Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone got one any of these sort of units?

Do they work? - around the house (eg kettles, shower heads, hot water systems)
- in the garden (eg irrigation sprayers, sprinkler heads)
- in AP

My parrents have one of the salt based softeners and I find at times it can have a slightly salty taste and when you use soap it has an extremely slimy feel about it.

Personally I like the claims of the electomagentic systems and the way they apparently work, or are the manufacturers just selling snake oil?

Unless I'm missing something, the electromagnetic systems aren't really water softeners. They are scale reducers that work by preventing the solutes from precipitating out. But the minerals are still in the water. I would imagine that as soon as the water left the tap, it would behave just like untreated water. There should be a benefit with a water heater and shower heads, but not in the kettle because the effect wouldn't be in effect after it leaves the faucet.

I call snake-oil.

I was chatting with a person who has one of the electromagnetic jobs and claims that he has less calcium build up on the glass in the shower, soap lathers better and the water even has a better taste. I do trust this person, however, they also work at a shop that sells these items.

Still makes me wonder if they would be worth the $450 they are asking?

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The water here is so hard that it can drive nails. However, most people here don't bother with water softeners. It is cheaper to replace faucets as they wear out. For drinking water, you can get a nice reverse osmosis system for about $200. That will give you the best tasting water you can imagine. One of the best investments I have ever made, it has saved thousands in bottled water costs.

I personally dont know anything about water softeners or conditioners but I found this to be an interesting read to get the understanding of it.

It seems the electromagnetic version is the latest and greatest of conditioners as it is more cost efective to run etc.. but I suppose the question remains... are they worth the money? I have no idea but Im going to do a bit of research.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/electrom ... tener.html

Found a discussion on another AP forum where thay talk about these electromagnetic systems for use in AP.

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/aquaponics-ideas/490-hydrosmart-anybody-seen.html

Still leaves me unconvinced on many of the claims.

It appears that most people have no problem beleiving in there ability to reduce scale, so on these merits alone it may be worth considering. As Ron mentioned about replacing taps, I would be happy if that was all that needs replacing but when it starts burning out the elements in hot water systems which legally needs a sparkie to replace the costs start adding up. Or as happened to our previous hot water system at work, when attempting to remove the element, two of the four bolts sheered off and the whole hot water system needed replacing.

Stateside, anyone can replace the hot water heater element. Here it is usually filled with gravel before the element goes out. Keep in mind, hard water is good for fish.

Hi,

My parrents have one of the salt based softeners and I find at times it can have a slightly salty taste and when you use soap it has an extremely. The most significant advantage of having a salt lamp is that it offers protection from harmful electromagnetic radiation. thanks.