Water Conditioner Quackery?

I recently bought a house with well water. Soon after moving in, I noticed a rotten egg smell and began treating it with shock oxidation with chlorine pellets. It works well for a few months per treatment, but I've been wanting a more permanent solution for H2S removal as well as something to lessen the calcium deposits that have been gunking up my shower heads.

So I go to the local home show and run into a booth where they have one-tank pressurized air oxidation units that required little maintenance as it naturally backwashes any oxidized iron or sulfur into the sewage. This sounded great to me, so I inquire about it and the fella tells me he'd need to have an in home consultation to see exactly what I needed, no obligation. That sounded fine with me, so I scheduled it a few weeks later.

The dude comes to my house and, even though I told him that I chlorinated a few weeks ago, he did a water test. I have very slightly high iron (as would be expected with the H2S problem, I've read), but everything else looks good.
Wondering about the validity of testing at this time, I say, "I just treated it...shouldn't you wait until the odor comes back to test it? If I just oxidized the well, the iron and hydrogen sulfide levels are obviously lower than usual, right?" Unphased by obvious logic, he just told me, "It would be fine."

So he looks at my setup and says I could "get away" with a 3-stage filtration system with a carbon filter that he manufactures himself with coconut shell carbon filtration. And he'd sell it to me for the home show discounted price of $1899 and $350 installation. If I wait, it would be $2299, because he had to build me a new one rather than giving me the one from the home show. I said, "That seems high." And he tells me that its actually cheap because its direct from the manufacturer...him. Then I ask him about the air injection system, which would also work (I've seen them online from between $800-$1200, shipped to my doorstep). He says I could get a small one for about $2200, but a larger one with better flow would be a bit more....and that his system would be a great value.

I could sense in the back of my head that I was being fleeced, but I let him go on. We moved to the issue of water softening. I'm expecting to hear about a normal ion-exchange system that I'm sure I'd have the pleasure of paying like $1000 for (plus installation). But he tells me he has this "salt free" solution that will cost me $499 with the filtration system or $599 by itself. That sounded reasonable, so I asked him how it works.

And here comes the quackery.

He tells me he has this device (called the "Aqua King Triangular Wave Water Conditioner") that can descale the water. You mount it on the wall, wrap a coil around a pipe, and it conditions the water.

He tells me it works by making the calcium take a different form and become more water soluble, but its mostly technical mumbo jumbo...bottom line is that I'll get the benefits of soft water without the "health risks" of "salt added water", nor the annoying maintenance issues of a traditional water softener. And he says, "Trust me, you don't want to lug a 40lb bag of salt down those steps, its dangerous."

So I tell him that I don't understand how it works. And he goes "Not to get technical, but..." I interrupt him and go (and I bet he didn't expect this), "I actually have a pretty large background in chemistry and physical chemistry, please do get technical."

He stares at me for a sec with a deer in headlights look on his face.

So he says, "Ok, then, I'll get technical." He rambles on using a ton of words out of chemistry 101 that barely made sense to someone like me with actual chemistry knowledge. Per this fella, what happens is, the water flows though a solenoid and the electric current changes the calcium carbonate into the aragonite crystalline form. Because the relative solubility of aragonite is higher than the other crystalline forms of calcium carbonate, then it will descale your pipes as the magic of osmosis moves more of this buildup into solution. So we have this discussion.

Me: "Ok, so after it goes through this current, it crystallizes into aragonite? So I'll have little calcium carbonate crystals in my drinking water?"

Him: "No, it stays in solution."

Me: "How does something in solution have a crystaline form? That makes no sense. At all."

Him: "No, no...its not IN SOLUTION. Its in a sub micron space. Little crystals are formed too small to detect."

Me: "So its a microscopic SUSPENSION."

Him. "Yes."

Me: "Right. I really don't understand how this makes sense. If this aragonite is more soluble, then why does it not go back into solution. The idea of a magical crystal structure that is simultaneously more soluble in water and in some sort of sub microscopic suspension makes no sense to me."

At this point, my wife sensing the dude is crazy, too, wants me to stop arguing and to get this nut out of our house...and tells me "Hon, I think you're just overthinking it." And smiles at him. She's smart, what can I say. I let it go and he completes his brief spiel. After my hard inquiries, he started taking the bizarre steps of complimenting my house. He told me my front room was "breathtaking" at first glance and that my hardwood floors (bamboo, but, whatever) were incredible.

It kinda got weird.

I then asked if he'd just install a more traditional water softerner and he tells me, "Absolutely not. If you want that, just go to Lowe's and have someone install it. But I won't do it, its just unhealthy."

He then complimented my bamboo floors and TV some more and eventually he left.

Right.

So, anyway, I get the pleasure of avoiding this dude for the next few weeks. If he just offered me the legitimate product with the Fleck control valve and everything, I would have seriously considered buying from him.

After doing some research, it appears my instincts are correct as THIS PDF rather succinctly references a physical chemistry professor and a major water treatment trade organization to confirm my suspicions. These magical boxes do nothing at all.

-------------

So here's my question...IS THIS NORMAL? There are a ton of these fake boxes out there being sold by a ton of water treatment companies, plumbers, and internet salesmen. Is there some sort of way I can find out if a water treatment company is legitimate or reputable? Is there some sort of board certification like medical personnel need to acquire I could trust? The amount of misinformation out there is staggering for a person who a few months ago had no concept of how to treat water after a life of using municipal water supplies.

From looking at my water test results, it looks like I just need something to oxidize the iron and sulfur as well as softener to reduce calcium. I wonder if the best move would just be to buy the equipment and hire a random plumber to come install it all for me...

 

If the last item was not was at the show , then I would be running away.

Kind of sounds like the bait and switch...

Your statement of magical boxes of not doing any thing is my statement... NOTHING.

 

You wonder how/why these places can still make the claims and push these products. Apparently they sell enough with a huge profit margin so they keep going.

Kinda like...why do people still fall for the "You've won! Just pay $300 as a deposit on your winnings" or "Grandma...this is Billy and I'm in jail in Mexico...can you send $5000?".

 

Tell the guy to install the stuff and that you'll pay him when an independent tester shows resolution of your water problems.

 

No worries, I'm not going to touch this company with a 10' pole with this voodoo water nonsense.

Seriously though, is there some sort of group or some type of certification listing that can point me in the way of a local, reputable water treatment business? I just want to get hooked up with a water professional that uses evidence-based science in his or her recommendations. That's all I ask. And with how much misinformation, quackery, and flat out fraud I've seen out there, it seems really tough for a person with little background to tell who is legit and who is a huckster with a magic water transforming box.

 

The best way I know how to treat for iron and H2S is the same way cities do it all over the US, chloration. After the water comes up from the ground, inject chlorine and follow it with a carbon filter than a water softener. Your best bet is to buy equipment online (it would be cheaper) and hire someone to install it.

The biggest problem is that water treatment is not a regulated industry. The best you can hope for is someone that holds a WQA certificate but then again they may be crooks as well. Maybe check with the BBB in your area.

 

This is just a random thing I've been wondering while reading. About Chlorine-based oxidants - does it have any sort of advantage over other oxidizers? Why don't they use hydrogen peroxide, potassium permanganate, or other oxidizers that would probably be about as cheap?

 

For me chlorine would be at the bottom of some thing to use as an oxidizer. The biggest reason is the by products of chlorine and organics, there can be over 600 different items..
Ozone and hydrogen peroxide both break down as they oxidize where the rest do not and have to be removed after they are injected and contact time ..

I will say that chlorine has a place, but to run to it first off? why?

 

Various forms of the magnetic water conditioners are hawked by charlatans all over including late night TV infomercials. They are also hawked to industrial users that normally use chemicals to control scaling, corrosion and biological fouling. Costs range from less than one hundred to several thousands of dollars depending on the size of the installation and what the salesman thinks he can get away with.

Almost always the claims and promises are false. I'll go out on a limb and say that in ALL cases of a residential system the claims are false. There ARE some industrial installations UNDER VERY LIMITED SUPPLY WATER CONDITIONS that CAN use the magnetic principle to reduce the amount of chemicals used to prevent scaling. These magnetic units will NOT control corrosion or biological growth no matter what the salesperson might promise. For residential use they are a complete waste of money.

 

I think some of the water conditioner companies are have some of the slickest salesmen out there. About 25-30 yrs ago I had one come to my house and proceed to tell me how his $6k system wouldn't cost me a penny, in fact I would make money off of it. After he got done telling me all the things his system would do he got to the me making money part. He said I'd be money ahead because the 'conditioned water' would save me $3k per person a year on clothing, $500 per yr on soap, etc, when he got to the part that his unit would save me from having to have a $20k replumb job [on my $10k MH] done every 10yrs - I showed him the door.

 

Chlorine is the first choice based on public health authorities endorsement of it. That endorsement is based on the judgement that the benefits far outweight any negative factors. Additionally, chlorine is, in nearly all situations, much less expensive than the alternatives.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have a local source of supply for hydrogen peroxide it will typically cost about ten times as much as household bleach purchased in the supermarket. Potassium permanganate is also quite expensive. Ozone generation is also expensive and there are reliability issues as well.

While it is true that chlorine can form some undesirable compounds in certain situations the typical home application that includes a backwashing activated carbon filter after the chlorine injection/retention tank will remove most, if not all, of the undesirable byproducts of chlorine treatment.

If the cost is not prohibitive to you then go for hydrogen peroxide. It is highly effective.