for me, hmm ... whole house... or just the hot water before it gets to the cylinder.

think i saw somewhere that u cant use some systems on the main potable supply/ re small babies ...
hmmm not that i intend to have any more

 

[vulcancontinental]

so it looks like its the other route- combimate- for me, hmm ... whole house... or just the hot water before it gets to the cylinder.

The combimates the only one I've found that I know works.

The American equivalent of Which did a test on the others which came to no positive conclusion. Trouble is the water varies in its makeup from place to place so no definitive response is possible. Not worth the money.

Don't think the combimate would work on the cylinder cold feed as it doses an amount of the water passing through, just enough to treat the innards of whatever the appliance is it's serving. A hot water cylinder and distribution pipework might be a bit too much. That's the operating principle I understand it to have anyway.

Just use it for the shower or on the cold main coming in which might do the kitchen sink and shower but might alter the taste of the water (I've never tried to drink the treated water).

 

[enb54]

well that puts that one to bed for me anyway. confirms what my gut instinct was telling me anyway,... any nice 'lining-up' or 'polarisation' of molecules or crystals, whatever is going to get pretty jumbled up in any heat exchange unit, more-so in the likes of an electric shower where i would imagine there is a real speghetti junction of magnetic fields from all that highly energised circuitry ,solenoids etc.

so it looks like its the other route- combimate- for me, hmm ... whole house... or just the hot water before it gets to the cylinder.

think i saw somewhere that u cant use some systems on the main potable supply/ re small babies ...
hmmm not that i intend to have any more

I should have mentioned that I have this Ecodyne at the cold water input to my domestic hot water storage tank (indirect type of about 40 U.S. gallon capacity), as the hot water system is where the calcium carbonate buildup is usually worst. My boiler is original, but have a 50% propylene glycol mixture which gets replaced every 4 or 5 years, therefore no issues with scale buildup in the boiler system itself.

As anyone who works with electricity knows, a moving electric field generates a moving magnetic field and vice versa, so since lime scale is non-magnetic, there is not a chance those electrically or magnetically operated devices will work. Research with high energy levels (as in high energy particle physics) does indicate that one can affect chemistry temporarily for a very short distance, but not everyone would be happy with an MRI type machine in their home. Thus, in the real world of domestic scale control/reduction, only chemical or ion exchange type systems will perform effectively, safely and reproducibly.

As far as drinking this treated water goes, it is probably safe, but I'd want to do more research to be sure, my family and I have never consumed hot water from the tap, we always make tea or coffee by boiling cold water.

Hope this clarifies what worked for me, but as vulcancontinental stated, every situation is somewhat different because everyone's water is slightly different...

 

[kevplumb]

jeez a canadian that makes sense

 

[bounceback]

Hi all
I have just been doing a search on the web for magnetic scale inhibitors of the non electrical type and have been surprised by the number of negative comments they receive, I just read a report by a doctor stating categorically that they do not and can never under any circumstance work. My personal experience is as follows.-

In 1995 we had Zip boiler (http://www.zipheaters.co.uk/public/products/commercial/instant-boiling-water/over-sink-systems/zip-hydroboil.aspx) for making cups of hot drinks which dispensed water at a few degrees below boiling, it consisted of a cold water tank of about 1 litre fill with mains water controlled by a ball float valve, this fed cold water into the heating chamber from which hot water was dispensed. After it had been in use for 6 weeks it started to malfunction and leaking water. When I dismantled it I found the float valve completely covered in hard lime scale. It took over a hour to clean up and get working again. For the next year, every 3 - 4 weeks I had to strip down the heater and descale and then reassemble, In 12 months we went through 2 floats, 1 heating element, and 4 valve assembly. We were about to go back to using the kettle when I was in B and Q and saw a clip on magnetic scale inhibitor for about £10 and decided to give it a try. It was put on the mains inlet.
After about 8 weeks the boiler was working fine but I decided to strip it down and see what condition it was in. There was no hard lime scale build up at all just a very soft white deposit around the valve which fell off as it was being moved. Not completely convinced I removed the magnetic inhibitor and within 3 weeks had to descale the unit again. The magnets went back on and the unit is still working today, in the last 13 years with being used 9 hours every it has only ever needed the replacement of 2 perished rubber washers.
Make your own mind up but if we had kept the boiler without a £10 magnet it would have cost over £6000 in parts and labour.
Although not a typical installation I think a magnetic inhibitor is worth while trying in other situations.

 

[enb54]

Well, how hot you keep your water has a direct effect on how much scaling/deposits occur in your system, just check out your tea kettle/coffee pot for confirmation. We just moved and purchased a home, could not figure out why the hot water pressure was so low. Investigated and found horrible deposits (photo attached) on the hot water tank outlet, cleaned, dropped water temp from 165F to about 135F, no more problems.

Oh... please disregard tiara in background...

Untitled

• enb54
• 13 Apr 2012
• 1