Fred James

Do you think that if I put one on my wrist it might prevent my arteries furring up?

I'm not questioning your personal experience, but you do seem to be in the minority. There is another interesting article here

Magnetic Water and Fuel Treatment: Myth, Magic, or Mainstream Science? - CSI

bobd22

To be honest I have stuck a couple of the magnets on the pipe into my water heater. I have no idea if they do anything or are like snake oil. However my theory was they cost me very little and certainly can't do any harm. But yes it is very much an unknown .

VEDShappy

I have magnets arranged in a plastic 2 piece holder that fits over my main supply, it was there when I moved in.

I have no idea if it works, but I can't imagine that if I removed it there would be any more deposits than we currently get

teuchterpete

Found this:
Limescale... The causes and solutions
which seems to expain the theory, but still seemes more like a gimmick than a solution. Has anybody weighed up costs of fitting/running/maintaining, ion exchange column ( water softener) against cost of renewing heater element when necessary.
Pete.

Pulaski

That's interesting because it is the first time I have read anything that has an even slightly plausible explanation for why magnets might have any effect at all, but even that article concedes that the effect is localized to the magnets and is proportional to the flow of the water.

I am also sceptical that water is a good enough conductor to generate electricity when moved through a magnetic field.

teuchterpete

Spot on. We would all be able to generate our own power just by turning on the water tap.

megmet

Save money by not buying the magnets, we have them fitted to our inlet pipe and they are a total waste of time, the amount of cal we get has to be seen to be believed.

wizard1948

Hi folks after reading this post i thought i would post a item we used to do with rolls royce generator engines which was supplied with a fresh water system to keep them cool we had a carbon filter in the system to stop limescale build up and had to change it once every five years !and it worked well i will see if these are stil availible and post again but i can confirm that having worked on these engines all over the world the filter system did work well and some of the countrys i have worked in the water in the main pipes was more like muddy water than clean water !

Fred James

Those filter systems just remove the crap from the water. The Cal is dissolved in the water and a filter does not remove it.

We have very hard water and use a proper water softener. We also have a "crap" filter but we have not needed to change it in 14 years.

There is no type of filter that will remove Cal from the water as it is dissolved. Filters remove particulate matter.

bobd22

Very true Fred and I believe that the calk calcifies more when heated especially around heating elements for which a cafbon filter would do nothing.

teuchterpete

Correct only an ion exchange column will remove calcium, and carbonate ions, without boiling the water.

Pulaski

Incorrect, an ion exchange column "exchanges" (removes) calcium and magnesium ions for (replaces them with) sodium ions, and, to cut a long story short, sodium carbonate is soluble so doesn't create lime scale.

teuchterpete

When we needed pure deionised water in the lab I worked in ( many many) years ago. The ion exchange column, exchanged the Calcium ( anions) for hydrogen ( anions ) and carbonate ( cations) for hydroxide ( cations ) OK it was pretty specialised, but the result was pure water!
Pete

Pulaski

In a laboratory, yes, but home ion-exchange systems use rock salt, with the anions being sodium, and, as far as I can tell, the carbonate ions going nowhere.

teuchterpete

Correct, and of course the pH of the water is lower for Sodium Carbonate, than Calcium Carbonate. Is there some kind of acidity regulator included in the rock salt. Sodium Carbonate is the basis of washing powder.