Do inline scale reducers work?

Boiler man installed one to the incoming water feed to my combi boiler last year as standard. Didn't ask for it and I'm not sure if my water is really all that hard.
 
Ive had a Combimate for about a year now, its great! No noticeable difference in water pressure. Makes living in a place prone to lots of limescale manageable.
 
We've just had a hose split in the boiler so its been replaced, the plumber recommended having a magnaclean fitted in the system so i've been doing a bit of googling which led me to this thread. Still deciding whats the best thing to do, thanks for your input kiteloopy.
 
Ripper-X- said:
@MikeB is your Combimate still going strong? Are you putting new Combiphos refills in every year?
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Mine is on the main supply into the house, refill twice yearly, made massive difference.

Easiest way to check in the real world is in the kettle, ours has lime dust as opposed to scale, recommend 200%
 
Ripper-X- said:
We've just had a hose split in the boiler so its been replaced, the plumber recommended having a magnaclean fitted in the system so i've been doing a bit of googling which led me to this thread. Still deciding whats the best thing to do, thanks for your input kiteloopy.
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Isn't a magnaclean a thing for magnetically catching the bits of iron oxide that form inside your central heating? It's not the same thing as a descaler.
 
My dad got given one ages ago by one of these companies in an effort for him to be convinced to try to sell them (central heating engineer) he was also sceptical. But as others have said above the shower heads and areas where water sits have massively reduced in scale build up and its still going strong now probably 15 or 20 yeses later.
 
@Steampunk yes thats correct, what I should have said was that the plumber recommended having a magnaclean & an inline scale inhibitor fitted, & googling is what led me to this thread, well spotted lol..;)
 
Just giving this a bit of a bump

I am currently looking for potential solutions as we have hard water and an imminent kitchen refurb will provide the perfect time to make a change

I can see 3 solutions right now,
Something like a scalereducer, cost from £200 or so, jury out on science but people seem to think work in real world
A water softener, but I dislike the fact the water is then softened and i need to have a separate tap in the kitchen from drinking water, and to feed the fridge freezer
One of the whole house filters, 650,000 liters for £600 or so isnt cheap, I need to check they definately filter the calcium out

So just looking to any views since this old thread
 
Having moved house since I last posted - we've just had a softener with separate filter tap put in our new house which has much harder, chalkier, water than our old one - a scale reducer was doing nothing material at all - unlike our old place having it on is making no difference to how quickly things like kettles and shower heads are getting gunked up, etc.

EDIT: Sorry not a softener it is a filter unit but not whole house.
 
Rroff said:
Having moved house since I last posted - we've just had a softener with separate filter tap put in our new house which has much harder, chalkier, water than our old one - a scale reducer was doing nothing material at all - unlike our old place having it on is making no difference to how quickly things like kettles and shower heads are getting gunked up, etc.

EDIT: Sorry not a softener it is a filter unit but not whole house.
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Thanks. I think I am leaning to a softener even though I dislike them. I have to be carefult though as we have a megaflow so dont want to impact the flow rate, would be tragic to me to end up as if i have a combi level of hot water flow, i love my uber showers ;)
 
We recently had a Tapworks AD11 softener installed which I purchased off Amazon. The softener was about £450 and the installation £200 by a local plumber. Its brilliant. Absolutely no scale whatsoever now. Had a separate drinking tap installed at the same time although I find myself using the softened water for drinking, kettles etc. I actually think it tastes better but then I'm originally from Scotland and so am used to soft water. The missus can't stand the taste of it so uses the hard tap. You could probably get away without a hard water line to the fridge freezer and have it run off the softened supply if its only for ice etc. I did quite a bit of research on this before i bought it (there is a massive thread on the money saving expert forums) but the general consensus seems to be that the softeners from the big suppliers such as harveys etc are massively over priced. They all do the same job as its essentially a fairly simple chemical process. The big companies try and bamboozle you with marketing but its mostly nonsense to try and justify the £2-3k they will try and charge you for one! If you are paying much more than about £500 for the softener then you are probably getting over charged. No noticeable change in water pressure here (we have a combi boiler) which is good as it is one of the things I was worried about.
 
We have Harvey's softener set up, but only the garden taps are no hooked up (softed water is not as good for plants) and have happily been drinking softened water all year.
 
We’ve tried these in our line of work (commercial kitchens) and I don’t think much of them to be honest. The better option has always been an in-line filter, like this - or a full on water softener.
 
If you want soft water, then a water softener is the only way to go.

If you want to reduce limescale, and believe the inline filter marketing (i.e. the magnetic field is able to extend along the pipes like an antena and it incourages a linear crystal rather than a broad crystal of the carbonate to precipitate) then go for it.

But appreciate one is for removing the thing that causes the limescale and the other is claimed to alter the shape of the limescale.
 
samcat said:
Inline scale reducers (electrolytic) are very inexpensive, screwfix sell from for £26 for 15mm and £36 for 22mm...

https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-electrolytic-compression-connection-scale-inhibitor-15mm/1436f

Got to be worth a punt at that price..
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Oh thanks, never though to check screwfix.
Ideally i want one that goes on the outside for now, but they have one of them as well.
probably worth a punt, have approx 3 months before we do the kitchen so should either notice a diff in that time or be able to rule it out.

Found out our water is very hard, from the scale its ultra hard really, its over twice the minimum level to class as very hard so anything is going to get a bit of a workout.
 
Been having a look around, think I am just going to bit the bullet and go for a softener.
This I found quite useful

QUESTIONS TO ASK…
1. Do you want to eradicate scum and have clear washing water that lathers easily and washes away cleanly?
2. Do you want water that feels soft and silky on your skin without bath oils or bubble baths?
3. Do you want to eradicate unsightly tidemarks round the bath?
4. Do you want to reduce the time it takes to clean the bath/basins/showers and sinks?
5. Do you want to realise savings of more than 50% on soaps, detergents and shampoos?
6. Do you want to make your hair soft and silky and easy to manage without the aid of expensive shampoos?
7. Do you want to improve the efficiency of your pipes and heating system and extend the life of your domestic appliances by removing all the scale build up in your system?
8. Do you want to make your laundry brighter and your glasses and dishes sparkle?
9. Do you want to make car washing easier, with the minimum streaking and spotting?
10. Do you want a low-cost way of preventing more scale build up in your pipes and hot water system and nothing else?

If the answer to any of these questions from 1-9 is yes, and the answer to question 10 is no, you need an ion-exchange water softener. If the answer to all the questions 1-9 is no and the answer to question 10 is yes, you need a scale inhibitor.
 
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