Frequently asked Questions

• Why should I purchase from A&B Water and not from some other water treatment dealer?
• What is DIRECT TO CONSUMER PRICING from A&B Water?
• Will you assist me with installation of my equipment?
• How do you ship the equipment we buy?
• How long after the order will you ship?
• How come you do not use a shopping cart on your site?
• Do you ship C.O.D?
• Do you finance systems?
• How do you sell your systems so cheap?
• How hard is a system to install?
• Why don't you offer Culligan or Kinetico Systems?
• How do I go about purchasing a water treatment system?
• Will a softener harm my septic tank?
• Why are we so confident?
• Why should I buy my equipment from A&B Water instead of my local home improvement warehouse?
• Why is it Important to Choose Certified Products?
• What is magnetic water conditioning?
• Magnetic Water Softening: Does it work?

Why should I purchase from A&B Water and not from some other water treatment dealer?
A&B Water has been recognized as one of the leading water treatment companies for more than twenty years. We carry only the best equipment on the market today. We back up our equipment with world class service. "Water is our only business" and we are dedicated to our customer's needs and concerns. Besides, we sell to you at the LOWEST PRICE anywhere in the country. Back to top

What is Direct to Consumer Pricing from A&B Water?
A&B Water recognizes the need for consumers to make their own informed decision regarding the purchase of a state of the art water filtration system without the traditional overhead and sales pressure associated with large manufactures and traditional water treatment companies.

Traditionally, most large manufacturers have the added cost of covering the salaries and commisions of their inside and outside sales force and managers. Consumers will have by purchasing their water treatement solution from A&B Water because we buy direct from the manufacturer and sells direct to you. No added costs.

A&B Water Consultants custom design filters according to your water chemistry in a simple one to one relationship (consultant to consumer). The consumer is offered expert advice and does not have to pay an outrageous price for a quality water treatment product. Back to top

Will you assist me with installation of my equipment?
We will be more than happy to assist you or your plumber with installation and service of any and all equipment. A& B Water has a trained staff that can walk you through a series of trouble shooting guides that will help you if a problem exists. In most cases we will give you a solution for your problem in just minutes. Back to top

How do you ship the equipment we buy?
We ship most small orders via UPS. Larger orders are shipped via truck. We do not mark up shipping and we give you all the discounts on transportation we receive.

How long after the order will you ship?
We ship the next day in most cases, builder and plumber contractors we will hold shipments until your project is ready for the merchandise.

How come you do not use a shopping cart on your site?
We want to make 100% sure that your order is what you want. Back to top

Do you ship C.O.D?
No, we do not ship C.O.D. We offer all major credit cards and will take personal checks.

Do you finance systems?
We can help you on a case by case transaction. Call for help at 1-800-613-0121

How do you sell your systems so cheap?
We can offer merchandise for less because we buy in large volume, discount our bills, do not employ commission sales people, and take every cost saving measure to offer you, the end user, the best deal on great products, and we have been doing this everyday for years.

How hard is a system to install?
We have designed systems that are very user friendly and can be installed by anyone that is handy. We can also refer to you a competent professional who could install the equipment for you if you choose. Installation costs for an outside contractor usually run between $75-$175 depending on equipment type and filters needed. We are here to help you every way we can. Furthermore, by talking to us directly we will be confirming that you are purchasing the right equipment for you water problem; more importantly that all the plumbing fittings you will need will be the right size to make your installation go faster and look better. Back to top

Why don't you offer Culligan or Kinetico Systems?
We do not offer these systems because we feel that many of these systems are over priced. They only give you a system that only one company can work on and the prices of replacement parts to fix them are very high and difficult to get.

Let's face it, who would you buy a car that you can only get gas at one station in your territory? They are franchises and the equipment is made from proprietory parts. Only special parts and tools can be used to repair them, therefore, the customer has no one else to go to. Chances of paying higher prices is guarenteed and poorer service is greater when you only have one person to call.

Frankly, we feel what we have to offer are better products. We can engineer a system that fits your problem. We offer hundreds of systems, priced to fit any budget. Franchised companies have very limited styles to offer.

With franchises, there are a lot of different mouths to feed before the product gets to you and at that point the value is just not there.

Think for a minute!!! Do I want a system that only one person in my territory can work on or do I want to be free to call on many to solve a problem if one should arise?

Do yourself a favor, go to the yellow pages. Look up water treatment dealers, call the independent and ask if they stock parts or will service Culligan or Kinetico systems. Sorry, the answer is NO. Then ask if they will work on Fleck controls. Yup!!! We can help you. How do you feel now??? Back to top

How do I go about purchasing a water treatment system?
The first step in correcting a water quality problem is to have you water tested. If you are concerned about aesthetics such as taste, color, pH, iron, manganese, hardness, odor and arsenic and radon send A&B Water a sample of your water. We will test your water free of charge.

Will a softener harm my septic tank?
After targeted research, the answer is NO -- soften with confidence.

On-site household sewage disposal systems work simply. The main soil pipe from a home's plumbing system empties into a concrete or steel tank buried a prescribed distance from the house and beneath the frost line. The common single-compartment tank has a baffle near the inlet pipe, which prevents the effluent from backing up, and reduces the turbulence of the incoming waste. Once the effluent enters the tank, the heavier solids sink to the bottom, while more buoyant substances rise to the surface. Various bacteria present in the effluent, as well as other organisms, which have been introduced to the tank, digest the waste material and chemically change it. The bacterial action, working in the absence of oxygen, is referred to as an anaerobic process. Another vented system is operation all similar, but the decomposition is aerobic, i.e., requires air

After the bacterial action occurs, relatively clear water is discharged through the outlet pipe of the tank. It flows to a distribution box, where it is diverted to the drainage field through perforated, loosely connected pipes. The loose joints and perforations permit seepage into the surrounding soil. To enhance the water dispersion, the pipes are generally laid in beds of gravel or loose rock.

This covers the disposal system side of the story. The other side concerns water before it gets to the tap, and features the water softening system.

A typical water softener uses a resinous material that attracts sodium ions. The ion exchange resin reacts with the influent water exchanging the sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium ions. Calcium and magnesium are naturally occurring minerals present in many water sources. The presence of these ions makes water "hard." Exchanging the calcium and magnesium ions for sodium or potassium ions "softens" the water. During the regeneration cycle, the hardness ions are removed from the softener exchange resin, and discharged with the backwash and some excess regenerant salt (sodium chloride or potassium chloride) that is necessary to drive the regeneration reaction

Faulty Assumptions: In the 1970s, a number of counties and states became concerned about the effects of the softened water on septic systems. Although the assumptions proved wrong, there were three primary reasons for what turned out to be unfounded concerns and false assumptions. It is commonly known that bacterial life forms are threatened if their surroundings have too much or too little salt. It was feared that the higher concentration of salt in the effluent or softened water would be harmful or fatal to the tank's bacterial action.

The second concern was that the backwash flow rate during regeneration would introduce water faster than the tank could handle. This would force effluent out of the tank before the bacterial action could be completed. In other words, "unprocessed waste water" would be sent out into the drainage field.

Finally, it was feared that the salt brine produced by the softener would lower the drainage field's ability to absorb water. This assumption came from agricultural studies on irrigation systems with high sodium content. These were "common sense" arguments about a suspected problem, and weren't verified facts resulting from scientific testing. As a result of these assumptions and to address this situation, the Water Quality Association (WQA) sponsored research at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and at the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). These groups conducted comprehensive studies to confirm or reject these assumptions.

Results Favor Softening The opposite of the assumptions listed above was shown to be true as a result of scientific testing.

First, the effect of softened water on bacteria was actually beneficial rather than detrimental. The normal salt content found that in "unsoftened" effluent is less than ideal for bacterial growth. The addition of sodium to the system was found to bring the bacterial environment closer to the optimal range. Soft water was, in effect, "healthy" for the organisms. Second, the volume of backwash during regeneration did not disrupt the time involved in bacterial processing of effluent; it was easily within the limits that the tank could handle. It was noted that an automatic dishwasher would pose a greater threat on these grounds than would a water softener.

Concerns about salt and soil absorption rates were also dispelled. The increased sodium content in the tank's discharge was shown to have no detrimental effect on the soil's ability to absorb water in a normal drainage field. Interestingly, certain soil conditions benefited from it. Additionally, when the softener's calcium-rich regeneration backwash emptied into the septic system, the discharge could actually improve the soil's percolation. (Gypsum, a high calcium mineral, has long been used to increase the porosity of clay soils.)

The conclusions drawn from these tests is that softened water is NOT harmful to a normally operating septic system or drainage field. Obviously, this is good news to anyone who has suffered through dingy dishes or clothes, or struggled with precipitate build-up in pipes due to hard water. Homeowners can enjoy all the benefits of soft water without worrying that it will disrupt the efficiency of the household septic system. Back to top

Why are we so confident?
We buy direct from the factory and pass that savings on to you. There is no middle man and no 20 - 30% commission when you purchase your equipment from AB Water. Why buy your equipment any other way when you can buy direct?

Why should I buy my equipment from A&B Water instead of my local home improvement warehouse?
Equipment purchased from local supply warehouses are very generic in concept and are manufactured according to the specs of the manufacturer.

Common problems associated with generic filters:

• Difficult to service(no tech support)
• Reduction in water pressure as a result of inferior technology
• Improper match of equipment to water chemistry (no trained professionals helping you sort out sequence and appropriate equipment)
• Very limiting equipment warranty (which properly reflects technology)

Why is it Important to Choose Certified Products?
Our systems are all certified by the Water Quality Association (WQA ) which awards their seal to systems that have exceeded industry standards for contaminant reduction, structural integrity and material safety. There are products that are only NSF component certified against some contaminants. That doesn't mean your family is protected against all of them. Select only the products that are WQA certified for one more assurance that your drinking and household water is as pure as possible.

What is magnetic water conditioning?
Magnetic Water conditioning (MWC) has a long and controversial history and has been reported as being ineffective in numerous instances. Its effect is to reduce scale deposition, remove existing scale or produce a softer and less tenacious scale. Many process designers claim large savings in energy, cleaning (i.e. descaling) and process downtime costs from the installation of magnetic technology.

MWC technology is ineffective in real installations though the precise reasons for inefficacy are rarely examined. Reported effects of magnetic conditioning of water have appeared in scientific literature since the late 1930's. Studies of the phenomenon, independent of device manufacturers, and the lack of recorded design criteria have prevented acceptance of the method by process designers and plant engineers. Scientific literature is still unable to explain confidentially why magnetic water conditioning works in some applications and not in others. Recent research has identified conditions under which magnetic treatment can lead to a maximum of 70% reduction in calcium carbonate scale formation but to have perfectly softened water the reduction percentage figure should be 95-100%. The degree to which scale formation is inhibited has been identified to be dependent on a number of physicochemical conditions such as temperature, pH, hardness and alkalinity. Back to top

Magnetic Water Softening: Does it work?
Magnetic water softening is a mysterious phenomenon to most people, and even many of us who have taken a few courses in college physics often don't feel we really "understand" it. In the 19th century, hucksters and scam artists were taking advantage of the public's ignorance of magnetism by offering fraudulent magnetic products to treat everything from baldness to impotence, and an even wider variety of magical wonders are being hawked over the Internet nowadays. Schemes for magnetic water treatment (MWT) began appearing in the 1930's. One would think that the question of MWT's effectiveness would have long since been resolved, but for a number of reasons this has still not happened.

Most water-treatment engineers who have investigated magnetic water treatment (MWT) in industrial settings report negative results, and there are no confirmed reports of successful MWT installations in the reputable scientific and engineering literature.

Most scientists who have looked into MWT remain very skeptical, as they tend of be of any field for which there is no obvious theoretical model and in which quantitative and reproducible results are hard to come by. (A very similar situation arises in studies of whether power transmission lines contribute to leukemia.) Scientists who might otherwise be qualified to investigate MWT also tend to be put off by the stigma the field has acquired due to the exaggerated claims made by some of its adherents and the widespread promotion of various worthless applications involving magnets. Back to top