Crappy water

**mcate** · 06-13-2017, 12:35 PM

The water here in small town Indiana is full of minerals. I'm sick of washing & drying my cars (not to mention the ones I do for customers) & then having to go over them with QD's to get rid of the streaks & film left over. I'm pretty sure the water that goes to my spigots doesn't run thru my softener. Sam's Club has a de-ionizer that hooks inline with the hose for $250 that looks like it would help. The resin pellets to refill it are like $42 & have to be replaced every 100-800 gallons, depending on how bad my water is. I've also looked at reverse osmosis demineralizers. Anyone have experience with any of these? Looking for the least pricey method to make car washing easier.

**coopermosley** · 06-13-2017, 01:00 PM

I use RO water to wash all my vehicles. Ever since using it i will never go back. I have a 300 gallon tank at my house that i fill up with RO water that i buy locally for about .18 cents a gallon. I chose to do this because if i were to buy a RO filter system, i would be spending way to much money on replacing the filters.

**Ernie Mccracken** · 06-13-2017, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by coopermosley

I have a 300 gallon tank at my house that i fill up with RO water that i buy locally for about .18 cents a gallon.

$0.18/gallon delivered? That's dirt cheap. Can you pull from the tank using your pressure washer?

**Bruno Soares** · 06-13-2017, 01:20 PM

I have CR Spotless and it works great. But I only wash my car and my wife's car. If you're going to do a large amount of vehicles, you'll spend a lot in new resin. If your water is as bad as you describe, the resin will be "dirty" sooner rather than later. My water is around 215 PPM and of course after passing through CR Sportless it's 0. I just recently got it so I don't have any data regarding how long it lasts but based on their website, with 215 PPM I should expect around 350 gallons before I need to replace the resin.

**coopermosley** · 06-13-2017, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Ernie Mccracken

$0.18/gallon delivered? That's dirt cheap. Can you pull from the tank using your pressure washer?

Let me rephrase that, i buy it and deliver it to my own house. I fill up two 55 gallon drums and then i back my truck up on some ramps to elevate my truck higher than the tank, and then i am able to siphon the water out easily. saves me 140+ for a delivery charge. You can also transfer the water if you had a water pump, but i'm happy with the way i do it. Cheap and effective. I can normally pull from the tank as long as there is at least 75 gallons. When its full i have no problem. I would like a pump but its 100+ for a good pump to pump the GPM to my pressure washer.

**mcate** · 06-13-2017, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by BSoares

I have CR Spotless and it works great. But I only wash my car and my wife's car. If you're going to do a large amount of vehicles, you'll spend a lot in new resin. If your water is as bad as you describe, the resin will be "dirty" sooner rather than later. My water is around 215 PPM and of course after passing through CR Sportless it's 0. I just recently got it so I don't have any data regarding how long it lasts but based on their website, with 215 PPM I should expect around 350 gallons before I need to replace the resin.

Good info, & thanx. The CR Spotless is what I'm looking at. It's been so long since I had my water tested that I forget the #'s. I do my own cars, & 15-20 a year for customers, so I don't think replacing the resin would kill me moneywise. Maybe once a year.

**Salmonbum** · 06-13-2017, 01:43 PM

I have a CR System and its the best money I have spent. You can blow thru resin if you use 100% of time, but I am careful when I use mine. I try to only use it for rinse only, and that is with a 1.2 gpm power washer. If I get stuck washing in the sun, I will use it for the 1st rinse. Everything else I use normal water. However, my normal water is not normal. I have a Scale Blaster on my incoming water supply (city well water) . You can google it to see what it does. I was very skeptical at 1st, but it does work as promised. I could tell a difference the same day I installed it. Now it doesn't remove the minerals (that is what the DI is for) but it does make the not bond together, which makes soap more soapy, easier to rinse off etc...

I did just buy the filter\softener kit from AG but have yet to hook it up. I was gonna have the filter come off the spigot and the Y off from there. The water softener would be for the "normal" water, then the other line for DI water. running softened water thru DI kinda defeats the purpose.

I am by no means a pro, but if you look at my Sig I do have a personal fleet to take care of, including the few customers cars I do. I replace the resin about every 12 usable months or so (not used in MI winters).

BTW... Watch Costco around the 4th of July and again around Xmas. CR goes on sale.

**mcate** · 06-13-2017, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by Salmonbum

I have a CR System and its the best money I have spent. You can blow thru resin if you use 100% of time, but I am careful when I use mine. I try to only use it for rinse only, and that is with a 1.2 gpm power washer. If I get stuck washing in the sun, I will use it for the 1st rinse. Everything else I use normal water. However, my normal water is not normal. I have a Scale Blaster on my incoming water supply (city well water) . You can google it to see what it does. I was very skeptical at 1st, but it does work as promised. I could tell a difference the same day I installed it. Now it doesn't remove the minerals (that is what the DI is for) but it does make the not bond together, which makes soap more soapy, easier to rinse off etc...

I did just buy the filter\softener kit from AG but have yet to hook it up. I was gonna have the filter come off the spigot and the Y off from there. The water softener would be for the "normal" water, then the other line for DI water. running softened water thru DI kinda defeats the purpose.

I am by no means a pro, but if you look at my Sig I do have a personal fleet to take care of, including the few customers cars I do. I replace the resin about every 12 usable months or so (not used in MI winters).

BTW... Watch Costco around the 4th of July and again around Xmas. CR goes on sale.

More excellent info! Thanx!

**idriveblackcars** · 06-13-2017, 02:00 PM

Good info here, been thinking about the very same. My water doesn't seem as bad as the OPs as I can wash right in the sun if needed on a hot day and get little to no water spots before the cars are complete dry.

But this is an important step imo, and something that shouldn't be over looked.

**DetailKitty** · 06-13-2017, 02:26 PM

I JUST bought the Spotless System through AG and it is AMAZING.

I have some hard water... always ended up with hard water spots on my windows. Now no spots. My husband even went so far as to purposely NOT dry his BLACK car and then took it for a drive. Came back 10 min later and it was dry and spot free!
I have the 100 gal system. I don't know how often I will have to replace the resin bags... time will tell. I just make sure t turn the meter on each time I use it to make sure it's registering less than 20.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how fast he drove it in those 10 min to dry it