Cristina Tuser is associate editor for WQP. Tuser can be reached at [email protected].
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Trial & Error
After more than 15 years in the C-Store business and spending the last four years in the craft coffee business, Murphy Kormos has had his share of experiences with a range of filtration systems.
In 2017, Kormos had a coffee service distribution company in Phoenix, Arizona, with the most common service call being scale opening dump valves in the coffee equipment. Years of buying and testing every filter on the market led to little success.
By December of the same year, Kormos was approached about a filter from Germany’s Watch Water water treatment company. The filter claimed to not only reduce scale, but also eliminate existing scale and improve pH. His curiosity led him to test the filter, despite years of lackluster experiences.
After observing the scale fall off in about three weeks, as well as a neutral pH, Kormos inquired further about the filter, perplexed by its results.
“I thought to myself...I don’t understand why everyone’s not using this, this is a game-changer,” Kormos said. “To be able to stop scale removal without changing the pH and keep the calcium and magnesium in the water, which is good for coffee too. This is nuts.”
In May 2018, Kormos founded ScaleX Pro in Gilbert, Arizona. His experience with the German manufacturer left a lasting impression and a renewed sense of hope for the future of the industry.
“Half the country is now treating the water with chloramines. These service companies had no idea about regular filters not taking out the chloramines. We’ve been educating people, we’ve got filters that take out the chloramines plus handling the scale,” Kormos said. “I haven’t had a service call in 11 months.”
A Learning Curve
The past 18 months have been a learning experience for ScaleX Pro’s small staff of six. Collectively, the team has more than 100 years of water treatment experience in the commercial water industry. The company staffs people who have experience in the field and those affected from municipality treatment and natural contaminants.
“Since our team has walked many a times in the shoes of the field techs, we welcome and listen to their expertise and recommendations to effectively provide solutions to our customers,” Kormos said.
As members of the Water Quality Association (WQA), the water treatment dealership finds WQA weekly emails helpful. The last several WQA emails mention the plaguing presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which motivates Kormer and his team to work on solutions for these pressing issues.
The water treatment dealership’s goal is to bring product offerings in the first quarter of 2020.
“We’re not from the water world. We’re the people that knew that what we were using was just a band-aid,” Kormos continued. “Everyone thinks the water softener is the be-all and end-all for treating hard water, but water softeners only really treat for temporary hardness. Many municipalities are treating water with phosphates and silica for corrosion control, which creates permanent hardness; Water softeners do not address this,” Kormos said.
ScaleX Pro practices Watch Water’s chemistry and rules for water, allowing people to see for themselves what their water treatment practices are all about. The filter uses nucleation assisted crystallization (NAC) technology, which Kormos advises others in the industry to adopt as well.
The filter is described by Kormos as the “ultimate green technology,” as its filters also able to remove contaminants from water without reverse osmosis (RO). The manufacturer uses phosphate-free technology and NAC to achieve optimal water filtration.
Though ScaleX Pro was only recently founded, the staff has received commitments from a multitude of companies. Kormos attributes this success to his committed team and back to the manufacturer; Watch Water’s owner has been in the water business for 40 years.
Proof is in the Pudding
For ScaleX Pro, the proof is in the pudding.
The water treatment dealership’s main goal is to shift the ideologies of large corporations who are hesitant to change their practices.
“We’re taking the water world to the 21st century. Technology trumps marketing. We want people to try it and call us after they see what it does,” Kormos said. “We’re literally trying to change the industry and let them know that water softeners and phosphates are of the past, but we’re going up against large giants that don’t want to change. No one has been wanting to switch it, but we’re trying to rip the band-aid off.”
Kormos and his staff solve a plethora of water issues in food service; craft coffee; medical facilities; car wash businesses; and plumbing. This is only the beginning, however, as a long-term goal for this water dealership is to make a significant shift to the way everyone sees water filtration.
“Coffee is 98% water and yet we do a poor job in understanding the composition of water,” said ScaleX Pro’s Tracy Barnes.
ScaleX Pro contends that although equipment manufacturers are trying to preserve their equipment, younger generations’ focus on sustainability and quality are beginning to take precedence.
In the last eight months, educating people about chloramine has been pivotal for the business, as regular carbon does not take out chloramine out effectively.
Barnes and Kormos are eager to be leaders in the industry, implementing sustainable technology solutions and educating skeptics.
“We try to be honest. We were there a year and a half ago, so we get it. Little by little people are starting to believe and realize the truth,” Barnes said.
