Spokane entrepreneurs Lee Tate and Daniel Phinney say they’ll begin marketing this month an electronic device they’ve developed that treats hard water to prevent lime-scale deposits from forming and reduces existing deposits without the use of salt, chemicals, or filters. 

They’ve recently founded ScalePro Inc., which plans to produce 100 of the units this year, focusing primarily on commercial and industrial markets, although the product also is effective for home applications, they say.

Tate, a longtime Spokane entrepreneur, founded electronics manufacturer Tate Technology Inc., which his son, Scott, now heads. He also is part-owner of PCV Debonding Systems Inc., which manufactures Pipe Debonder, a plastic-pipe repair tool.

Phinney is a principal with Reliasales Northwest, a company that handles a number of plumbing-related tools and equipment, including Pipe Debonder.

The ScalePro technology uses low-frequency AM radio signals to change the structure of calcium bicarbonate molecules in water, making them smaller and denser.

“We change the shape of the crystal so it can’t stick to anything,” Tate says.

The ScalePro device is contained in a rectangular box scaled to the size of the pipe through which water flows at a given location. 

A pint-sized box with two outputs can treat water as it flows through a 2-inch pipe. A quart-sized box, which contains two to four circuit boards, treats water flowing through pipes up to 12 inches in diameter.

Copper strips that wrap around the pipe are attached to output ports on the device. 

The smaller box has two outputs and the larger box has four outputs. The length and width of the copper strips are dictated by the size of the pipe.

A 2-inch pipe, for example, would be wrapped for a length of 14 inches, while a 12-inch pipe would be wrapped for a length of up to eight feet.

The device works on all types of metal and plastic pipes, Tate says.

“Almost every installation is on metal, because that’s how it comes into the building,” he says, adding, “If it works on galvanized pipe, it will work better on plastic.”

Retail prices for the devices run from $1,700 to $15,000, depending on the size of the pipe.

ScalePro is located in the Tate Technology Center building, at 3102 E. Trent.

Phinney says ScalePro devices will be manufactured under contract by Tate Technology. ScalePro has no other employees, although the company expects to bring on a couple of new hires within a year, he says.

Tate says naturally occurring calcium carbonate, which in its residual form is known as lime scale, is the main culprit here that contributes to hard water.

Conventional water softeners use sodium chloride, which is a common salt, in a process that exchanges calcium ions in the water with sodium ions in the salt, flushing the calcium away as calcium chloride, he says.

In many communities, widespread use of such water softeners hinders wastewater treatment, Tate says.

“Chloride goes down the drains and kills the bugs that treat water,” he says.

Some municipalities in California have evened banned salt-based water softeners.

Calcium isn’t the only source of scaling, Tate says. The ScalePro technology also works to prevent silica scale, he claims.

“Silica scale is really hard, and it takes a nasty acid to get it off,” Tate says. “A water softener won’t help with silica.”

Silica is a component of granite, a ubiquitous rock here.

“The whole aquifer is sitting on granite rubble,” Tate says.

Silica is even more concentrated in domestic water in Southern California, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, he says.

Other companies also make and sell electronic hard-water treatment devices, most of which use electromagnets, Tate says.

“Dan found out about the technology through his work in the plumbing industry and asked me if we could do it better,” he says.

ScalePro built 24 prototype units in January and tested them in applications throughout the Pacific Northwest.

In addition to preventing lime-scale deposits, Tate claims water treated with the ScalePro technology also breaks down existing scale in pipes and appliances over time.

“Of the 24 units in service, most people say they have increased water flow,” he says.

Prior to one installation a few weeks ago at a Seattle residence, it took 50 seconds for hot water to travel from the hot water system to the kitchen sink, Tate says, adding, “Now it takes 10 seconds.”

ScalePro’s main competitor is Germany-based Christiani Wassertechnik GmbH, manufacturer of the Vulcan anti-scale system, which has been using radio-signal technology for a few years.

The German device does work, Tate says.

“We’re an electronics manufacturer,” he asserts. “We just do it better and cheaper.”

Tate says ScalePro’s initial target market will be commercial and industrial applications, especially for preventing lime-scale buildup on cooling towers.

“Rather than trying to make it smaller and cheaper for homes, we’re going to approach it on the high end, starting with commercial and industrial accounts,” Tate says. 

Cooling towers extract heat from buildings and water, often through an evaporation process.

“Anytime you evaporate water, it creates scale,” Tate says.

Large commercial and industrial cooling tower operators often have to shut down part of the system every few days to descale it with chemicals to keep the system operating efficiently. Such descaling can cost more than $100,000 a year for a large system, Tate says.

“For a $15,000 electronic device like this, the payback is weeks, or maybe a few months,” he says.

Commercial sales will lead to residential sales, Tate asserts.

“We know that when business owners see it, they will buy it for their homes,” he says.

Tate says he delivered a presentation on ScalePro devices at a business breakfast in Spokane last month.

“Four business owners ordered it for their homes, and we only have industrial models,” he says.

When it comes to home applications, one of the largest benefits of the product will be in preventing water heating-element damage commonly caused by lime scale.

Tate says there’s truth behind the joke that it takes two plumbers to remove a water heater, but only one to install a new tank. That has to do with the weight of the lime scale that builds up in water heaters over time, causing heating elements to burn out, he says.

“A lot of times, the scale on the element is a half-inch thick,” Tate says.

Using the ScalePro technology, calcium carbonate goes through the system or settles to the bottom of the tank as a fine sediment rather than building up as a hard scale.

“You can drain it out every 10 years,” Tate says. “The water heater should last indefinitely.”

Phinney says the device installs in five minutes with no modifications to plumbing.

“If you can plug in a cell phone, you can plug this in,” he says.

The device runs on a 24-volt system that draws 2 amps of energy. “You could run it off a solar panel,” Phinney says.