How it works

Description of Scalewatcher™ ENiGMA

Scalewatcher™ ENiGMA is an electronic descaler that is applied externally to the pipework or water treatment installation. Treatment is applied simply by wrapping a signal cable around the outside of a pipe to form a coil. A range of units is available to cover pipe sizes from 8 mm to 1250 mm. No cutting into the pipework or additional plumbing is required.

How Scalewatcher Enigma works

To understand how Scalewatcher™ ENiGMA works it is necessary to have a basic understanding of why scale forms in water systems in the first place.

Rain absorbs carbon dioxide as it falls to earth and percolates through the ground. The resulting acidity of the water causes normally insoluble carbonate limestone to dissolve into a bicarbonate. Thus calcium becomes part of the water chemistry, and cannot be removed by simple filtration.

Calcium from untreated water	Calcium from treated water
Magnification x1500 (Courtesy of the University of Portsmouth

When subsequently heated, the hard water releases the carbon dioxide reverting the calcium back to its carbonate state by precipitating hard, ionically charged crystals. These are immediately attracted to the closest surface exhibiting an opposite ionic charge, usually the pipe wall, heater element etc. Crystals thus form together to produce scale deposits.

Using modern microprocessors and signal processing techniques, the Scalewatcher™ ENiGMA produces a complex, modulating frequency waveform, which in terms of magnetic strength is insignificant. When this is applied to the water, the energy induced in the water is sufficient to cause the premature precipitation of the calcium. Because precipitation occurs in the bulk of the water, the crystals seed on to other naturally occurring ions in the water, such as zinc, copper, iron etc. Their size and shape bear no physical resemblance to those formed in untreated water and they remain in suspension until discharged to drain.

This process naturally results in an increase in solubility, which allows the now unsaturated water to dissolve existing scale and remove it from the water system. Even deposits on the outside of the water system, on bathroom fittings for example, will soften with regular contact with the treated water resulting in easier cleaning without the use of chemicals.

The key to effectively making use of this process lies in understanding not only the process itself but what prevents it happening and what causes the water to revert back to its previous condition.

It is this understanding and many years practical experience that have enabled ETC to master fully this exciting new technology. ETC was the first company in the world to demonstrate publicly a change in treated hard water; to date nobody else has managed to even measure a chemical change after treatment.