There are no "new" pros or cons. The debate has been ongoing for some time here and elsewhere.

"been reading" you say? That would require many years and countless posts digested. The squabble has been ongoing here for a looooong time. If you will allow me, I'll condense it in a few sentences............

EasyWater does NOT soften water. EasyWater and its competitors claim to change the water's characteristics so that the minerals within it act differently than before their treatment. If you've been reading, you should be aware of arguments for and against that assertion.

Cut to the chase......The ONLY device known that softens water is an ion exchange softener....PERIOD. There are ongoing debates about whether or not such devices should be allowed within a conservation-minded, environmentally-sensitive society. There are NO debates going on about whether or not they work.

You may find this interesting (you can just skip to the conclusion): http://www.culligan.com/uploadedFiles/Products/Water_Softeners/Salt_Free_Solutions/Army%20Corps_pwtb_420_49_34.pdf

guyver73, thanks for that reference. Looks like a good methodology, but they only tested 2 magnetic products and one electronic device, none of which I've heard of.

I thought this recent experiment at ASU was interesting:

I emailed professor Fox and he indicates he and his colleagues are preparing their results for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. That will be refreshing if that happens.

They tested two technologies I'd never heard of before.
They tested one technology I'm really interested in, TAC, in this case the device by Next ScaleStop.
And they tested what looks to be Aqua Rex (Water King in the UK) as the electronic "physical" water treatment device.

The TAC tech was the only one fit to pass the DVGW - W512 standard, but the others were somewhat effective (less scale and the scale was easier to remove than the control).

Unfortunately, I'm not happy about the long-term costs of ScaleStop. Both it and the apparently inferior Filtersorb SP3 stuff require replacement every so often to the tune of $300 to $500. That's not cool.

But to find a decent, apparently independent study, finding a no-salt scale prevention device that was 99% better than the control is exciting stuff.

bc

Oh crap here we go again.

@don_1_2006 I know the previous threads were rather long, but what I posted was new info, independent university research on the topic, which is the sort of stuff folks participating in the old threads longed for. Thought it might be a good contribution to this forum.

An update on my attempts to get real proof about these softener alternatives: EasyWater, like many of the "wrap incoming water supply with a wire" types of water conditioners, claims that their technology is used by large commercial customers. Among their lists of customers and testimonials, they summarized some case studies. One of them was the city of Chandler, AZ. In it they claim the Fire Dept had such great results that they now spec EasyWater for newly built city facilities. I emailed Chandler's assistant city manager. He rounded up the city's facilities manager and together they called me. Not sure if they're just great people there, or whether they thought I was someone other than a consumer, but they were kind and answered my questions. Indeed, they did test EasyWater's tech on their recirculating pump, which they'd been replacing far too often. They opened up the pump, or some pipes attached to it (I forget which), and for the first time -- having been disappointed by other solutions they tried -- they found the EasyWater operating as advertised. So they purchased from EasyWater. They do still use them today and had nothing but positive comments for it.

That was good to finally get some real proof and candid feedback from a customer. But since EasyWater's system that fits my home is about $1100, I think I'm going to try one of the cheaper competitors first to see if it works on my scale. If it doesn't, then I'll bite the bullet and try out the EasyWater.