You may see a number of advertisements for "magnetic water softeners" or Maintenance FREE water softeners. They just plain don't work as implied by most of these sites, in our opinion. Some refer to ANCIENT government articles that no longer apply. They rarely seem to put the date it was written on the site. Most articles referred that we have seen are over 30 years old! Remember if a government article was written over a year ago it is probably out of date. If it were written 20-30 years ago it is obsolete. The entire industry has made great advancements since those times. Don't fall for gimmicks and "slick willy" miracle promises. Magnets just plain don't work well! Certainly not as well as even the cheapest and most low quality conventional water softeners! We haven't seen one yet that makes any noticeable difference at all.

Some sites go so far as to say that magnets have been used in government and military applications for many years. What they failed to mention is is that those magnets "were" used entirely to keep scale buildup from the incoming pipes. That is pretty much all that they do. They are not residential houses. They are primarily cooling water treatment, boiler water treatment and heating surface applications. They were designed for a time when there were no alternatives, mainly in wartime on ships without accommodations for conventional methods from what we have read. They had to "make do" with what they had. That is not the case in residential applications in the United States today. If you have any current and pertinent information or proof to the contrary we strongly encourage you to share that with us.

Every single test we have done behind magnets shows virtually no change in the hardness content or in the total dissolved solids levels. Some customers say that they notice a slight difference in the water, but that everything else seems the same. Skin is still dry and the suds just doesn't lather like it does with a real water softener that actually softens the water. Out of all the customers who have contacted us about these units, we have never seen a single one that claims to have gotten the water to 0 hardness. Period! We have never seen one that has even cut it in half. They just plain don't work well. Don't be fooled by gimmicks and slick wording. ALL of our water softeners are capable of 0 hardness in most residential applications! They reduce the amount of energy it takes to heat the water as well, resulting in lower heating bills. Magnets don't.

We feel that the reason for some minor change in the water pipes could be that there is an ionic response in the pipes immediately after the magnets regarding the calcium's (or mineral hardness) ability to stick to the pipe. However, anytime the pipe "tees" off or splits, the effect, if any, seems diminished. It seems that most of the calcium, or mineral hardness that doesn't stick to the pipe initially is usually caught in the nearest reservoir such as a hot water heater or the toilets. Some magnet makers reinforce this theory by admitting you need many different magnets throughout the dwelling. Namely: after the hot water heaters and other appliances. Most of these companies don't seem to tell you that. What NONE of them seem tell you is that you will NEVER get to "zero hardness" as you will with just about any "real" water softener. If you do see any that claim to give you zero hardness we would greatly appreciate you letting us know who they are and where they are. Just like we would like to hear your comments if you have used these products and are in no way associated with one of these companies.

The additional hardness and minerals that collect in the hot water heater actually can increase the amount of solids in the hot water heater, plus causing the water to be far more difficult to heat. It's like actually heating through a brick before you heat the water. It can make your energy costs significantly higher.

We get the most complaints on these magnets on city water. They say they don't work well at all. Well water users say they sometimes notice a slight difference but always seem to admit that it might be because they want it to work so desperately. If magnets truly worked we would offer them on this site. Think about it. Keep in mind we are just saying what ordinary people have told us. Please feel free to contact these companies and ask them yourself.

TOP 10 Complaints on Magnets, Alloys, Electronic gizmos, GMX, Nano Technology, Beotron, SWC and other gimmicks:

(1)  They never work when iron is present.

(2)  Low pH water seems to retard any benefits.

(3)  Virtually no difference on city water.

(4)  No difference on chlorinated water of any type.

(5)  Skin is very itchy with the magnets on the water line especially with water that has chlorine, chloramines or chemicals.

(6)  Energy bills do not decrease the way they do with conventional water softening methods. Hardness makes the water heavier and harder to heat.

(7)  Inaccurate information on the site that sold it to me.

(8)  Won't give me my money back unless I take them to court.

(9)  Didn't work in water with sediment.

(10) Doesn't work on water that contains sulfur, iron or manganese.

MOST complaints by brand name:

#1: CLEARWAVE

#2: GMX

Others that don't seem to work well: 

GMX Clearwater

Clearwave

Magnapak

Never scale

Magnawrap

PLEASE NOTE:

We were recently threatened by a company that sells magnets. They are trying to "bully" us into taking this page down. Of course their attorney does not return our calls and they REFUSE to let us test their equipment. Our position is simply this: If you have a magnet that makes the water soft you are welcome to prove it by sending us one. We will take it to a reputable independent testing agency such as Microbac Laboratories and have them test it. If it truly does make the water soft we will be happy to retract some of our statements here. WE have never seen a magnet that works. We have tested a number of them. Short of giving us the ability to have it independently tested we have no way to know if it works. It is every American's free speech right to state their opinion. Our opinion is, and will be until PROVEN otherwise, that we have never seen a magnet that truly softens water. Anything short of letting us test their equipment makes their complaints frivolous in our opinion. 

Magnets/ Maintenance free units just plain don't work in our opinion when compared to real water softeners!

If you just have to try them we would recommend one of the really cheap ones!

We know you were alive yesterday, we just hope you weren't born yesterday.

More information:

WARNING: When it comes to treatment equipment you should NEVER do business with ANY company who does not have the same certifications as we do. It is just plain crazy. There are so many "Fly by night" companies out there that it should be the very FIRST rule in your decision making process. It is your first, and some times ONLY, line of defense. Just look at our home page to see our many appropriate certifications. You will find them all in the top third of the page.

Budget Water® USA:  1.800.701.9914  email: budgetwater@budgetwater.com  

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Budget Water International, Inc. is not affiliated with Culligan®, Inc., RainSoft® Water Conditioning Co., Kinetico® Incorporated, Wm. R. Hague®, Inc., Cuno® Incorporated, Rayne® Corporation, or Ecodyne Corporation. Budgetwater® is a trademark of Budget Water International, Inc. This site is protected by copyright and trademark laws under U.S. law. All rights reserved.

We carry water treatment equipment and water filter sizes ranging to 1,200,000 grain water softeners and water conditioners, as well as virtually every other type of water treatment system or water filter available for city water or private well water systems. Larger commercial water treatment systems are available too. If it exists and it works, we have the finest water treatment technology. We build every unit we sell to order, from scratch. Unlike most other in-home and online companies who have them in a warehouse collecting dust and going out of date sometime for years at a time. Every unit we sell is made from the very latest, up to date, state of the art technology. We are the industry leaders for analyzing and recommending the following water filtration systems: Water softeners, iron filters, sulfur filter systems, acid neutralizers, manganese filtration filters, bacteria removal, tannin removal, smell and odor treatment systems, water conditioners, rust filters and virtually all types of well water treatment and purification systems. If it exists and it works we have it or can build it. Premium Quality Equipment at Budget Prices, 7 days a week Budget Water® USA.

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*We manufacture most of our equipment from scratch. We use only premium national name brand components on all equipment that we sell. The same people that make equipment for many other national PREMIUM brand companies make them for us as well. Three of the top control valve makers are Fleck, Autotrol and Clack; we carry all three types and many of the other top brands as well.

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