Water conditioners

Where Does Hard Water Come From?

People often describe their water as ‘hard water’ or ‘soft water’, but chances are they do not really understand what that means. Hard water is a type of water most prevalent in households and is treated in any number of ways, but the overall question is where does hard water come from in the first place, and more importantly, how do you treat it?

Water that is usually considered ‘hard’ is water that has a high concentration of dissolved minerals (usually calcium and/or magnesium). These minerals are good for your health, but they can be damaging to laundry and other household appliances and products. 

Water, at its very essence, is a great carrier when it comes to picking up impurities. This is because of water’s innate properties that allows it to be a general solvent of anything it comes into continued contact with. For general purposes, most hard water that is utilized or shows up in homes comes from the water moving through soil and rock, dissolving small bits of minerals and carrying them along in the flow. This flow moves into the pipelines and eventually into the home water lines. 

The problem with hard water is that it prevents many detergents and cleaning products from doing their best when cleaning dishes, washing laundry, or when a person takes a shower and uses shampoo or soap. This is because when hard water is heated, those minerals that are in it react to make the soap particles less effective. 

If you have hard water you may have noticed that your attempt to lather up soap or shampoo results only in a small amount of grayish looking bubbles, but little else. This also makes the soap on one’s skin not to come off once applied, and can lead to slight skin irritation because of this.

Hard water can cause havoc in the home, because those minerals that make it hard water in t

he first place tend to produce a mineral build up on such things as shower heads, clog pipes for and washing machines, and can even wreak havoc on hot water tanks and boilers. 

It should be stated, again, that hard water does not pose a health risk to people, and in fact the very thing that causes hard water, the minerals and elements, many experts state can be beneficial. The calcium and magnesium that are present in hard water can actually add to the overall dietary requirement. However, for the most part, having hard water is something that most people would rather do without, and rather get their vitamins and minerals from a good multi-vitamin pill.

How much does it cost you to do nothing...?

If you live in a hard water area, you are out of pocket. There are no two ways to looking at it; j

ust one, that you have to spend more of your hard earned cash on a real solution or on the long list of consequences of having hard water:

1. You need more money for washing powder
2. You need more money for cleaning chemicals
3. You need more time to clean your bathroom and more frequently 
4. You need more money for shampoo and soap/shower gel
5. You need more money to heat your hot water, lots more
6. You need more money to pay a plumber to come and repair your:
1. Taps
2. Boiler
3. Washing machine
4. Remove limescale from your hot water system 
5. Replace your shower
6. To scratch his head, and do that funny sucking in of air that only a plumber can do! 
7. You need lots more time to wait in for the plumber. 

 

Limescale is a killer of your time and your hard earned cash. Now of course products that do help/completely solve the above problems do also cost you money but only in one area. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into buying a £6 solution and expect to see anything. We have removed devices costing £100 - £300 which still haven’t done anything to alleviate the problem above, according to the householder. 

So how are you going to spend your money on limescale? 

Hard water in Wiltshire

Hard water in Wiltshire

Wiltshire is one of the regions having the hardest water in the United Kingdom.

Water is made ‘hard’ by naturally occurring calcium and magnesium. Whether water is hard or soft depends on the geology of the area. The geology of Wiltshire is based on limestone and chalk (the best illustration of this is the famous White Horse). When the falling rain passes through the limestone rock, it collects calcium carbonates that make water hard. 

Wiltshire people had to deal with hard water problems for centuries. The historic sources dated around 1800 describe the situation in Chippenham. There were several wells in the town but most of them produced water too hard to be used for some domestic purposes. Therefore, two or three persons were employed to carry water from the River Avon to different areas of the town. They were paid three pence per barrel. There was also a well in the centre of the town equipped with a large pump – water from this well was not as soft as water from the river, but not as hard as from other wells. This was because the well was very deep – or at least it was believed so. 

The image here is a old pumping station near Wexcombe. There is often very little to see when you stumble across wiltshries water sources. However you can very clearly see the source of the hardness!

 Nowadays the hardness of water is measured precisely by the concentration of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). In Wiltshire, the water can contain even more than 300 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre and it is classified as ‘very hard’.

Hard water does not pose a danger to human health and there is no health based standards for the hardness of drinking water. However, hard water can damage home water systems and equipment. It causes scaling in washing machines, kettles and irons. Hard water produces less foam from washing powders, soaps and washing up liquids than soft water, making washing and cleaning more difficult. It also leaves marks on basins, washing machines and sinks.  

To find out if you have hard water you should ask you water company directly, as within generally hard water regions there are pockets with soft water. Most Wiltshire residents are provided with water by Wessex Water, Southern Water or Thames Water. Additionally, Veolia Water Projects Ltd. manages water supply arrangements at Tidworth and SSE Water serves Old Sarum, Salisbury.  

You can goto our webpage on how hard is my water where you will find links to the water company webpage were you can enter your postcode.

The majority of drinking water in Wiltshire originates from underground aquifers. These are natural underground reservoirs storing rainwater that has slowly saturated through the soil and rock. The water from aquifers is generally of a very good quality and requires limited treatment to meet strict standards before it is delivered to customers. Once treated, water is transferred to pumping stations and it is supplied by water companies to households and other buildings. 

 

One of the oldest water pumping stations in Wiltshire is the Kennet and Avon Canal’s Crofton. Over 200 years old, the station is famous for its steam engines (one of them is the oldest working steam engine in the world still capable to do its job). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Active 3000 magnetic water conditioner review

There are very many magnetic water conditioners on the market. The active 3000 magnetic water conditioner is a very small and very cheap magnetic water conditioner. 

But are these type of units any good. Cranfiled university had this conclusion on magnetic conditioners. "magnetic treatment reduced the scale formation by 50% but only when used in combination with particulate iron dosing." What they are saying is there must be iron deposits in the water in order for you to get just 50% effectiveness. 

You NEED better performance than 50%. The active 3000 magnetic water conditioner is small. The magnet will have to be exceptionally strong to get even your 50% IF you have the IRON deposits naturally in your water! 

You can read a lot more about magnetic water treatment effectiveness on Wikipedia, if you still are keen to read more reviews on the active 3000 magnetic water conditioner type of device. 

Why an Aquabion Water Conditioner?

Proven Limescale Protection

1. We are constantly removing low cost water conditioners, which have just one benefit - low cost
2. We have a proven track record internationally, not just by householders but by test labs and large industrial factories for preventing hard water (limescale) damage. (Bosch, Proctor and Gamble, Siemens etc.)
3. Aquabion system is based on patented technology proven to help reduce limescale build up
4. It needs no electricity, no salt and has no moving parts!
5. Water that has been treated by the inline Aquabion water conditioner is perfectly drinkable and still includes all the essential minerals that occur naturally.
6. Aquabion is easy to install, has an unsurpassed international track record and most importantly works.

What is a limesale inhibitor?

A limescale inhibitor is a unit which doesn’t physically remove Calcuim from the water, but does stop the limescale from causing damage to pipes, boilers, tanks, showers, washing machines and make cleaning easier. 

The big problem the industry has with limescale inhibitors is the amount of fake limescale inhibitors on the market. We are constantly removing wire wrap around limescale inhibitors and instead installing our own groundbreaking units. This will then straightaway give the customer the protection and results that they deserve. 

As you would expect a cheap limescale inhibitor cannot perform at the level of the more expensive high quality models. Which really sums up the problem a limescale inhibitor working at 50% efficiency will not produce the effects the customer wanted. Some customers may be happy enough if they live in a mildly hard area, however anyone living with really hard water will not and cannot be happy with a small improvement. When our customers are surveyed they all agree on one thing,
the units works as expected and yes they would recommend to friends.

Why an Aquabion Water Conditioner?

Proven Limescale Protection

1. We are constantly removing low cost water conditioners, which have just one benefit - low cost
2. We have a proven track record internationally, not just by householders but by test labs and large industrial factories for preventing hard water (limescale) damage. (Bosch, Proctor and Gamble, Siemens etc.)
3. Aquabion system is based on patented technology proven to help reduce limescale build up
4. It needs no electricity, no salt and has no moving parts!
5. Water that has been treated by the inline Aquabion water conditioner is perfectly drinkable and still includes all the essential minerals that occur naturally.
6. Aquabion is easy to install, has an unsurpassed international track record and most importantly works.

Where limescale comes from

If you take a walk in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the UK you often find that that landscape has been caused by limestone being dissolved by the rain. This is a completely natural occurrence and gives us great varity above and below ground!
The reason it dissolves the rock is because the rain has a lot of carbon dioxide in it, which makes the rain mildly acidic.

Below ground, cave stalactites etc

Most caves are made from soluble rocks being very slowly dissolved by the rain moving through them. This also creates the fantastically beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, and choosing a photo to illustrate this is very hard indeed!
So this limescale comes from dissolved rock! Limestone pavements and caves are caused by rain water slowly dissolving the rock. This suspended rock will often stop being suspended in your home, and can cause a tremendous amount of damage to your plumbing system.

Salt based water softeners

This old reliable water softening technique has taken many hits recently, mostly because, of the wastage of water and salt, along with the carbon cost of transporting both the wasted water and salt. Not to mention all those leaks! If you are sure this is the right solution for you, and you can afford costs and to loose the space, then you must read this article.

Should I go for a twin cylinder water softener?

Yes! When soft water has gone in a single cylinder the water softener has to regenerate itself to make more soft water. While it is doing this the water you use will be hard. To stop you using this water, the water softener will often regenerate over night.

Varying quality
If you have decided to go down this route the next thing to decide is which softener you will want. The quality and technologies water softener companies use vary considerably. You can see this very clearly in the performance table of the water softeners. With some of the cheaper water softeners using twice the amount of salt and water than the best water softeners!

The other big quality issue we come across quite often is the softener has leaked. A top quality water softener installed correctly will only rarely leak. But with so many cheap water softeners on the market at half the price of the best water softeners, this issue is likely to continue plaguing the industry.

Spotting a high quality water softener

As a general rule all cheap water softeners will have a single cylinder and the high quality models will have twin cylinders.

In our option you would be crazy not to consider an Aquabion, as they have none of the problems that you find above. See video below:

Also check out our very popular article on hard water vs soft water

 

My electric shower has stopped working again!

One thing that really, annoys me is when a tradesmen comes out and just says “your electric shower has stopped working, no problem we’ll have that replaced in no time”. They might as well say “we’ll see you next year”, as walk out the door! A good tradesmen knows electric showers are particularly susceptible to limescale and he will inform customers about the choices they have! Why do electric showers stop working so often? It’s all down to the calcium in the hard water. This will deposit readily onto hot surfaces, and the hotter the surface the more readily they deposit. As the shower starts to scale up they slowly become more and more inefficient, it takes longer for the heat to get through the limescale. After a while they over heat, and a repair/replacement is needed.

Some Aquabion customers report that they have to turn the temperature down of their showers, because their water is now so much hotter. This is simply because the limescale layer (which insulates) has now been removed. It is this insultive effect of the limescale that will eventually destroy the shower, if there is no adequate protection.

So the next time you say “why has my electric shower has stopped working again?” you know where to turn to.

Would you pay more for your less hard water?

Arizona Daily Star asked their readers if they would pay more for their water if the water hardness content was lower. How much lower? Down to a staggeringly high 450ppm water hardness. To put this in perspective, anything over 150ppm is hard water and you will need protection. Anyone living in an area which has 250ppm will tell you that they live in one of the hardest water areas in the uk.

The cost would $11-$12 a month.

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_4595f5ba-cdb0-11e0-9186-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1VxGaysLN

What’s the difference between a salt based softener and an Aquabion?

Scrip of the video

A salt based softener will dose with salt in-order to physically remove the limescale from the water. The unit is fairly large and is normally situated in a kitchen cupboard, and the plumbing is very involved. Storage is always a problem, as you need to buy the salt in bulk to get the best value, and you have already lost the use of a kitchen cupboard. On the plus side all the limescale has been replaced by sodium, but do make sure that you get a twin cylinder model to get constant protection. However, whatever you do, don’t forget about it as it does need constant monitoring to make sure everything is ok. And of course you mustn’t drink the treated water.

The Aquabion on the other hand needs no monitoring, and once fitted can be forgotten about. Once it has been installed, you will have constant protection for seven years. Aquabion doses with zinc and changes the aggressive limescale into a neutral non-adhering lime. Don’t forget you can drink Aquabion water and still benefit from the minerals. It only gets better as the Aquabion takes up no or very little space so you can forget all about limescale and the solution.

Please explore the website to find out more about this quantum leap forward in limescale solutions.