Do electronic water softeners work

Answer 1

No one has been able to prove that electronic or electromagnetic water conditioning devices have any effect at all. In 1996, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory tested one of these devices and found that it had no measurable effect on the dissolved minerals in the water supply and no practical effect in reducing the rate of calcium carbonate deposition downstream (link attached). In 2001, the US Army Corps of Engineers' Construction Engineering Research Laboratory performed a controlled test of three different types and found no effect on the rate of scale deposition or on the corrosion of copper (link attached).

None of the promoters of these devices are able to provide any description of how these things work which is not pseudo-scientific gibberish. There is also no known physical theory by which they could work. None of the electro-magnetic water conditioners (some promoters don't call them water softeners, because they obviously cannot actually remove any dissolved minerals from the water) have any NSF or WQA certifications. In the absence of scientific theory or evidence, the promoters of these devices rely heavily on testimonials to support their marketing.

The lack of any scientific explanation of the principle of operation, the fact that the promoters rely on pseudo-scientific double-talk to explain their products, the lack of any independent certification of the products, and the fact that they consistently fail to produce the claimed benefits in controlled studies, all strongly suggest that this technology is nothing but "snake oil".