HydroCare Study by OnSpeX
Program Description
Attach the device under test to the inlet side of the water heater per diagram provided by R.S. Resources. Test the unit by running the water heater for 15 minutes of on time at 120° F. then an off period of 45 minutes with no water flow through the heater. Water will be conditioned to have a content of 500 parts per million of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) primarily Calcium Carbonate to simulate hard water in a household environment. Test end criteria will be six weeks or if the flow of the water falls below 0.9 gallons per minute of heated water. Test results are to be compared with the control unit run as a different series of testing.
Executive Summary
After six weeks of testing the flow remained at 3.0 gallons per minute. The test was terminated by prior agreement by R.S. Resources and OnSpeX, the testing agency.
The device under test has kept the hard water from depositing enough minerals to impair heater operation during this series of time accelerated testing.
Analysis of the deposits and flow readings indicate that this unit is effective in preventing clogging due to calcium carbonate build up. Analysis of the effectiveness of control unit testing:
This test was conclusive. The control unit with no anti scale device installed was shut down because of flow below the test parameters of 1.0 gallons per minute after 39 days.
The chemical makeup of the hard water for the control test was a result of using 98% agricultural grade powdered limestone and 2% calcium chloride mixed with deionized water. No mechanical gas or electrical connections were shared in common with any other heater at any time during these tests.
BRITISH GAS TEST RESULTS
The following are excerpts from a research report conducted by British Gas, to evaluate the performance of the water conditioning device sold in Europe by the same manufacturer that is producing it under the Hydrocare name in the US.
British Gas evaluated a selection of magnetic and electromagnetic water conditioning and automatic chemical dosing devices in order to establish their effectiveness in protecting appliances from scaling and identify the potential benefits from reduced service and maintenance.
- “Although all the devices had some physiochemical effect on calcium carbonate in the water, none of the physical permanent magnetic devices were significantly effective in preventing the water from scaling.”
- “The electrolytic, electromagnetic and electrosonic devices were only able to increase the time to failure by approximately 50%.”
- “It is considered that the ideal device for reducing or eliminating hard water scaling problems should be continuously effective, cheap and simple in operation, need no constant attention from the user and have long periods of operation without the necessity for servicing” .
- “This water conditioning device came close to this ideal on our test rig and it surpasses the Performance of all the other non-dosing devices by a large margin.”
- “It is clear that the device has provided a level of performance under the severe test regime, almost three times better than the best of the other water conditioning devices. This is the first non-chemical water conditioning device, of the type required by British Gas, to show potential for reducing the scale formation, and to offer economic benefits for reducing service and maintenance on water heaters and boilers.”
- “The unit is unique in the way in which the electromagnetic field is applied to the water and the way the device varies the strength of the fields according to flow rate, monitored by the sensor in the transducer unit. These two factors are critical to the propensity for this device to work effectively to prevent scale deposition at low and high temperature under varied heat flux conditions.”
- “The device operates continuously and is not dependent upon flow although it does sense it, and by its AC pulsed field it holds and releases nuclei continuously throughout the system”
- “There is no diminution in the activity of the device on scale reduction at higher temperatures.”
CONCLUSION
“The technology is in large measure substantiated according to the claims of the manufacturer and it is the only device to approach an ideal device for reducing/preventing scale formation on a continuous operational basis at high temperature. This is an essential and unique feature required by water heating appliances.”
