Special stone in the water

[Chocolate]

My French neighbour has just installed a small swimming pool in his garden. At his insistence I went to look at it and was shown a creamy-grey round stone sitting on the floor of the pool, about 40cm across. He is adamant that it does the job of sanitising the water. No chemicals at all! He does have a small sand filter and pump but that is all. He is unable to tell me what it is made of, but it works. In this hot weather and after about three weeks of use, the pool is certainly as clear as a bell. He waved a photocopied piece of paper around but I was not able to look at it properly. A "very good friend" of his can get it for us if we want it. Cost for his size 500 Euros. A larger one about 700 Euros.

Is this a new scam? I have no intention of buying one, and our pool is out of action anyway, but I am curious as it does seem to be a little far-fetched. Why have we not heard of this miracle stone before? Or the world? Am I right or just uninformed? Anyone else come across this or is it a case of beware!

[nomoss]

It works the same way as those magnets you put round water pipes to stop limescale, or round petrol pipes to improve fuel consumption. [6]

 

 

[sid]

Of course! That's why all the public swimming pools have them too!  [;-)]

 

[Pickles]

There's a lot of cynicism on this forum. I know for a fact that these work - they use the power of the moon's attraction and what can best be described as "frozen magnetism" to render all unwanted molecules inactive and harmless. It also uses ambient "free energy" to align and synchronise the vibrations of the impurities in the water with those of "unbound" water so that they become, to all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from "unbound" water. However, the ones I have are better and more efficient than the cheap imitation ones that you can buy for 500€ - they cost twice as much but are ten times more efficient, meaning that you get back your investment in a 20th of the time.

[Théière]

Yes, quite a hefty amount of scepticism, cynicism..........

I must admit to checking the date 26th July........

Any idea of this type would mean that said stone is either naturally high in some element or compound or it is added (man made)

The point is which ever way you turn chlorine is the best water sanitiser for pools we have, it kills faster, it oxidises the waste and it's relatively cheap.

There are alternative sanitisers out there but they also come with other issues.  Copper/silver ionisers do work but should still be used with a little chlorine as the Australian Government forced all the providers selling in/to Australia to have their units tested, only those which use a low level of chlorine passed the test which says an awful amount about what can be junk science.

I wonder if the product is something like this?

http://www.voanews.com/content/water-purification-africa-/1679934.html

[Pierre ZFP]

Perhaps it's just a very large chorine block?  [geek]

[Pickles]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Perhaps it's just a very large chorine block?  [geek][/quote]

I must admit I thought "salt lick for cattle" came into my mind ...

[basquesteve]

Uranium-235

[Pickles]

[quote user="basquesteve"]Uranium-235[/quote]

Aha! That'll have the other advantage of giving your pool a nice blue glow as well - no need for lights! And self-warming! Why didn't I think of that!

[Théière]

Don't you have to fill the pool with heavy water?

Mind you with the "discussions" on water testing we have on here that's another test kit people will need [;-)]

[Pickles]

[quote user="Théière"]Don't you have to fill the pool with heavy water?[/quote]

Might be a tad expensive. The other thing is not to get carried away and put two of the "stones" in there ....

[Lehaut]

We used to fill a bucket with water, add corn starch and a couple of blue Cylumes. Once glowing nicely we used to ease our way through guests at cocktail parties with the words " excuse me coming through with fuel for the reactor". People would then find out how small a nuclear submarine actually was in their rush to get out of the way. Made us laugh every time!!

[Jonzjob]

Heavy water? I thought that all water was quite heavy?

Ours would weigh in at about 53 tonnes ! How bloomin heavy do you want it to be [:-))]

[Théière]

[quote user="Lehaut"]We used to fill a bucket with water, add corn starch and a couple of blue Cylumes. Once glowing nicely we used to ease our way through guests at cocktail parties with the words " excuse me coming through with fuel for the reactor". People would then find out how small a nuclear submarine actually was in their rush to get out of the way. Made us laugh every time!![/quote]

[:D]

 

[Chocolate]

I have really enjoyed the replies everybody. Some of them are clever ideas, but perhaps no-one has any idea what it is which leads me back to my first gut feeling that it is a scam. The guy with said stone has very little money and was grasping at straws, (or should that be stones), so I have no intention of talking to him about this. I am just sad to think that he has wasted his money - but the water is still clear ??!!!

Thanks everybody for the replies. I give up. 

[Théière]

Oh go on talk to him about it....[:)]

[Chocolate]

Update:

My neighbour says that he slipped badly in his pool the other day on the algae that was on the bottom of the pool. He has returned the stone. We said we were sorry and left it at that.

It clearly was a scam. Beware of magic stones from South Africa!!!!!!!!  

[nomoss]

Damn!! I've already ordered one[:(]

 

 

[Jonzjob]

The old saying that comes to mind is that if it looks too good to be true [:-))][:-))]

I'd cancel that order toot-sweet if I were you Nomoss??[:D]

[Rabbie]

[quote user="Jonzjob"]The old saying that comes to mind is that if it looks too good to be true [:-))][:-))]

I'd cancel that order toot-sweet if I were you Nomoss??[:D]
[/quote]Or the other old saying about fools and their money[6] but of course that couldn't apply to anyone with the intelligence to contribute regularly to this forum.