The application of magnetic treatment to water has a long history, and has been used mostly to remove and control scale deposition (Donaldson, 1988; Baker and Judd, 1995). Calcium carbonate scale is estimated to cost industry around £ 1 billion per year (Darvill, 1993).

The benefits of magnetic water treatment are claimed to include energy and water savings along with a range of benefits which prolong the life of the system’s component parts and hence the life of the system itself. Magnetic treatment has been shown to stabilize pH, eliminate corrosion, reduce downtime, maintenance and cleaning costs and bacteria and remove the risks associated with the handling of chemical detergents such as sodium hypochlorite used in swimming pool water treatment (Ifill, 1994).

Magnetic treatment has been successful in a range of systems including industrial heat exchangers, cooling towers, water treatment plants and household use (Baker and Judd, 1995), and may prove useful to the leisure industry in reducing the heating and disinfecting expenses involved in managing swimming pools. In addition to this physical water treatment is more environmentally acceptable,Green Technology, than the use of strong oxidizing chemicals

Problems Caused by Hard Water

Calcite, the main cause of scale, is the most common form of calcium carbonate and occurs naturally as a natural ingredient of chalk, limestone and marble. Water passing over and permeating through such rocks dissolves calcite when this water subsequently flows through a water system the calcite precipitates out to form a very hard scale on surfaces.

When hard water is heated, or evaporation takes place, the problems are exacerbated. Calcite forms ever growing layers of rock-like deposits until eventually pipes, jets and equipment become totally blocked.

The problem increases as the water gets hotter. Water containing 145 ppm of calcite, flowing at 3.5 litres per minute, produces in one year 4.8 kilograms of scale at 60ºC. At 80ºC this rises dramatically to a massive 29.9 kilograms!

Scale wastes both energy and financial resources just one eighth of an inch of scale reduces heating efficiency by 25%. It is also very expensive to remove, de-scaling pipes and boilers alone costs British Industry over £800M each year.