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Mountain Home, AR
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huck
12/20/2010 2:37pm
12/20/2010 2:37pm
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 4:40am
Anybody use any of the electric water softeners?
www.easywater.com
I'm considering this, as I hate salt water.
I'm a little reluctant though.
I go thru at least one hot water element every 4 months. Supposedly this will help.
www.easywater.com
I'm considering this, as I hate salt water.
I'm a little reluctant though.
I go thru at least one hot water element every 4 months. Supposedly this will help.
*you edited your reply...
The Shop
All I know is that before we had a water softener at our old house he didn't have problems. We installed one and he had problems. We built a new house and have well water and he doesn't have them. I am just tired of spending a couple hundred every few months for heater parts.... and my faucets look like SHIT!
I have a re-circulator on my water system, so I would need the $2,000 one!!
If you google it, the first couple of pages are mostly from the company, "praising" it. But, if you dig deeper, you will find the negatives.
Here's a clip from the forum at a plumbing website about them:
Softening is a chemical process. Period. When hardness, in the form of calcium and magnesium ions, is dissolved in water, it has a positive charge (+2). As water is passed through a softner resin bed, those ions attached themselves to the resin, releasing 2 sodium ions (+1, each). Now the soft water no longer has hardness ions to create hard deposits in your appliances and on surfaces in your home. The salt you hate to lug(and no one likes to do it) is used to make a strong brine solution to regenerate the resin. As the strong brine passes over the resin, it forces the calcium a magnesium off of the resin and replaces them with sodium again, ready to soften more water.
There is NO SUCH THING as electronic, magnetic or other voodoo softening. You cannot, by virtue of an electrical current or magnetic field, change the fundamental properties of a calcium ion to prevent it from causing scale, except for the exact location where the field is located. Once that water is heated up, in your hot water heater for instance, or the water is disturbed at all (running through your pipes will do it), you no longer have any effect at all from the magnetic field and you're right back where you started. Scaling.
I find it particularly interesting that the company you are looking at does not in any way actually explain their "technology" nor do they list any companies they work with. Their pictures are bogus and unverified and their assertions are ridiculous. They are counting on the fact that most people do not know enough about water chemistry to realize their assertions are fundamentally flawed.
My credentials: Chemical engineer with 10 years of water treatment experience. I have specified treatment for boilers and cooling water treatment for anything from small commercial units to huge industrial facilities. At all times before new treatment was allowed, the perspective water treatment companies had to prove their recommendations at the facility in question. Funny thing, but all of the no-salt "softener" folks refused a real-world test, every time, without exception. They all wanted me to purchase their systems without independent verification. Gee, I wonder why? You cannot soften water without removing the hardness.
o
RE: Yes or No to EasyWater water softener by Freije
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* Posted by andy_c (awc222@yahoo.com) on
Tue, Jan 15, 08 at 11:05
EasyWater will not help you. The 2000 model goes for about $1100 and it just won't do a thing to improve your water to any noticable extent. We have seen too many people disappointed after being so reassured that this will make your water feel better, soaps last longer, water tastes better and so on.
Wrapping an electric wire around the pipe may have some effect on scale build up prevention. Anti-scaling devices are very important in industrial applications for boilers, tubines and highly sensitive equipment but of little value in residential situations.
None of these have any NSF or WQA cerifications. Their biggest sales pitch is "salt-free", "environmental friendly" and "No maintenance", which arte all true but nonetheless, useless.
Anyway, if you decide to buy, go ahead and do it and after six months, please rip your plumbing apart to see if you notice any improvement and let us know.
Andy Christensen, CWS-II
o
RE: Yes or No to EasyWater water softener by Freije
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* Posted by aliceinwonderland_id (My Page) on
Tue, Jan 15, 08 at 12:06
"Wrapping an electric wire around the pipe may have some effect on scale build up prevention. Anti-scaling devices are very important in industrial applications for boilers, tubines and highly sensitive equipment but of little value in residential situations."
Andy -- Only, possibly, at the location of the wrap. Chemical treatment and deionization are very important for boilers, turbines and other industrial applications. Anti scale devices are even more useless in industry than in residential situations because millions of dollars of equipment and production time are on the line. There was a period of time in the 60's and 70's where many of these anti scale devices were installed in industrial systems. Systems were purchased by plant managers (business, not technical people) who bought into the hype generally against engineering advise. They didn't work. Back to chemical treatment.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/120232-easywater-system…
I have been using the Easywater system for about 8 months now. I was concerned if this would work and more importantly what my wife would say.
I would like to say we noticed a difference right away, but we did not. It took about a week before we noticed several things. The first thing we began to notice was the scale in the dishwasher was being removed. The easywater people send a bottle of "Lemon Shine" with the unit and recommend that we use it with powder type soap. We did not use the Lemon Shine the first few days and we had spots and the wife was not happy. The sales rep at easywater told us to try the Lemon Shine and said we would like it. We did and we use it all the time now.
The second thing we noticed was the excess scale/spotting on the glass shower walls and door. My wife also felt like her hair was heavy and not as clean. The sales rep said there is scale being removed from the pipes and it may take some time for it to clear out. Again we gave it more time and by the forth week she was very happy with how her hair felt and skin. I too noticed a difference in my skin not being so dry.
The third thing we noticed was the showerhead and water was flowing out of all the holes. The showerhead was partially blocked from scale. We noticed around the 8th week that the shower head was clean and the water pressure has increased.
We have noticed other things over the past few months and we are happy with the unit. I will say that there are some downsides to everything and easywater does have a few. When we installed the unit we read that we would be able to cut back on soap usage by 1/2. Well this is only if you do not currently use a water softener. We had already cut back our soap usage by 1/2 because we used a softener. By doing that we were only using 1/4 of the soap and it did not clean well. You will also notice spots on and in your sink and counter tops. However, they are easy to wipe off and require little effort.
I hope this helps, I have purchased the easywater system now for most of my family and they all love it. I know it's not for everyone but it is worth looking into. I would recommend that if you like the feel of a softener you are probably better off with that instead.
Hmmmmm.
edit: late to the party...I agree with everyone else. Just another scam.
http://www.bbb.org/indianapolis/business-reviews/water-soft-and-conditi…
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This business has been a BBB Accredited Business since December 2007. This means it supports BBB's services to the public and meets our BBB accreditation standards.
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Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of A+ on a scale from A+ to F.
Factor(s) that raised this business' rating include:
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Business Name:
Freije Treatment Systems, Inc.
Business Address: 4202 Awning Court
Greenfield, IN 46140
See the location on a Mapquest Map
See the location on a Google Map
Original Business Start Date: 12/3/1986
Local Business Start Date: 12/23/1986
Type of Entity: Corporation
Incorporated: 1986 in IN
Principal:
William Freije III, President
Phone Number:
(317) 336-3300
(888) 766-7258
BBB Accreditation: This business is a BBB Accredited Business
Date Accredited by BBB: 12/28/2007
Type of Business:
WATER SOFT & COND EQUIPMENT SERVICE & SUPPLIES
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT, SERVICE & SUPPLIES
Website Address:
http://www.easywater.com
http://www.freije.com
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Mr. William Freije III, President
Mr. Randy Salatin , C.O.O.
Customer Complaint History
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When considering complaint information, please take into account the business's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB processed a total of 4 complaint(s) about this business in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 4 complaint(s) closed in the last 36 months, 2 were closed in the last 12 months.
These complaints concerned:
1 regarding Advertising Issues
1 regarding Advertising Issues
1 regarding Guarantee Or Warranty Issues
1 regarding Guarantee Or Warranty Issues
2 regarding Product Issues
2 regarding Product Issues
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4 Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.
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Advertising Review
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The BBB contacted the business in December 2010 regarding BBB concerns with the business's advertising. Particularly the BBB was concerned with the implied claim that the EasyWater system can replace a traditional salt water softener system and obtain the same results without the use of salt.
The business promptly responded to the BBB and stated, "FREIJE Treatment Systems guarantees the EasyWater will prevent new scale from forming and remove any existing scale buildup. The EasyWater system is able to prevent and remove scale by physically changing the minerals in the water. In comparison, a traditional softener replaces the calcium and magnesium (known as 'hardness') with salt or potassium to slow the development of scale. The EasyWater No Salt Water Conditioner is clearly defined as an alternative solution for hard water problems without the negative environmental, health and maintenance issues of a traditional salt softener."
The EasyWater website and owner's manual cite the feel of the water, water spotting and iron staining as reasons customers may prefer to use a traditional softener or possibly an iron filter in conjunction with the EasyWater No Salt Water Conditioner.
FREIJE Treatment Systems, Inc. provides a 90-day satisfaction guarantee on the EasyWater system. This information can be viewed by visiting http://www.easywater.com/warranty.aspx.
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http://www.kinetico.com/
Find the one that suits your needs and pull the trigger. We install hundreds of their softners a year and they are top notch. Also, customer service is amazing - you will not be disappointed.
Also, hard water can eventually eat elements, but sounds like you have something else going on if they are going out so fast...….
Pit Row
First of all as mentioned above, everything I have read agrees salt free doesn’t work. I am going salt. If you research the softners there are only a few different heads and a few different tanks. Most companies rebrand these. Fleck 5600sxt appears to be a solid head and can be found for a reasonable price. The tanks seem to all come with a 5 year warranty. I am going to order this;
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000GC2LL8/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=AT…
This takes care of the scale. I still want to get some other contaminates such as chlorine and pesticides found in the city water out. After much research this pre-filter seems to do the job and is highly rated:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005A3WPA0/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=AT…
I plan to order these pieces, then hire a plumber to come in and solder it all in place. I have researched the crap out of this and it appears this should be as good as any whole house filtration out there for about a grand in parts.
I’m a rookie in this arena and wouldn’t mind any feedback on this plan one way or another.
Post a reply to: Non salt water softeners...