Kevin asked:

Is there any merit to this product; http://www.carefree.com.au/how-it-works.aspx ? It looks from their real world testing that it is effective…

The Water Doctor Responded:

I went to their website and here is what they say:

“By applying a simple, yet totally natural water treatment process, the Care-Free Water Conditioner helps neutralize the adverse effects of many of the undesirable substances in your water supply.

The Care-Free Water Conditioner is an in-line catalytic water treatment system. It operates by a combination of the following:

1. Turbulence of the water through a specially designed catalytic chamber.

2. By the creation of a small electrical field around the chamber casing.

This combination causes a separation of the mineral particles in the water, which changes their behaviour.

Particles, which were previously attracted to each other now repel and separate into smaller individual particles. This allows the “separated” mineral particles and salts to flow through the system with minimal interference.

Corrosive gases are released during conditioning and move through the water as harmless bubbles. They are expelled into the atmosphere when water leaves the tap.

To put it simply, the Care-Free Conditioner eliminates the cohesion that exists between the mineral particles in the water.

This is clearly seen in the before and after photos.

These photos reveal mineral particles precipitated from “the same water sample” with a reading of 750mg/l hardness.

Note how the particles are bound together before Care-Free treatment and “separated” after treatment.

You can compare this reduction in micron size from the size of your fist to the size of your fingernail.”

Vibrations, energy fields, and vortexes are stock-in-trade in the snake-oil business, owing probably to the fact that in the ill-defined contexts in which they typically appear, they are basically meaningless but convey enough mystery to appeal to the credulous public.  I won’t waste much time on this one, because none of that nonsense makes any sense.