Magnetic Water Conditioning
Posted on | March 16, 2010 | Comments Off
I just wrote an article about hard water and one of the solutions I came across is called “Magnetic Water Conditioning”.
This essentially involves applying a magnetic field across the water pipe which brings water into the house. In some way this action conditions hard water in such a way that lime scale is prevented from forming.
Water is classed as “hard” when it has calcium, magnesium, hydrogencarbonate and sulphate ions dissolved in it. These ions come from the rocks the water has passed through, especially limestone and chalk. The effects of the presence of these ions are: first, more soap and detergents are required to have an effect, and, second, when the water is heated or the pressure is reduces, solid calcium carbonate is precipitated out as limescale, which blocks pipes, damages heating elements in kettles and washing machines, and leaves unsightly stains on surfaces.
Water hardness can be reduced by several methods. Water can be filtered or passed though an ion exchange water softener, both of which remove the unwanted ions, although calcium and magnesium are useful for the human body. Some chemicals can be added which reduce the effect of hardness on detergents, improving washing effects.
Magnetic water conditioning, however, does not remove the ions from the water. So, how does it work?
Companies that are selling the systems for magnetic water conditioning talk about the magnetic field affecting the charged particle in the water in such a way that they are not able to combine to form solid limescale. The term magnetohydrodynamics was used on one site, referring to a the academic discipline studying electrically conducting fluids.
There are many others on the Internet who would call magnetic water conditioning “pseudoscience” because there is no clear explanation of the mechanism. There is even some doubt as to whether it works or not.
Essentially there have not been many properly controlled scientific studies on this topic, but there are lots of companies that seem to be making money from selling the systems – some with money-back guarantees. I would be interested in any comments people may have.
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