Cut Through the Jargon & Hype… Water ionizer buyer’s guide – Answers You Need
At Air Water Life we understand our customers concerns about making a confident and informed decision on which water ionizer unit to purchase.
Even if you don’t purchase from us these questions will help you make the right water ionizer choice for you and your family!
IS THE WATER IONIZER A COUNTER-TOP OR UNDER-SINK IONIZER?
Answer & Advice: The majority of water ionizers are counter-top models which sit next to the sink. This is a great option however you may consider an under-sink kit. An under sink kit provides valuable counter space and easily installs everything under the sink. Many companies charge up too $2,500 for an under sink ionizer. However a more affordable option is to simply purchase our Under-Sink Water Ionizer for only $970 . Click Here
HOW MANY PLATES DO I NEED?
Answer & Advice: Leading water ionizer brands typically have 5 or 7 plates. 7 plate ionizers tend to perform better on all performance measures, a bigger pH and ORP range. Some 5 plate ionizer can reach 10 pH but most of them use chemicals. So if you want the chemical free high 11 pH and the low -840 ORP you should look for 7 plates.
WHAT TYPE OF PLATES?
Answer & Advice:The plates in a quality water ionizer are made from %100 titanium and coated in platinum. Titanium is used because of the durability and safety it offers. Titanium is also used by doctors for many joint replacement surgeries because it does not “leach” into the body. Platinum is used as a coating to naturally increase the titanium’s conductivity, “how easily electricity can flow”. For your safety please make sure your ionizer uses certified titanium, like our Aqua Ionizer Deluxe 7.0 that uses ETL certified titanium.
Solid vs Mesh- Solid pates are just that, a solid piece of metal, hopefully titanium. Great for a long life and erosion resistant. Mesh or slotted plates look more like a screen door. They have more surface area which can help increase the pH but no where near as strong as a solid plate. Think about comparing a solid metal door to a screen door, what will last longer?
Dipped vs Sprayed-Both are good in their own ways. For “dipped” plates, they dip the plates into a pool of platinum and then let the extra platinum dry and get collected back into the pool. “Sprayed” or electroplated, spray the platinum onto the surface of the plates.
Think about painting a model car, “dipped” would be dropping the car into a big bowl of paint where as “sprayed” would be like painting with an air brush.
Dipped plates seem to last longer while sprayed plates have a slight pH and ORP advantage because of the increased conductivity of the platinum. This is why the Aqua Ionizer Deluxe 7.0 uses a combination of both in our Proprietary RTI distinct platinum coating. The best of both worlds, long lasting and increased pH and ORP.
PH AND ORP RANGE?
Answer & Advice: PH and ORP are the basic keys to a water ionizers performance. The pH range is the highest alkaline and lowest acidic level the ionizer can achieve. When purchasing a water ionizer, you should normally look for a pH range of between 4 (acidic) and 11 (alkaline). While there are other ionizers that have an even wider pH range but, unless you’re planning on making your own battery acid or lye at home, why pay for pH levels you’ll never use?
The second key to a water ionizer is ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential). ORP measures the increase or decrease of oxidation. You should try to find an ionizer that has at least negative 800 ORP.
Think of oxidation as when you cut an apple in half and after you leave it out it will turn brown. When the apple turns brown, the cells in the apple begin to oxidize and break down. A negative ORP is an antioxidant or free-radical fighter. Antioxidants help fight oxidation and cell break down.
If you take that same apple that you just cut in half and placed it into a bowl of negative ORP water it would not turn brown. Just imagine the health benefits of drinking negative ORP water and the oxidation or cell break down it can prevent.
CLEANING AND DE-SCALE?
Answer & Advice: Minerals and chemicals in water can cause scaling and corrosion to develop on the ionizer plates. It is very important that you look for a water ionizer that has one or more auto-cleaning features. Ideally, you should look for a water ionizer that cleans itself by reversing plate polarity for at least a few seconds after each use and conducts an extended cleaning cycle after every 10 or 12 gallons of use, like our Aqua Ionizer Deluxe 7.0. SELF
Even with automatic cleaning modes an ionizer may still need a physical de-scaling powder. Many companies charge a yearly fee ($99.99) to de-scale your ionizer Make sure your ionizer comes with a physical de-scaler that you can do yourself, like our Aqua Ionizer Deluxe 7.0 or at least the option to send it in and get de-scaled.
FILTERS INSIDE THE WATER IONIZER?
Answer & Advice: Most water ionizers have built in filters to help remove chlorine, benzene, VOCs and other harmful water pollutants from your tap water. However, some water ionizer filters are expensive to replace and actually add chemicals compounds to artificially increase their pH and ORP.
When buying a water ionizer consider how much you will spend replacing the filters and what chemicals are in the filters. For example, Air Water Life uses active carbon filters that last up to a year and does not inject chemicals into the water and sell for only $40.
By contrast, Jupiter’s ® Biostone filters use the mineral compound Tourmaline to boost ionization and cost $80-$90 to replace.
Enagic ® or Kangen ® filters retail for $110 each and use sodium chloride (SALT) and sodium hypochlorite (found in BLEACH) to artificially increase pH and ORP.
IS THE WATER IONIZER SAFE?
Answer & Advice: It is essential that your water ionizer be certified “safe” by Edison Testing Laboratories (ETL) or another world wide testing facility. The newest water ionizer safety enhancement is the use of FDA plastics. FDA plastics are certified not to leach harmful chemicals or hormones into the water. We are currently the only water ionizer company that we know of offering this feature.
Please make sure you ionizer is certified “safe” and the plastics used do not leach any harmful chemicals or hormones into your water.
WARRANTY AND MONEY BACK GUARANTY?
Answer & Advice: Make sure your water ionizer has at least a 5 year warranty if not a life time warranty. A water ionizer is a large investment in money and health, make sure the ionizer will last a life time.
Also make sure your ionizer has a money back guarantee of at least 30 days. 30 days will give you the time needed to understand and enjoy the ionizer. Yet if anything goes wrong, like you do not like the unit or you change your mind you have the option to return the ionizer.
Watch out for large restocking fees of up to 20%.
Air Water Life has a 0% restocking fee.