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July 2008 Archives

July 28, 2008

Anthony's Electrode Replacement

I like my Ecosmarte System, but the titanium electrodes don't last forever. One of my titanium electrodes has dissolved away after 7 years of use. I'm also going to need to replace my copper electrodes for the 2nd time at the end of summer.

Thanks for letting us know you like your system, Anthony! I would love to hear more from the happy people!

As far as replacing your copper electrodes, sounds like you are right on schedule - they should last you 3 - 5 years.

I called corporate and asked the guys about the titanium electrodes. They have had this experience only twice before in all the years of ECOsmarte (14 or so). Guess you are number 3 (in over 10,000 systems). Once was a system where part of each day the water was not flowing through the chamber but the oxygen electrodes were "on" - getting power and producing oxidation. This will actually create a bubble of oxygen and strong oxidation action which can indeed, over many years, erode away the titanium.

The other possibility is cleaning your chamber often with straight muriatic acid instead of 1 part acid and 3 parts water - this will eventually eat away at the electrodes as well. I'm thinking that if it's only one of the electrodes - that theory wouldn't hold up.

Thanks for visiting the blog!

July 14, 2008

Pam wants to know about Lead, Iron, Sulfur and Hard Water

We are moving to a home with ‎very high lead and iron levels as well as very hard water. I am looking for a water filtration/softener system that does not use salt, but I don't want to read reviews on a company website. I think it will be biased. I am not having much luck locating a site that has a lot of good information. For the water filtration system, I am only finding filters that deal with iron. I need one that deals with lead as well. Would the same filter work for both. Our water also has a high sulfur content as it smells like rotten eggs. What are your suggestions?

Thanks,
Pam

Lead, Lead, Lead....Okay – prepare yourself for lots of information.
Lead removal is not simple. The only surefire ways to completely remove lead are reverse osmosis or distillation, and another method I came across in my research which I am not very familiar with called “activated alumina”. If your lead levels are already above the action level of 15 micrograms, you may need one of these options just for drinking, no matter what you decide for the rest of your home. Reverse Osmosis will also remove the iron, but is normally a point of use application (under the kitchen sink) as opposed to whole house filtration. Distillation has a very limited output. From what I have been able to find out about the activated alumina, it will remove lead, arsenic and (yay) fluoride, but does not do anything to remove any other contaminants, specifically chlorine or disinfection by-products....

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