If you’ve ever opened the tap to find brown water, noticed orange stains in your basin, or scrubbed the same rusty ring in your toilet over and over… you’ve already met iron oxide.

This blog breaks down what iron oxide is, how it forms, what it does to your health and home, and how a modern solution – the Merus Ring – can help stop the cycle.

What Exactly Is Iron Oxide?

In everyday terms, iron oxide is rust. (Redox)

When iron or steel reacts with oxygen in the presence of moisture, a new compound forms: iron oxide. E.G. When pumping from a borehole.
This transformation is called oxidation, a natural process where the metal breaks down and changes structure.

The iron you once had becomes:

• Brittle
• Flaky
• Weak
• And highly reactive if left untouched

Rust continues forming as long as oxygen and water are present, meaning it never stops on its own.

What Does Iron Oxide Look Like?

You’ve seen it a hundred times:

• Reddish-brown or orange stains in basins, toilets, showers, kettles, and washing machines
• Brownish “burst” water when you open the tap after long periods
• Slimy or mud-like deposits in filters
• Orange crusts around pipe joints and fittings

When iron bacteria are also present, iron oxide can look like: (It also smells like gas.)

• Brown, jelly-like slime
• An oily sheen on still water
• Thick rusty coatings in boreholes or storage tanks

It’s unpleasant, messy, and a sign of deeper issues inside your pipes.

What Does Iron Oxide Do to Your Health?

Here’s what most people ask:
“Does rusty water make you sick?”

The Good News

Iron is actually an essential mineral. A small amount of dissolved iron in your water is not poisonous and is generally considered safe.

But… There’s a Catch

Excessive iron oxide and corrosion can lead to:

• Metallic-tasting water
• Unpleasant odours
• Skin irritation or flare-ups in sensitive individuals
• Staining on teeth, dishes, laundry, and sanitaryware

While rust itself is not a deadly toxin, corroded plumbing can release other metals like lead or copper in older systems… and these are harmful when consumed.

So, rusty water isn’t usually a medical emergency, but it is something you must address. However, everyone reacts differently and should not be ingested, it could become a conductor, with long term effects.

How Iron Oxide Forms and Grows

Think of rust as a slow-motion attack on your metal. With a carrier called lime scale.

It only needs three things:

1. Iron or steel (pipes, geysers, fittings)
2. Oxygen
3. Water

Here’s the process:

1. Water seeps into microscopic cracks or pits in the metal.
2. Oxygen molecules react with the exposed iron.
3. Iron transforms into iron oxide (rust).
4. This rust flakes off, exposing new iron underneath.
5. The cycle repeats… and never stops.

If your water is slightly acidic, high in minerals, or contains mixed metals (galvanic corrosion), the process speeds up dramatically. Microbiological induced corrosion (MIC) is the dark cousin of galvanic corrosion (Next Blog) Pitting and corrosion are the main causes of damage to all forms of Real Estate..

Add iron bacteria?
Now the rust multiplies and forms slimy layers that clog pipes and pumps.

What Iron Oxide Does to Your Pipes and Home Appliances

This is where the financial damage starts.

In Your Pipes

Iron oxide creates:

• Thick layers of corrosion scale
• Reduced pipe diameter (causing lower pressure)
• Pinhole leaks
• Burst pipes
• Flakes that break off and create brown water spurts

Corrosion literally eats your pipes from the inside out.

In Your Appliances

Rust causes:

• Blocked geyser elements
• Clogged washing machines and dishwashers
• Shortened appliance lifespan
• Higher electricity usage (because heating elements work harder)
• Permanent staining on surfaces and clothes

It quietly destroys your home systems long before the problem becomes obvious.

Other Helpful Things to Know About Iron Oxide

A few important facts:

• Rusting doesn’t stop on its own.
• Water chemistry (pH, oxygen, temperature) heavily influences corrosion speed.
• Boiling water doesn’t remove rust… it only changes how it settles.
• Iron bacteria thrives in low-flow or old plumbing systems and make the problem worse.
• Rust particles (fine or break-offs) can travel, meaning deposits from one area of your home can block appliances in another.

If you’re seeing consistent brown water, slime, or stains, it’s time to intervene.

How the Merus Ring Changes Iron Oxide (and Your Water System) for the Better

You’ve learned what iron oxide is and how it behaves.

Now let’s look at a solution that doesn’t require ripping out your pipes or pouring chemicals into your water, which do not work.

What Is the Merus Ring? How does it influence Redox?

The Merus Ring is a physical, non-chemical, non-invasive, self-powered water treatment device which, clamps around your pipe on the outside and introduces frequencies via a transference through molecular oscillations, into the water.

 Due to its bipolar properties, water can absorb, store and spread the active oscillations well through the entire water leg that follows. In the water, the active oscillations interfere with the natural oscillation of rust, lime scale, iron, etc. Owing to this overlapping, the behaviour of the substances, which are released in the water and come in

contact with it, is modified.

The result is: rust molecules disintegrate in an unstable form and are washed out. Iron no longer reacts to Fe2O3,

but to Fe3O4 (magnetite), which is largely inert to further forms of corrosion. Lime remains dissolved in water

longer and crystallises out to a much lesser extent.

In simple language:

• Every particle in water has a vibration. (Frequency) All matter has a frequency.
• The Merus Ring introduces a new, stabilising vibration.
• This vibration disrupts how rust and scale normally behave.
• Instead of sticking to surfaces, these particles loosen and wash out of the system.

Like noise-cancelling headphones – but for deposits.

What Happens to Iron Oxide Once the Ring Is Installed?

1. Existing rust loosens and starts breaking away.

You may notice slightly browner water in the beginning — this is the old buildup flushing out.

2. Water can dissolve and carry more particles.

Iron oxide becomes more “mobile” and less likely to stick to pipe walls.

3. Corrosion slows down

Because oxygen is now stabilised within the water, it is less aggressive toward your pipes.

4. New deposits don’t stick and harden.

Rust stays suspended in the water and gets washed away instead of forming thick layers.

5. Pipes and appliances become cleaner internally.

Less restriction. Fewer blockages. Longer lifespan.

The Real-World Results – go to page 14 “We runs rings around corrosion” Denka Avantech – Singapore Blue pipes with rust sample in a bottle and a clear bottle after 8 days.

With a Merus Ring:

• Water becomes clearer
• Stains start reducing
• Appliances last longer
• Heating elements work more efficiently
• The risk of leaks decreases
• Maintenance costs drop
• Corrosion is slowed dramatically
• No chemicals, no electricity, no maintenance

For homes struggling with brown water, rust staining, or failing geysers, this is a quiet but powerful long-term solution.

Iron oxide might look like “just a stain,” but it’s a sign of deeper corrosion eating away at your home’s infrastructure.

Left untreated, it reduces pressure, damages appliances, causes blockages, and affects water quality.

Understanding what it is empowers you to take meaningful action.

And with solutions like the Merus Ring, you don’t have to choose between replacing your whole plumbing system or living with rusty water.

You can change how iron oxide behaves, and protect your home from the inside out.