Water Conditioners

The build-up of limescale (calcium carbonate) deposits is estimated to cost the UK economy millions of pounds per year in increased energy bills as scaled surfaces have lower thermal conductivity and so take more energy to heat. Research has shown that just 1.5mm of scale will result in an increase in energy costs of 12.5%, while 25mm of scale reduces heat transfer by up to 95%. The impact is 1 billion GBP of energy loss in the UK alone.

In addition increased appliance maintenance, equipment replacement and the cost of regular descaling and cleaning are estimated to exceed USD25 billion worldwide.

A continued build up of scale will result in an exponential increase in you energy and maintenance costs. Scale also encourages microbial activity with obvious health and financial implications.

Currently hard water is mainly treated with chemical inhibitors or by softening the water with ion exchange systems (replacing the hard elements such as calcium and magnesium with sodium). Both have damaging effects on the environment and are not safe to drink.

There are various magnetic, electrical, catalytic alloy and zinc based technologies out there that make claims as to how they can help eliminate limescale from your home water system.

Proof of their efficacy however (if available at all) is scarce and vague to say the least.

So... wouldn't it be great to see some independent, scientific proof before making a financial investment in a solution to all your hard water issues? Please read on.

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Surrey undertook an evaluation of a ACP Water Conditioner unit. Here is their conclusion:

It can be concluded therefore that treatment with the ACP unit prevents over 80% of scale formation. This potentially represents in excess of a 5 fold reduction in scale build up within heated water systems.

You can read the full report here.