Spot Free water filters????

[Reflctn Perfctn]

How well do they work?????? Also how do you go about refiling them to keep on filtering the water????

[chml17l]

The "spot free" filters aren`t really spot free. Most use a ion exchange resin to soften hard water by replacing the Ca and Mg ions with salt. You can regenerate these filters by soaking the resin or flushing the filter with a strong brine solution.

If you want truly spot free, you would need some type of deionizing system like the CR spotless systems that allow you to rinse with DI water and then walk away without drying.

If you do a search for spotfree, you should find several recent threads with lots of details about the various filter options out there.

[DFTowel]

I swear by this one, car air dries without a water spot to be seen... http://www.pwgazette.com/gardenhosefilters.htm

[Bill D]

I have the same filter with the deionizing cartridge. The water here is pretty "mineral infested" so I never expect real spot free performance, just enhanced water quality.

[The Pit]

I swear by this one, car air dries without a water spot to be seen... http://www.pwgazette.com/gardenhosefilters.htm

Do you use that with a pressure washer?

[CarFlipper]

Do you use that with a pressure washer?

Ditto this question. Can I put this inline with a gas pressure washer?

CarFlipper

[usdm]

I have the same filter with the deionizing cartridge. The water here is pretty "mineral infested" so I never expect real spot free performance, just enhanced water quality.

See now, I spoke to the folks over at PWgazette, and I was discouraged
from buying the garden setup with the DI filter. I have no idea of
the actual size of the PW systems, but I think that using
two DI filters might give similar type of results as the CR Spotless.

[The Pit]

See now, I spoke to the folks over at PWgazette, and I was discouraged
from buying the garden setup with the DI filter. I have no idea of
the actual size of the PW systems, but I think that using
two DI filters might give similar type of results as the CR Spotless.

I`ve been looking into this too.

I had a similar conversation with pwgazette two days ago. If you combine the output of 2 DI cartridges you could get a flow rate up to 2 gpm (enough to feed my pressure washer). However, the problem (for me) lies in the size/capacity of the resin beds. My water hardness is about 20 grains/gal, and the capacity of their DI cartridge is 300 grains. Thus, I could only treat 15 gal of water per cartridge. The cost would be something like $1.80/gal. :eek Not a cheap solution. It seems like these cartridges are intended as a final stage treatment of RO water, where they would last much longer.

The CR Spotless would give you a lower operating cost for producing DI water, but I think an RO system would be even less (and you can use the RO for drinking water, coffee, etc.). I haven`t made a final decision, but I`m leaning toward RO as my spot-free solution. :cool

[chml17l]

I`ve been looking into this too.

I had a similar conversation with pwgazette two days ago. If you combine the output of 2 DI cartridges you could get a flow rate up to 2 gpm (enough to feed my pressure washer). However, the problem (for me) lies in the size/capacity of the resin beds. My water hardness is about 20 grains/gal, and the capacity of their DI cartridge is 300 grains. Thus, I could only treat 15 gal of water per cartridge. The cost would be something like $1.80/gal. :eek Not a cheap solution. It seems like these cartridges are intended as a final stage treatment of RO water, where they would last much longer.

The CR Spotless would give you a lower operating cost for producing DI water, but I think an RO system would be even less (and you can use the RO for drinking water, coffee, etc.). I haven`t made a final decision, but I`m leaning toward RO as my spot-free solution. :cool

RO systems are great filters, but they do waste a fair amount of input water. They are also very very slow filters. The flowrate acheiveable with a home system could not effectively feed a pressure washer or any on demand type system. You would have to store up a significant amount of filtered water before it could really be useful for rinsing a vehicle.

[PhaRO]

If flow rate is a problem, just have a second tank or bucket and filter into that and pump from there.

[SA Detailer]

Just attach garden hose to one end and put the green hose into my tank and it takes about 30 minutes to fill up my 225 gallon tank. I washed these 2 cars in blazing sun at the same time, then finished off the interior on both at the same time. When I was done, just wiped down some standing water. You can see beads of water dring but no spots. Plus the clarity in on the paint surface is remarkable.

[The Pit]

Nice setup, Martin. And nice results.

What do those tanks have inside? Do all three tanks contain DI resin beds or ??? :dunno

[Clean Dean]

I read that the the replacement tanks for the DI treatment tanks are very expensive. Anyone using commercial tanks (SAmobilewash) ? Costs? And were to buy?

Thanks.

[SA Detailer]

They`re resin and cost me $51 a month and exchange $85. They last about 4 months before exchange. I use a 3 tank system because I wash a ton of cars but when I first started, I had a 2 tank system that ran $32 amonth and $50 exchage.

[Ferrarislave]

What happand to the wheel wells on the mini ?