GE Merlin: Fact of Fiction?
One of the most popular products in the water treatment business is the GE Merlin 700 Gallon Per Day Reverse Osmosis System.  It delivers nearly a half gallon a minute under ideal conditions.  Consumers hear that it is “tankless” and assume it is better than other “tank-type” RO’s and is the latest and greatest in [...]

Easy Water or Sleazy Water?
A few days ago, I had a customer call me who said “Why did you install a salt-based water softener in my house?  There is a technician here from A Plumbing Company who says that’s the old-fashioned way and that I should soften it the new way with ‘Easy Water.’” I don’t respond well to situations [...]

Who Do We Believe?
Personally, I believe that calling these products "softeners" brands the seller as a charlatan because they do not in fact, soften the water. An argument can be made that they "condition" the water, but that is also deceptive in my opinion. Most people who have hard water use the words "softener" and "conditioner" interchangeably.

Salt-Free Water Treatment is “Caveat Emptor” (Let The Buyer Beware)!
Salt-Free Water Softener.  Salt-Free Water Conditioner.  There are several companies selling their products on the Internet who call their salt-free water treatment systems “water softeners” or “water conditioners.”  In a previous post, I discussed how using the terms “softener” or “conditioner” are inherently misleading at the least, and deliberately deceptive at the worst.  To my [...]

Misleading Statements, Falsehoods and Deception: Salt-Free Water Treatment Systems
By Mark S. Timmons, CWS-VI, CI, CSR – aka/”The Water Doctor” For the past several months, I have been troubled by the way salt-free water treatment systems have been marketed by manufacturers and their dealers.  After considerable thought, what I am about to write should be welcomed by the  ”legitimate” ethical manufacturers and dealers, but may cause [...]

Update On No-Salt Water Softeners
Some companies are selling their products the right way (explaining how it works and not engaging in hyperbole), while others are not so "above-board" in their tactics. I would encourage anyone who is looking to go "salt-free" to think about whether the company they are considering is really a "water treatment company" or just a company that is interested in selling a salt-free product and little else.

Do Salt-Free Water Softeners Really Work?
I talk to many people each day, inside and outside the water industry,  and the claims by many companies who are trying to sell salt-free, saltless or no-salt (call them what you will) are really confusing.  Many are also not rooted in fact.  I try to keep an open mind and I am receptive to [...]

How do you remove rust (iron) from your water?
A WATER SOFTENER CAN REDUCE IRON TO BELOW THE THRESHOLD OF STAINING, BUT IT CAN NOT TOTALLY REMOVE IT! Under some circumstances, a water softener will work for a while, but the resin bed will gradually become fouled with iron over months or years, decreasing it’s efficiency at removing the iron. To totally remove iron, [...]

Will an icemaker work with RO water?
First of all, you can make ice cubes from water produced by reverse osmosis systems. In fact, ice made from reverse osmosis (”RO”) water produces cleaner, clearer and better tasting ice cubes because most of the contaminants are removed from the water. So, just because water is purified by a certain process, (in this case, [...]

What is the best drinking water system?
There is no “BEST” filter or system, but there are several questions you should ask yourself to determine which type of system is best for you. There are also some questions you should ask if someone is trying to sell you a water treatment system. First of all you need to determine why you want [...]