Obtaining optimum effectiveness from Physical Water Conditioning (pwc) requires knowledge and experience as a number of factors need to be addressed. Simply putting a treatment unit on the incoming or rising main may well give acceptable results in a small domestic dwelling but is likely to lead to customer dissatisfaction for any larger application.
Approximately 70% of buildings in the UK are sited in hard water areas. This means that there are high levels of calcium bicarbonate present in the water used for drinking, washing heating and cooling. When the water is heated, calcium carbonate attaches to the nearest surface causing scale build-up, which:-
Wherever large quantities of water are heated – hotels, hospitals, barracks, residential schools and care homes – scale becomes an issue. Scale affects water systems in terms of:-
Most industrial companies use significant volumes of cooling and/or hot water in their facility. In 70% of the UK, it is often difficult or expensive to maintain efficient heat exchanger performance. Chemical treatment is both expensive and potentially ecologically damaging and has a negative impact on sustainability.
Prevention is far better than cure! Unless water treatment is applied in new buildings, energy costs will continue to rise and premature replacement of hot water generators will result. Despite it being a requirement in the Building Regulations, it is seldom even considered.
Whatever the size of pool, it costs time, labour and chemicals to ensure it is well maintained and safe. The ENiGMA OLYMPIC is a non-chemical method of keeping swimming pools clean and reduce maintenance and running costs. We won the 1994 Ideal Home Exhibition’s Award of Excellence in the Environment Category for keeping swimming pools protected.
Ceri Williams, Treatment Manager for Anglian Water, says that since turning the ENiGMA unit on they have not had to replace any pipes and it has been more than 2 years now. They have definitely seen an improvement in the quality and the amount of time we have to replace pipes.
Non-chemical water treatment should be on the agenda for any sustainability program. Hard water results in increased consumption of energy and water, increased dependence on chemicals and premature equipment failure.