AUTO WATER SOFTNER

[SHELCO]

When ever we wash a car in the shop, there is also hard water spots Even after drying
I was looking at the spotless water cartridge systems I am setting up a pressure washer bay and think this would be a great addition
Only issue is changing the filters every 300 gallons? Filters would be 150$ every four months?
300 gallons isn't a lot of water especially in the winter months
Thoughts / photos

 

[Cougar]

Would an RO system work. Think the filters would last longer.

 

[Ilikeike]

I looked into this a bit myself for home pressure washer use, I got about as far as you did. 300 gallons was not worth it.
Waiting for a better idea to come along at a price/cost I'm willing to pay per gal..

 

[dcg9381]

Look at softener systems for RVs - more capacity... Course, capacity depends on how hard your water is.

 

[gorilla]

The company that I worked for used a lot of RO units for cleaning optics. We had the company that serviced them set up a unit for washing company cars. worked great! Check with your local water treatment company's the cost my be less than you think. Here in NorCal it costs me $50.00 a month for a water softener just as a reference.

 

[Showkey]

Is this an at home shop ?
Does the home have softened water ?
Many of us have at least on hose spigot with softened water for vehicle was washing.

RO systems are usually for small quantities of water for drinking.

RV softeners have real merit they are going to be $200-$500.
There is going to a regen process required every so often depending on hardness and use.

Whole house softeners start at $400 at the big box stores.

Portable RV Water Softener by SoftPro (Lifetime Warranty)

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qualitywatertreatment.com

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Protect your RV plumbing with compact, portable water softeners. Softens hard water on the go. Free test kit with every softener. Trusted since 1992.

www.rvwaterfilterstore.com

 

[Augus7us]

RO is major overkill. I have RO and De-Ionized filtration and both are overkill for washing a car. If it is that bad you can pickup a cheap smaller water softner off amazon for ~500. You'll need a drain and some salt but I doubt you'll use much and its fully automated.

 

[bob15]

Something like this might work: https://www.autogeek.net/clinhofianda.html

I've never used it as I have a whole house softener, but the website is legit. I've bought a lot of car cleaning stuff from them

 

[Cougar]

Softened water will still leave spots.
Need finer filtered water for the final spot free rinse.

 

[SHELCO]

It will be installed in my auto repair shop. Mostly family vehicles which are all black
The spots are crazy. Starting to notice the toilets' are getting the rusty ? colors also.
Its a city issue I live a mile away and it happens there also. We do a lot of washing so 300 gallons isn't a option
Thanks

 

[Paycheck]

Softened water will still leave spots.
Need finer filtered water for the final spot free rinse.

This. You need a good deionizer setup.

 

[SHELCO]

Something like this might work: https://www.autogeek.net/clinhofianda.html

I've never used it as I have a whole house softener, but the website is legit. I've bought a lot of car cleaning stuff from them

This actually looks good reusable cartridges

 

[Augus7us]

This. You need a good deionizer setup.

Curious what you recommend. I have a 5 stage RO that filters to 5 micron that goes to a 4ft de-ionization resin tank. Not a chance it would provide enough water to wash cars.

 

[gungatim]

even though I have a soft water spigot for washing cars, I still get spots if I let the water sit.

when I wash a dark vehicle, I use a silicone water blade to wipe 90% of the water off, then follow up with a chamois. never get spots that way.

 

[Cougar]

Curious what you recommend. I have a 5 stage RO that filters to 5 micron that goes to a 4ft de-ionization resin tank. Not a chance it would provide enough water to wash cars.

You won't need much. Just use the RO water for the final rinse.

 

[Augus7us]

That is my point though. These systems don't make more than 50-100 gallons per day without lots of equipment and money. And the previous poster said de-ionized water which happens after you filter though RO, no point running it strait to DI and burning out your resin.

Hence why I asked what you would use, because I've never seen a system that can provide 0 TDS water and is cheap.

 

[dcg9381]

Softened water will still leave spots.
Need finer filtered water for the final spot free rinse.

IMHO, it's not the sediment (alone) that leaves spots. Even with softened water, you get replacement of dissolved solids chemically, when the water dries, those solids show up as spots. Gonna depend on "how hard" your water is...

RO is great (use use it for drinking water) - but it's super wasteful at 3-5 gallons wasted per gallon made. I'd only use this in a situation where I had super hard water that couldn't otherwise be resolved. A whole house RO system - tens of thousands, easily. There are probably some mid-grade systems or even a smaller one if you could put all this water in a large tank and then pump from that tank, but not my first choice.

 

[Paycheck]

Curious what you recommend. I have a 5 stage RO that filters to 5 micron that goes to a 4ft de-ionization resin tank. Not a chance it would provide enough water to wash cars.

I use the Adams Polishes version of this. Got it on sale.

Mixed Bed Double Standard Deionizer with Bypass - On The Go - Portable Water DI

www.portablewaterdi.com

 

[Colin Len]

I too looked at the Spotless systems and didn't feel it was the right option in terms of cost. But, it's worth mentioning that if you use a pressure washer you will likely end up using a lot less water than just a regular hose/nozzle. So there's some savings there. And, you can use the DI water only for final rinse to save more.

I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I plan to get a water softener system for our house and have them also run it to one hose bibb for car washing which I will then hook up to one of these which should last longer compared to the Spotless systems.

WashPak-100, Spot Free Rinse System 1.0 Cu. Ft. | Serv-A-Pure

www.servapure.com

WashPak-100, Spot Free Rinse System 1.0 Cu. Ft. | Serv-A-Pure

www.servapure.com

One thing I do need to look into a bit more is that there is a shelf life for the resin. So if you do over-size your system the resin may go bad before it's used up.

 

[Zeke]

While poring over the economics of spot free rinse I came up with the idea that a gallon of distilled water in a PW is the cheapest way to go.
PW's need a little head pressure, not much. So I was planning to have an 8' hose and funnel to feed it. A little over a dollar per rinse.
That will be hard to beat.

 

[Ak Jim]

Wouldn’t you use the water out of the faucet for the wash and then switch to the cartridge system for the final rinse? Used this way the 300 gallons would be quite a few washes.

 

[boxster99t]

I too looked at the Spotless systems and didn't feel it was the right option in terms of cost. But, it's worth mentioning that if you use a pressure washer you will likely end up using a lot less water than just a regular hose/nozzle. So there's some savings there. And, you can use the DI water only for final rinse to save more.

I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I plan to get a water softener system for our house and have them also run it to one hose bibb for car washing which I will then hook up to one of these which should last longer compared to the Spotless systems.

WashPak-100, Spot Free Rinse System 1.0 Cu. Ft. | Serv-A-Pure

www.servapure.com

WashPak-100, Spot Free Rinse System 1.0 Cu. Ft. | Serv-A-Pure

www.servapure.com

One thing I do need to look into a bit more is that there is a shelf life for the resin. So if you do over-size your system the resin may go bad before it's used up.

I used to have the DR Spotless system, and replaced it with something similar to the above Serv-A-Pure tanks. I don't remember the name but can tell you from my exerience you use a whole lot less resin with these cubic feet cylinders compared to DR Spotless, as in 3 refills a year that I used to use with DR Spotless DIC-20, and I'm still on my original resin fill with the tank. In fact I have a cubic yard of new resin I bought a year ago that's still in the bagged box. Only downside is the tank is heavy as you have a cubic yard of resin in the cylinder. BTW I also use a pressure washer and use the DI water for the entire car wash.

I will say neither is totally spotless for a black car, but it is a noticeable difference as well as the surface of the paint feeling slicker that regular water.

 

[DieselNut88]

Check out Kinetico water softeners. Very nice as they don't require electricity. I have one in my house. They are bullet proof.

 

[p00p]

Obtaining refined potable water for washing a car & not for human consumption might be more costly than what is needed. Even going after distilled water creates more work than what might be needed.
I'm not an automotive detailing expert, but if I were trying to soften the water, I'd aim to remove as much calcium & magnesium from it using the cheapest method & potentially another means to get the water up to a hot temp. I would look into finding someone that is updating a small commercial building or large residential house with an ion/anion exchange unit as well as a boiler unit & repurpose the units for the wash bay.
I am not sure which unit I'd place first in the process, but I would think boiling the water first & then having it refined by the exchange unit would reduce the maintenance intervals of the exchange unit.

 

[firebirdparts]

A big water softener that runs on salt has got to be the cheapest to operate per gallon. By a mile.

Just googled them, gosh, how cheap. Cheaper than they've ever been, I guess.

we had one for a long time, but I just quit feeding it one day.

 

[Dig Doug]

When ever we wash a car in the shop, there is also hard water spots Even after drying
I was looking at the spotless water cartridge systems I am setting up a pressure washer bay and think this would be a great addition
Only issue is changing the filters every 300 gallons? Filters would be 150$ every four months?
300 gallons isn't a lot of water especially in the winter months
Thoughts / photos

You need to check your water for TDS ( total Dissolved solids) that’s what leaves the spots you can get a meter on Amazon they are cheap!

the tds meter tell you how hard your water is and that will be a guide to how big of a system ( filter ) you’ll need

a DI system is what is needed, you wash the car regularly and ONLY final rinse the car (you wash off all the hard water ) after washing / rinsing off all the SOAP. A leaf blower can be used to shed most of the DI water off the car

DI water info

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjBiZ2u_LP6AhXRKkQIHZfqA94QFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanhomewater.com%2Fwhat-is-deionized-water-and-what-is-it-used-for%2F&usg=AOvVaw0CMDGNJsyLnxiilv0Kiixf

use a pressure washer w/ the DI filter as that only uses like 1.2 gallon/minute also low water pressure! The water passes thru the filter / media and the minerals stay in the media- you want the water to pass thru the media slowly so all the minerals get filtered out

if your TDS are really high the media won’t last very long

 

[Dig Doug]

I have 2 DI systems & both work great!

it’s best use a pressure washer w/ the DI filter 1.2 gallon /minute is what I use

wash car like normal
rinse car like normal
after all soap is washed off car wheels rinsed, roof, truck bed everything

use the PW and DI water to rinse off the hard water it’s a final rinse

use a leaf blower to remove water beads from car hood, roof and windows etc make sure to get in all the cracks & rear mirrors

my wife has an expensive Audi and we wash it all the time like twice a month. Its a 25- 30 minute job! Happy Wife !
It’s best to NOT use drying towels as they can damage the paint. We don’t actually touch the paint only with special soap & mitt…

my wife did all the research (products and filters ) and she had to teach me how to wash a car…..lol