Author Archive

My Water Looks Cloudy!

“The water coming from my ionizer looks cloudy! Why?”

This is a common question at Ionways and it has an easy answer!  Water from an ionizer can look cloudy for a few reasons, but with Ionways ionizers it’s usually just one – alkalinity. Also called turbidity, this cloudiness is caused by fine particles of calcium and magnesium suspended in the water. These particulates are drawn from the existing calcium and magnesium in your source water and added to your healthy stream of alkaline, ionized water. This condensing of alkaline minerals in your drinking water is supremely beneficial to your health!  It’s a permanent alteration and, even though the heavier-than-water, alkaline minerals will sometimes settle to the bottom, they will not dissipate with time.

Turbidity can also be caused by tiny pockets of air bubbles created during the process of ionization. These come from separating the acidic water from the alkaline and the micro-clustering that takes place. The air bubbles fill in the negative spaces in some source water but are not always present. This depends primarily on the amount of dissolved oxygen in the source water.  These little pockets of air are harmless and will usually go away after several minutes of letting the water sit.  In short, if your water looks cloudy, rest easy – it means your ionizer is working great!

However, if your water looks unusually cloudy after ionization or you see a white film at the bottom of a glass because the water has completely evaporated, you should obtain a water report and find out if there are hard water concerns that need addressing. Once you obtain your report, please feel free to contact IonWays with any questions you may have and one of our wonderful Technical Service Reps will be happy to help you at www.IonYouth.com!

Source: IonWays Flow: Vol. 2, Issue 24

Help, I ran HOT water through my ionizer

The electricity produced by an ionizer always generates a certain amount of heat.   In order to cool down its internal, electrical components, IonWays ionizers must have cold source water to use as a coolant.  Of course, no one ever intends to run scalding, hot water through their water ionizer – but it can happen.

Fortunately, Ionways ionizers are designed with a hot water sensor, which works
like the temperature gauge in your car – if the engine gets too hot, the temperature gauge goes up and it’s time to pull over and let your engine cool
down.

Just as the dashboard on your car alarms you when your engine is overheating, the hot water sensor installed in your ionizer will alarm you with bells and flashing lights if its source water is hotter than 86°F. This is your warning that damage to your ionizer is about to occur.  If this happens with your Athena or Isis model ionizer, you can save your unit from a trip to the repair shop by following the process outlined below.

Start by turning off the source water. Then, power down the unit by turning off the main power switch located on the back of your machine. After getting your source water as cold as it can be, open the flow control valve on the front of your unit as far as possible. While keeping the power off, let the cold water pass through your ionizer.

IonWays’ under-sink model, the Delphi, is installed directly to a cold water line. If the hot water sensor sends off an alarm, the water was made hot by plumbing exposed to high, atmospheric temperature. In this situation, you should switch the ionizer to the purified water setting and let the water pass through. After just a few moments, the tap water will get colder. Usually, water in household plumbing will only heat up if it sits and has time to collect heat. Switching your
ionizer to the purified setting will not put electricity to the cell, preventing more heat from accumulating.

In all cases, you should run the coldest possible tap water through the ionizer’s system for several minutes.  Once this is done, the unit should be allowed to rest for at least a few hours. This will give it time to cool down completely and is the best way to prevent sending it in for repairs. If, after following the outlined procedure, the lights continue to flash, it will be necessary to contact Technical Services at Ionways and begin the process for repair.

Source: IonWays Flow Vol:2, Issue 21

IonWays Warranty Explained

I want to thank, Jay Hare, the President of IonWays, LLC to explain this in detail and he is the author of the following information.  So you are getting it directly from the top.

Respectfully,

Brad

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IonWays feels extremely strong about the quality of its products and the level of service and support that we provide to our distributors and customers on a daily basis.

We back up our products with industry leading warranties and service. Even so, I think it is extremely important to keep the warranty issue clearly in perspective.

The warranty we offer exceeds all other warranties for similarly priced electronic products – by a wide margin. Our warranty has proven to be a great selling feature!

Also, bear in mind that we are warranting a product that breaks a cardinal rule of electronics in that we run water through our product! Lastly, it is most important to understand the varying nature of local water sources and their effects on water ionizers. We are clear in our intent to educate about this issue – and have been since day one – as evidenced on our website. See Water Quality, Filtration and Well Water. 

There is not a single other ionizer company or website to my current knowledge that is as up-front about these issues.

IonWays has always prided itself in offering the most complete lineup of pre-filtration products to help protect our customer’s investment. We even offer free expert advice from our technical staff to help solve any water quality issues. Our competitors do not offer as complete a lineup of options and certainly do not make any attempt to offer education or treatment options before making a sale. I feel our pre-filtration products and expert advice are clearly another great selling feature and a way for you to offer superior service and products to your customers.

The first link offers very specific information about water quality requirements, especially as related to hard water. This specific information is clearly reflected in our warranty cards that are included in each ionizer. Simply put, our warranty excludes certain things – as any warranty does. These exclusions include factors that are outside the intended operating parameters of the ionizer as well as things outside of IonWays‘ control. Specifically the warranty excludes:

 ”…failures which result from accident, misuse, abuse, neglect, mishandling, faulty installation, misapplication, improper insertion of consumables, set-up adjustments, maladjustment of consumer controls, improper operation or maintenance, alteration, modification, power line surge, improper voltage supply, commercial use, or service by anyone other than anIonWays authorized repair facility, or damage attributable to acts of God.”

And

 “The warrantor is not responsible for incidental or consequential damage; for damages arising out of the use of any unauthorized attachment; or for damages resulting from the use of the product with a defective water faucet. This warranty does not cover repairs caused by customer neglect or by failure to stop mineral buildup such as calcium in hard water areas.”

All ionizers are susceptible to scaling damage. As we have always stated, IonWays DARC and MARC cleaning systems are, in fact, superior in keeping the plates or electrodes scale free (yet another extremely strong selling benefit and why I believe our ionizers consistently out perform the competition in side-by-side testing).  However, these cleaning systems do not clean the hoses, valves, the drinking spout or other non-water cell parts. In hard water or high mineral areas, these parts will build scale and eventually, in some, may cause unit failure of some type.

These types of failures are environmental in nature and cause and are NOT manufacturing defects. They are expressly not covered under the warranty.   

The following are IonWays’ pre-treatment recommendations when it comes to hardness/TDS levels in your water:
 
100 – 180 ppm, TDS or CaCO3  -  Mark II EOS Device or Spartan Hard Water Package, depending on concentrations of other contaminants

180 – 350 ppm, TDS or CaCO3  – Spartan Hard Water Package 
350 and above, TDS or CaCO3  – IonWays RO

IonWays Technical Support has WQA Certified Water Experts on staff and is always happy to assist you to protect your ionizer with appropriate pre-filtration. Should at any stage the flow rate through your ionizer slows down then IonWays strongly recommends that you flush your unit with the white vinegar solution. 

There are a few additional things regarding environmental damage we would like to clear up:

1. An apparent misunderstanding has evolved around the first time a unit experiences hard water damage. To be clear, there is no policy that “the first repair is on IonWays.” If you were told that by anyone, they were misinformed and we sincerely apologize. All environmental damage issues (first or otherwise) are the customer’s responsibility.
2. The cap of $199 that is stated on each warranty card (and on the Warranty Page here) is for repairs covered under the warranty. Repairs due to misuse/abuse and or environmental damage (as shown above) are NOT covered by this cap. The customer bears the full cost of repair in these cases.

To help, we are making an “ionizer upgrade” option available to customers whose repair costs exceed $250. This program offers customers two valuable things: 1) the chance to get an entirely new ionizer (rather than a repaired one) for about the same amount they would spend on repairs and 2) receive free, expert advice on pre-treating their water so they can safely enjoy ionized water without damaging their new unit.

I hope this helps you understand the warranty issue more clearly and how IonWays is committed to helping people get real solutions, real support and real results from their ionizer experience.

Jay Hare

President

IonWays, LLC

Remove contaminents from your water

Source: IonWays Flow Vol.2, Issue 2

IonWays is happy to announce the New and Improved BioStone Plus  – the finest ionizer filter on the market today and the only one capable of addressing chloramines! Three cutting-edge improvements to the BioStone Plus now provide the following benefits:

Protects against damaging mineral buildup

1. Anti-scaling -It’s a fact that mineral buildup (scaling) will damage any ionizer – especially in hard water areas. The new BioStone Plus is the first internal ionizer filter to help prevent the damaging effect of hard water scale build-up inside your ionizer before it occurs. This new media is extracted from all natural sources and has also been documented as having antioxidant and detoxifying effects. The new BioStone Plus also helps to improve the chalky taste of hard water minerals.  

Superior Filtration removes more contaminants more effectively

2. Centaur Carbon Block Technology – Standard granulated, activated carbon contains “negative” space that allows water to pass through without actually coming in contact with the media. Solid block technology forces your water to pass through a solid “wall” of carbon causing every last water molecule to come in contact with the media. The new BioStone Plus employs the superior Centaur grade carbon and solid-block technology – both industry firsts! Centaur Carbon Block offers you:   

• 150 times more surface area than granulated activated carbon
• 20 times more adsorption capacity than granulated activated carbon.
• 10 times faster adsorption rate than granulated activated carbon.

Our Centaur Block offers you superior performance in the removal of common contaminants such as chlorine and chloramines, VOCs, pesticides, radon, trihalomethanes, suspended solids, etc.

3. Cutting edge KDF Technology – The New and Improved BioStone Plus employs a new, cutting-edge, KDF technology that offers you many benefits, including increased contact time for better contaminant removal, increased flow rates, and a greener manufacturing process that produces less waste. This new and improved form of KDF offers superior reduction of chlorine and chloramines, the majority of heavy metals (such as iron, mercury, and lead), plus manganese and hydrogen sulfides.

Vortex Technology -The body of the new BioStone Plus still incorporates the amazing, natural properties of vortex hydraulics, ensuring optimal performance and longevity of your filter. The new BioStone Plus is designed to synchronize with all of our existing ionizer filter counters.

Our vortex design coupled with the new anti-scaling and improved filtration media offers you even more peace of mind around the water challenges we face today - all at the same great price!

100% NSF certified components.                                                    100% Made in the USA

Japan, Radiation, Water, and Ionizers

I’d like to preface this post to anyone reading this that it is important for a company to communicate with their representatives and customers about how world events are effecting business and concerns of customers.  Even though this is sent by Jay Hare, President of IonWays, to the Associates, it’s just as important to you who are looking for water systems, filtration, and understand that the company does have your best interest at heart.  

That is why I deeply respect Jay as a person and his leadership with IonWays and the commitment to excellence in the water ionization business. 

Respectfully,

Brad Hamilton

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From the Desk of Jay Hare – President of IonWays, LLC.

Dear IonWays Associates,

In the wake of the recent and ongoing tragedy in Japan, we have received many questions covering a range of topics from radiation and drinking water to the Emco Tech plant in Japan.

First and foremost, I would like to state that IonWays’ collective heart goes out to the entire nation of Japan and specifically the employees and families of Emco Tech’s Japanese R&D and Manufacturing division. We wish Emco Tech Japan and the entire Japanese community all the best for a speedy and complete recovery.

The Emco Tech Japanese plant sustained some very minor damage. As a result, the production line was closed for a short time to ensure the safety of the employees and inspect the integrity of the plant. Inspection results were positive and the line has resumed production. There was no shortage or interruption of supply, and production has not been impacted in any way. The Emco Plant is an environmentally controlled “clean room” atmosphere as required for its specific manufacturing processes. It is located many hundreds of miles south of Tokyo which is in turn a few hundred miles south of the fallout issue. Given the Emco Tech controlled environment, their testing precautions and proximity, they have assured us there is no danger inherent in any Emco Tech product – regardless of its origin.

We have received numerous questions regarding the potential radiation issue. As always, with anything health related, IonWays makes no claims, nor any definitive or absolute statements.  We encourage each of you to perform your own research, weigh your findings and reach conclusions consistent with your own conscience. That being said, we have researched the US government sites as well as alternate sources and below are the highlights of what we found.

Short of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) guidelines for maximum contamination levels (MCLs), we found nothing else that established or even proposed safe levels of radiation as it relates to drinking water. The main page on the EPA site for contaminants is:http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfm.   

On this page, you can find the MCL for Radionuclides. Once there, you can click the individual links for each type. Here, you will find that ion exchange and Reverse Osmosis are preferred treatment methods. An additional link also shows that RO is 99% effective:  http://cfpub.epa.gov/safewater/radionuclides /radionuclides.cfm?action=Rad_Reverse%20Osmosis   

So, should you choose to follow the EPA guidelines, the IonWays RO system is an excellent choice to treat this contaminant.

The EPA has put up a specific series of pages relating to the potential risk from the Japanese disaster:  http://epa.gov/radiation/index.html. The US EPA has tripled their radiation monitoring both here and in Japan. Here is an interactive link to watch your area’s daily radiation monitoring:  http://epa.gov/radiation/rert/radnet-data-map.html. A good link to help understand the dosage issue is  http://epa.gov/radiation/understand/perspective.html.  The Centers for Disease Control also had a plethora of information – much of it borrowed form the EPA site.

Further research outside the realm of the EPA/CDC found that there is much information both on the threat level and alternate treatment/protective measures available. Specifically, we found numerous articles that cited low levels of radiation (1,000′s of times lower than the EPA MCL) that were showing in some US cities’ testing facilities. We found many sites that claimed to offer protective and/or treatment measures and suggestions. However, we found precious little in the way of specific science backing any of these up. In weighing them against the already known science about water, we found the alternatives to be lacking clear-cut and/or well presented supporting theory and science. That is not to say they are not credible or to be believed – science has certainly never proved to be 100% accurate. There are simply things that science doesn’t know or understand yet.

Some simple forms of radiation can be treated with GAC or AAL. This is why we are seeing some companies make claims about radiation removal. The reality is that most of these types of radiation are the same that we all get every day from nature, such as sunlight and  naturally occurring minerals,  etc.  These account for about 80% of our average radiation exposure, the other 20% comes from man-made products such as TVs and microwaves, medical imaging, etc., and of course the potential fallout.

Many of the more specific treatments require different methods to remove and reduce radionuclides. According to our research, some forms of radiation require systems that treat in up to five different ways. Some of these methods are really geared for industrial treatment and require much more than would be reasonable or feasible in a residential situation. So, it appears that if you choose not to accept the EPA information, there is clearly not a single clear-cut or scientifically backed answer to radiation concerns.

As previously stated, RO is the best option for the most complete removal. That being stated, all IonWays ionizers employ media that help with certain and specific types of radiation. For example all of our filtration systems utilize centaur, which is the one of the highest grades of carbon available in our industry. Carbon is an effective filter media for Radon. Inside of the elita, Naia, and Spartan systems we also utilize AAL, which has been proven very effective at the reduction of uranium. The AAL configurations in our products are designed for optimal results paying particular attention to optimal hydraulics in the water flow and proper flow rates. Fast flow rates decrease the effectiveness dramatically. The Naia and ?lita also employ carbon block, which offers increased capability through the increase in surface area.

If further information or treatment options become available, rest assured that we will disseminate as soon as possible. Once again and in closing, we encourage each of you to do your own research and make decisions that you feel optimal and congruent with your own beliefs.

Should you have any further questions, please use the Contact Admin tool in your back office. 

 President

IonWays