Anything Wrong with Washing with Well Water?

**David Fermani** · 05-08-2008, 11:09 PM

I have a client that keeps his vehicles at his airplane hanger and the only water there is well water. He mentioned that it has a strong sulfur odor and hasn`t used it to wash vehicles before. I`d like to know what the ill effects would be if I used this water?

After washing and drying each vehicle, I`d clay with a dedicated clay lube and then *maybe* polish and lastly LSP. Could this water pose any problems with the performance of the products and/or damage the finsih in any way? I`d assume that the clay process would remove any residual minerals left on the finish after drying? Could the minerals in the water be abrasive in any way that when I dry the car, they could induce marring?

I know what you`re thinking. I should invest in a portable RO tank. But, not yet at this moment.

**imported_JoshVette** · 05-08-2008, 11:16 PM

I`m sure the sulfer would diminish any waxes on the vehicles, but if you`re claying and polishing anyways, I would not worry about the water damaging anything? Even if it did you`ll be polishing it out so you won`t know the difference....

Josh

**imported_themightytimmah** · 05-09-2008, 12:30 AM

Dave - for full details, it won`t hurt anything.

For washes, it`s going to be a PITA. If it`s Florida well water, it`s probably hard as nails, so you`ll need to use 2-3x the normal amount of soap just to get some suds. If the feed is crappy enough, it might pull out some micro-sediment and swirl things up while drying. It`ll spot real bad in the sun too.

There`s no one in the airport with a soft water hookup? We used to have one to wash planes with at my old airport.

**dublifecrisis** · 05-09-2008, 06:32 AM

use that crazy Mr Clean blue/green gun thing they sell at Target with the water de-ionizing cartridge. As silly as the thing is it does clean up the rinse water.

**AL-53** · 05-09-2008, 02:42 PM

Dave...I have 2 well for the house....ones a shallow well with soft water used for house hold..the other is a deep well 285 feet and it is used for outside stuff like grass and washing vehicles....been doing it for 24 years now...no problems to paint or killing any grass...lol...the only problem is minerals like Iron Sulphur..it spots on the paint it it dries....never seen any adverse effects of it diminishing a wax or sealant....

can not be any worse than city water with chlorine and acids to soften it and keep it germ free...

AL

**mhadden** · 05-09-2008, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by dublifecrisis

use that crazy Mr Clean blue/green gun thing they sell at Target with the water de-ionizing cartridge. As silly as the thing is it does clean up the rinse water.

I second this if this is really only going to be your only client with crappy water...

**abbeysdad** · 05-10-2008, 06:31 AM

Well water isn`t much different that water city folks get from lakes and reservoirs and all water has some disolved minerals in it. It`s unlikely that any of these is going to be that much of any issue in washing a car as we`re talking about microscopic partical sizes. A smell of sulfer, doesn`t make the water acidic to the degree that it would damage paint, although some high mineral waters might be more harsh on an LSP than rain water - but then claying is much more harsh than that!

**99blackSE** · 05-10-2008, 07:50 AM

Our water for our house (which I use to mix my wash solutions) used to be well water, and now it comes from the town supply. Haven`t noticed a difference between the two. It spotted like a son of a gun though if it dried.

**dmw2692004** · 05-10-2008, 08:00 AM

I have well water too. I just have to be careful when i wash int he sun, because it will spot the windows like NO other.

**Macruz19** · 05-10-2008, 10:40 AM

My gf lives in the country side of jax and she uses well water. She does have a nice coat of Zaino on it and no problems. She washes her car like every other day.

Only problem is you have to dry the water ASAP or it will leave hard water spots.

**imported_agentf1** · 05-10-2008, 12:04 PM

I have no issues with our well water but all my cars are Zaino`d to the T.

**RDAVEX7** · 05-10-2008, 12:48 PM

Depending on your area the well water may contain fine sand and other contaminates. I wouldnt want to wash my dog with that, but you cant see it either. People outside of town here use whole house filters and in some cases they use 2 in line filters. Pull an areator of one of the faucets in the hanger and see whats in the screen before you use it.

**Accumulator** · 05-10-2008, 03:58 PM

Considering what I`ve gone through getting my supposedly-good municipal water properly filtered and conditioned, I think that water from *any* source can have issues.

If the water smells funny, I`d run some kind of filter and, just for my own curiosity, I`d have a sample evaluated. I finally had that done with my water and I`m glad I did.

**David Fermani** · 05-10-2008, 07:21 PM

Thanks everyone for your help. I convinced my client to purchase a portable water filtration system. Which one is the best? Can you get good results with just a single inline filter or is the CR Spotless that much better?

**kustomsol** · 05-11-2008, 08:59 AM

I`ve been using deep well water since 1971 with no problems. Use it for our pool, washing dogs, and household use. We`re being annexed next month, so dread having to start using chlorinated, etc city water.