3M Aqua-Pure Whole House Scale Inhibition Inline Water System AP430SS, Prevents Scale Build Up On Hot Water Heaters and Boilers

We have several different 3M Aquapure products in our home and this AP431 whole house scale reducer is one of them. Initially you need to buy the kit as it comes with the special "T" fitting. Afterwards you can just buy the cartridges itself periodically. Side note, it's not a bad idea to stock up on these as the prices have gone up significantly since we started buying these about right (8) or so years ago. We got it primarily to protect our appliances such as our tankless water heater, shower heads, kitchen faucet and washer. So far we have zero issues to date! What also might be helping is our whole house water filtration system which takes care of sediment, rust, etc. at the source. Please see my attached photos of the cartridge as well as installed photo. **Last pro-tip** - since the cartridge threads are plastic, it's very easy to cross-thread the cartridge and chew up the threads. An old trick I learned for any screw fitting is to reverse it in first (left-loosey) until you feel the first thread "seat". This trick always ensures you engage the female threads for a perfect, trouble-free install!

Works with magic and unicorn tears. :o) It is not a filter. It is a water treatment system. The stainless steel head is robust and a nice solid chunk of metal. Easily could withstand brazing/soldering, on the spot, with the cartridge off. The 3/4" NPT inlet and outlet has nearly a clear flow path, so your GPM, will not be reduced. Install a ball or gate valve in front to permit easy cartridge changeouts. The tee must be orientated to the water flow, use the arrow on the side of the tee, for the water to get treated while flowing. There is an elevated tab in the tee with a single hole for directing a small portion of the water down into the center whole of the cartridge. The water slowly dissolves a small amount of food-grade polyphosphate from the beads and, using the venturi effect, the water is then pulled back through the 8 holes in the cartridge perimeter and through the 3 holes in the tee, surrounding the center tab, to mix with the flowing water. Only 2 to 3 ppm is needed to treat for scale. From past uses at a different home, I've gotten about 20,000 gallons out of a cartridge with still some beads rattling in the bottom when replacing the cartridge. I would say that if you used less than 2,000 gallons a month then one cartridge should easily last a year. The cartridge threads are plastic and you can easily cross-thread them if you get in a hurry replacing the cartridge. Just make sure you get the threads started straight and it screws up with no problems. The threads do no provide the seal, it is the o-ring so once hand-tight that is tight enough.

Excelente and easy to install

This is a very hard product to review as it will take years for me to know if it really works or not. I bought it because our Rinnai tankless water heater died from excessive scale build up. The model we had didn't have a bypass option for regular cleaning with vinegar. We replaced the Rinnai with a Navien tankless and even though it has a bypass for descaling and a stainless steel heat exchanger, we thought we'd use the Aqua-pure to protect the inner workings of the Navien from the minerals in our municipal water. Will it work? I assume so. I plan to have our plumber clean it out in a year or two and well see what the water looks like. If it's milky when vinegar is run through it, it's a failure. If it's clear, we have a winner. Now, what I CAN tell you is that I was worried about restricted water flow. We have to separate shower head systems in our Master shower. Not two shower heads, two operate valves, so we need a lot of water pressure to use that shower and run another appliance, like a bath tub or washing machine. I'm happy to report that the Aqua-pure barely reduces water flow. Only under extreme and manufactured circumstances does it produce noticeable reductions. In normal use, I honestly don't notice that it's installed. Since water flow is not affected, I'd say it's worth using to protect my investment in a tankless water heater.

Be sure to flush the filter with something that doesn’t have a fine filters for 5-10 mins or so after installation. I have those electric smart toilets and it filled the bowls with little pieces black plastic and clogged their inline filters. Game changer in water quality. My showers and appliances are as grateful as I am. ZERO spots on the shower doors or sinks.

2 weeks in so far so good

This really does work! I do not post reviews often, but this product is worth my time. First, a little history, so that maybe others may benefit from my experience. We have SUPER HARD WATER. I mean it eats through most faucets in 3 years. 5 years-what faucet? It is just a hole in the wall. I have installed both a gas and an electric tankless water heater. I never had any issues with the gas tankless, but with the ELECTRIC Tankless, that is a whole other story. I have a whole house filter, and right after I installed the electric tankless there were issues. Little black charcoal looking rocks began coming out of the faucets as soon as the hot water was turned on for the first few seconds. This created stopped up filters in faucets, shower heads, and all kinds of problems. I was about done with tankless. I guess the superheating of our hard water from direct contact with the elements of the heater caused them. My wife told me to just put a tank back in, and then I saw a suggestion to try this. I told my wife to let me try it, and if it doesn't work, I would put a tank back on. You do have to put this on before the water heater. I don't think it really filters, as much as treats the water. Whatever. All I care about are results. Over a period of three days, there were fewer "particles coming out of the faucets", and then there were none. We are now on week 2 with no 'rocks' coming out of the faucets at all, and my wife is in love again ... with our tankless.

This turned out to be a simple, effective solution to two problems associated with my well water. At 12.86 gpg of CaCo3 (Calcium Carbonate) or 2.36 gpg above the "Very Hard" threshold, I had problems with calcium deposits in my boiler from the boiler feed water inflow and problems from my hot water throughout the house. Since all the water going to my dishwasher came from a hot water line, water spots on glassware were unsightly. I installed the Aqua-Pure AP430SS just before both the boiler feed and the supply to the indirect hot water tank. The water spots are gone and there are more soap bubbles when showering. A note to those who think the shiny silver thing on the top assembly is an overpriced ¾" SS tee. . . it's more than that. It is a machined casting with a scoop diverter to cause some of the water flowing through it to flow downward into the canister where it mixes with the food-grade poly phosphate in the replaceable canister before it returns through small holes drilled inside the tee to the pipe above where it ties up the CaCo3 as it flows on its merry way unable to plate our as scale. Time will tell, but, I prefer it over a water softener because it is sodium free which seems like a good thing in this stressful world of high blood pressure. Also, it won't kill the beneficial bugs in my septic system. Whew – enough said!