WHAT IS HARD WATER?
Hard water is water that has high mineral content, usually consisting of calcium and magnesium or it may contain high levels or iron or other metals. In fact, the measure of water hardness is expressed in various units that express how much calcium carbonate is in a given volume of water. Units include ppm (parts per million), gpg (grains per gallon), or mg/L (milligrams per liter).
ROTASOFT® Water Softening is Different, Better!
The primary benefit of our ROTASOFT® Rotating Magnetic Conditioner is that it ROTATES the magnet and it WORKS to soften your water and it helps to reduce germs because of the HIGH SPEED ROTATIONAL EFFECT! Plus, it is easy to maintain as no salt or potassium is required to soften the water! When compared to Stationary Magnet systems and salt systems that claim to provide the best water quality possible, ROTASOFT® has shown to be superior!
Ultimately, the most important consideration is ensuring that the water in your home – whether it comes out of your tap or sits in your hot water heater – is safe enough for your family to use. Choosing the right water softening system can improve the quality of your water and save you money.
First Step Towards Better Water…
The first step is evaluating your water to determine the best option for your water supply. You can get a simple water test at nearly any local laboratory by taking a sample of your water to them directly.
If you’re experiencing mineral deposits on your shower head, around the sink, mirrors, or you’ve had serious pipe scale buildup, affecting faucets, dishwashers or dishes and water heating elements, or if you’re experiencing good old fashioned “bath tub ring”, it’s time to start looking at water softening options. Hard water contains minerals called ions, and these can wreak havoc on your plumbing where they can contribute to corrosion if left untreated. They are not immediately life threatening, but they can have adverse effects on the health of your skin and hair. It can also require more soap to get good suds!
The Logic behind using a ROTASOFT®!
The bright idea behind ROTASOFT® rotating magnetic water softener is to attach it to the water supply before the water enters your whole house plumbing system. When the water is turned on, a flow switch will activate your ROTASOFT® motor and green run-light, thus energizing the rotation of the magnet, spinning it at high speed which will then affect the ions found in your water. Once energized, the ROTASOFT® will rotate its magnet at over 3500 RPM! When water flow is turned off, the ROTASOFT® stops rotating!
So, no matter how slow the speed of the water, it is the magnet that is moving at a high rate of speed!
Magnetism is a complicated topic, and how magnets affect ions and germs in this particular situation is completely unknown to most, so it can be difficult to figure out on your own whether such a system will work for you. Fortunately, there have been scientific studies on the matter of magnetic water softening that will provide answers.
How does magnetic water treatment work?
Stationary Magnetic Water Treatment with one, two or possibly more magnets. This is one of those topics where a quick search on the Internet provides wildly varying results. There isn’t much clear information about magnetic water treatment, and some sites say it doesn’t work. There is a great deal of misinformation that seems to either make false claims or appear to be scientifically bogus, further complicating the search.
Even the Wikipedia article labels Stationary Magnetic Water Treatment as pseudoscience, though there is a lot of contradictory information there. Here’s what we know: Stationary Magnetic Water Treatment directs water to pass through a magnetic field. By placing one or two magnets on either side of the incoming pipe, all the water passes through a magnetic field.
Stationary Magnetic Water Treatment does not remove any calcium from the water- this we know is a fact. The water still contains the same amount of calcium as before it passed the magnets. Many websites claim to fully change the structure of the deposits that form, making them less likely to stick to hard surfaces. We recognize this to be true ONLY when the water is flowing fast enough to create a magnetic “moment” during which the magnetic field creates a sufficient electrical charge onto the calcium, magnesium and other metals that make the water hard.
But this raises a question: Is the water always flowing fast enough?
The primary problem with the Stationary Magnet water softener is that when water flows through a pipe, it usually flows at a low speed of about 0.1- 3 gallons per minute, thus the magnetic force has minimal “if any effect” on producing sufficient electrons with the ions found in the water. The problem is due to the slow speed of the water as it flows passed the magnet(s). They claim to alter the chemical and electrical composition of the water to help prevent scaling. This cannot be accomplished when the flow rate is too slow.
Salt type water softeners work by replacing the hard minerals with sodium and that can be bad for you and the health of your family! If you have ever tried washing your hands with water that is softened by a salt type conditioner, you can agree that the sodium leaves behind a “slimy” feel to your skin. It’s SALT!
In summary, Stationary Magnet water softeners are not efficient because water must move very quickly through the pipe within close range of the magnets surrounding the pipe in order to become softened and Salt type softeners just don’t allow you to rinse away the salt, plus you cant use it for cooking or drinking!
How do conventional water softening systems work?
Conventional salt-based water softeners work using an ion-exchange process, where the calcium and magnesium in the water are chemically replaced by sodium. This is an old fashioned technology that works consistently and it does make water softer. It does reduce scale in your plumbing but it does leave behind- SALT. You can find water softeners at your local hardware or home improvement store.
However, beware! Because what they are not telling you is that sodium is BAD FOR YOU, it’s bad for the environment and you’ll have to fill your water softener every 30-60 days with MORE SALT!
Consider other disadvantages of using a salt-based water softener:
Chemically Softened drinking water contains sodium. The added sodium in your diet depends on how much you drink and how hard the incoming water is. When this is a concern, a non-softened water tap is installed and is used for drinking and cooking water, which adds to installation costs. Soap can be harder to remove when washing hands with soft water, which results in a slippery feeling. Conventional salt-based water softeners require periodic addition of 1-5 50 LB bags of salt to the system. Add to that, conventional salt-based water softeners automatically run a regeneration process, where the removed calcium and magnesium is regularly cycled out, dumping water down the drain or on the ground. As a result, the State of California has banned the installation of salt type water treatment systems and conditioners! Who wants a mini-pond of salt water in their yard! The amount of wasted water depends on usage and the hardness of the incoming water. While scale in plumbing clearly has bad side effects, sodium might also cause corrosion issues. Some people don’t like the taste or feel of salty, soft water. This is really a matter of personal preference.
Cheap or Old Fashioned -VS- ROTASOFT®
While some people may be attracted to the low cost and low maintenance of cheaper, Stationary or Fixed Magnet water softeners or a higher priced Salt type water treatment system, it’s important to understand where they might fall short.
There have been over a hundred studies performed that are relevant to stationary magnet water softening, but unfortunately, they are not all completely conclusive. Some studies examined whether the magnetic device had any effect at all on the water, and these studies did show some very minor changes in the electrical charges on calcium carbonate particles and discovered that they had a minimal effect on pipe scale. Again, these studies were mostly inconclusive, however some trends can be observed.
Whereas, when the water passes through the Rotating Magnetic field introduced by ROTASOFT® which rotates at over 3500 RPM, this has a substantial impact on the magnetic vortex and its placement of positive (+) electrical charges onto the ions and effect the ions and the water molecule! This results in the creation of water that is charged to near maximum capacity and the effects are astonishingly better when compared to the Fixed or Stationary Magnet device or a salt based water softener.
If you have serious problems resulting from hard water, you should invest in a system that you know will work for you. Traditional, ion-exchanging water softeners (the ones that use salt) have proven themselves over the years, yet that’s what you’re drinking when you drink from the tap- SALT WATER.
There are Salt-free chemical water softeners, sometimes called a “DeScaler”, which also do a good job at preventing scale buildup in your pipes but are generally not good for humans to drink! Either of these options will cost you a bit more, but you can count on them to work to some degree- IF you’re not using the water to drink! So be wise and be safe!
Is there any decent published data?
If you search for stationary magnet water treatment, you will quickly find references to work by Klaus Kronenberg, and claims made in “Experimental evidence for the effects of magnetic fields on moving water,” published in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics in September 1985.
Claims include:
A Wikipedia article on Magnetic Water Treatment points to a paper by J.M.D. Coey and Stephen Cass. “Magnetic water treatment” appeared in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials #209 back in 2000.
Professor J. M. D Coey edited an early, important text on rare-earth magnets, Rare-Earth Iron Permanent Magnets. More recently he authored Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, a graduate level textbook about magnetism.
They tested magnetically treated water by passing water through a stationary magnetic field of 1000 Gauss (0.1 T) where it was allowed to stand for many hours. The samples were then heated in open beakers, forming scale when the water evaporated. The scale was inspected by X-ray diffraction and an electron microscope, which can reveal what it’s made of. The results confirm earlier claims that there are two different types of calcium deposits made: Calcite and Aragonite. They are both made of the same stuff (calcium), but form in different structures. The small beads of calcite tend to make hard scale that clings firmly to surfaces.
Aragonite forms in longer shapes or in balls which are less prone to form hard scale and keep moving along with the water. The data they collected also confirms that the effect can last as much as 200 hours.
Will a Stationary Magnet Softener work well in every situation? They reported some slight visible, measurable differences. Stationary Magnet Water softening isn’t completely bogus. Under certain conditions there is at least some evidence of an observable, physical effect. So, a Stationary Water Softener does work? Yes, sort of.
The paper indicates that the ratio of the kind of calcium that tends to stick (Calcite) compared to the kind that doesn’t stick (Aragonite) does improve with stationary magnet treatment. This should mean there is less scale formation. It doesn’t claim that you’ll get absolutely zero scale deposit with the Stationary Magnet Conditioner. It creates nearly 5-8% of the calcium as Aragonite in the hot water heater the remainder forms calcite. The paper confirms that the softening effect can last for many hours and days. Since treated water often sits in a water heater for a short time, this is possible, ONLY IF the water is moving fast enough passed the magnet to affect a change!
What happens to Calcium in a Hot Water Heater when using a ROTASOFT®?
The International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials also known as IAPMO is the premier testing laboratory in the United States! Highly esteemed as the Top Certified Testing Laboratory. From cinder block to plumbing fixtures to water softeners, IAPMO is the lab to use. We can tell you without question what ROTASOFT® does inside of a Hot Water Heater because we had it Tested by IAPMO!
This test study determined that 70 to 90% of the calcium/magnesium remained as a semi-solid Aragonite mineral residue for easier annual cleaning of the hot water tank! We recommend that you follow the instructions on your hot water heater each year by turning off the water and draining the tank to allow the residual Aragonite to be removed and in this way you’ll enjoy years of hot water from your tank!
Many people think that this is all the reason they need to buy and install a ROTASOFT®!
THAT- is why we created ROTASOFT®!
With its high-speed motor rotating the magnet at over 3500 RPM, you’ll see softer water and virtually no salt deposits and you’ll reduce the growth of germs in your pipes! Minerals are not gone, but rather they’re locked in a positively charged magnetic energy field that your body can absorb! Softer water flows through the pipes, softer with reduced scale!
With ROTASOFT® GET SOFTER WATER and LESS GERMS!