Fucking magnets! How do they work?

[reddragdiva]

So our washing machine (Hotpoint: The Finest Of British Attention To The Wrong Detail) just let out a couple of really loud electrical BANG noises and stopped working, blowing both its own plug fuse and the extension cord's plug fuse (both 13 amps — it's always fun when a mains-powered electric motor shits itself). So I go pottering around the Comet website to ascertain the lay of the land. And what do I see? They offer this piece of physics-defying woo with every machine. In fact, they preselect it on all order forms.

So, I'm faced with a difficult shopping choice: Advertising Standards Authority, Office of Fair Trading or both? And have any before me in the UK taken Fucking Magnet Miracles to said bodies that you know of?

(Please forward this question to UK sceptics of your acquaintance. More complaints are probably better too.)

Oh yeah, and we have to buy a new washing machine. Washer-dryer combo is dictated by space, sadly. Nothing from the Hotpoint Group will be considered, and I'm unlikely to buy the actual device from Comet barring a price miracle, but any recommendations other than that? Presently it's looking like at least £400 for something that isn't shit.

Update: Holy crap: magnetic descaling does not defy physics. Gosh. (Just engineering.)

Comments

[reddragdiva]

O rly? That's actually interesting. I must say, "The sales success of these devices would seem to indicate that some work as promoted, at least under some circumstances." does not give me the greatest of faith in their work, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Are you looking at the page I'm looking at. The one where they quote the papers where people run the tests in labs and publish the results in peer reviewed journals? Kind of like.... you know... science.

You see, I think when you dismiss the science because you don't like the phrasing of one sentence on the page, that's not scepticism, that's just sticking to your point whatever. The fact that electric and magentic fields can influence limescale build up seems to be well established in the literature. I mean obviously the experimenters in question didn't know that someone had once used a phrase you don't like to describe it. I'm sure they'd rerun the experiments in the light of that.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w557713h21542321/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TFH-4WM74W8-1&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d2fe12d1078de95bfbeff139cd846dac
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V73-4JVTBM7-2&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1424733424&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=eafd5eb040a03180b60c39da500f73bb

[reddragdiva]

I meant that I had never heard of the effect you link, so I might actually be wr-, wr-, wroooo-, you know, that word. I was wondering at the direct applicability to a particular device (with awful reviews) or class of devices, given the author says "they sell well so they must work," which of course does not in any way follow.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh absolutely true -- cannot vouch for device as you say. It does, however, appear to be founded on correct science. When I read your tweet I thought "how the fuck would that work then" hence I went to find out. Could be that they've designed a non functional device based on correct physical principles (for example the magnet is not strong enough or the flow rate too great or the frequency is wrong). Some of the cited material in journals refers to industrial applications where it is used and does give measureable reductions. Clearly such a device could be built but whether the sold gadget is one is another matter. If I were a betting man I would bet that it does work (at least to some extent). The timescale of initial research in 90s, industrial application a few years back... it just feels right.

[(Anonymous)]

You do realize that none of those are refereed peer-reviewed journals? In other words, junk science to support junk devices.