The No-Color-Change Mystery

Imagine this scenario: you have the IonCleanse by AMD detox foot bath in your home; you and your family members have used it for years; everyone loves doing it, and the results (especially the myriad shades and textures of dirty water) are fairly predictable. One day, you set everything up like normal. You begin the session and you settle back into your comfy chair. Twenty-five minutes into the session, you look down and the water is crystal clear. You think for a moment that you forgot to turn on the machine, but you quickly realize it is running and operating to the correct specifications. The volts are in the right range as well as the amps. You are bewildered and you cannot understand how this is happening. Your first instinct is that the machine has somehow failed, so you call AMD’s customer service for help.

You would not be alone in the scenario just described. In fact, this happens quite frequently to our customers. So much so that we like to think we have become experts, not only in addressing general customer service issues and questions related to the ionic foot baths but also in guiding them through this perplexing phenomenon. As a byproduct, we have almost become experts in water too! So what happened and where do we begin to troubleshoot?

It is important to recognize that the content of the water flowing out of your tap varies substantially. During some seasons, most notably the springtime, water municipalities add chlorine to the water system. In fact, the amount of chlorine is substantial. We addressed this in a previous blog post where we demonstrated that the amount of chlorine in the water supply can be more than what is allowed in swimming pools. Why is that relevant here? Quite often, when our customers experience no color change during the detox foot bath session, it is tied to the amount of chlorine that has been added to the water. The ions produced by the IonCleanse process are attracted to and neutralize the chlorine, resulting in little color change. At the same time, it is important to note that the user is still receiving some benefit from the ionic foot bath session, so all is not lost. Moreover, there are steps that can be taken to overcome this phenomenon and get back to “normal.”

Generally speaking, the IonCleanse by AMD Solo and Premier units run at voltages above 10 with the amps at 1.8 or higher. If necessary, users need to add salt to the water to achieve these readings. Most of the time the amount of salt required is minimal (less than ½ of a teaspoon). When the IonCleanse system is powered on, you may see the amperage in the range of 0.0 to 2.5. If the amps are below the recommended 1.8, we advise our users to add ⅛ of a teaspoon of salt to the water, swish the array to help the salt dissolve, and then record the new reading on the unit. The added salt causes the amps to increase. As the amps are increasing, the volts will adjust as well. The voltage will typically start at around 16.0-18.0. As salt is added to the water, the voltage decreases. The more salt that is added, the lower the volts get. The customer continues to add salt until the amps and volts are within the specified ranges. 

There is a lot of information embedded in the voltage and amperage readings of the unit, including the status of the unit’s operation as well as the condition of the water —  most notably, the TDS or total dissolved solids. 

When customers experience no color change in the water, the first step our highly trained and experienced staff will take is to ask for the voltage and amperage readings on the machine. This helps our staff guide them to the quickest solution. Most of the time (I will venture a guess and say over 99% of the time) we advise the customer to add more salt to the water; however, there is a tipping point. The trick is to add enough salt to drive the voltage down to within a range of 10.0 to 11.0. The amperage will remain in the 1.8-2.5 range. The added salt seems to help neutralize the contaminants, such as chlorine, in the water. Once the correct balance is accomplished, the detox foot bath is back to “normal,” if not right then, then within the next 3-5 sessions, as the fine-tuning continues.  While this is a somewhat delicate process, it resolves the issue for the customer almost every time. 

This “added salt trick” as we call it, is cheap and very easy to execute. The customer does not have to switch water supplies, nor run the foot bath water through any special filters. It really is a win-win-win solution. 

Last note on this somewhat common occurrence: it doesn’t matter where you live, and it doesn’t matter if your water is coming from a well. Customers have reported chlorine smells coming from all sorts of water sources, including underground wells. Our theory is that chlorine is a pervasive chemical that seems to be able to contaminate just about any water source or table. If you ever are concerned, have your water tested for chlorine. Fish tank supply and maintenance stores are excellent resources as they have to battle chlorine daily to keep their water denizens alive.