Resin Water Deionizer Systems

T

thewookiee

New member
Hi all,

I am ready to purchase a water deionizer system for mainly rinsing my vehicles after washing. But I am wondering if it`s worth my time and money to get one. If one is better than the other.

So my main issue is I have pretty hard well water, even though it goes through a sand filter. My TDS levels is about 320-340. I don`t recall seeing any reviews with someone with TDS levels as high as mine and with one of these systems brought it down to 0, or low enough where I won`t get water spots. Lots of videos show they went to 0 but they were around 200+, not in the 300s like I am.

My question is even with the CR Spotless systems that are 2 stages, and/or a one stage system like Adam`s Resin Water Deionizers, and the DI Pro50D. Will either of these systems bring my TDS levels below or low enough for a spotless rinse?

If they are good enough, what size should I get? The sizes I am debating a between the DIC10 and DIC20.

TIA
 
thewookiee said:
So my main issue is I have pretty hard well water, even though it goes through a sand filter. My TDS levels is about 320-340. I don`t recall seeing any reviews with someone with TDS levels as high as mine and with one of these systems brought it down to 0, or low enough where I won`t get water spots. Lots of videos show they went to 0 but they were around 200+, not in the 300s like I am.

My question is even with the CR Spotless systems that are 2 stages, and/or a one stage system like Adam`s Resin Water Deionizers, and the DI Pro50D. Will either of these systems bring my TDS levels below or low enough for a spotless rinse?
Click to expand...


I don`t know about the Adams or DI but I would have to think the CR Spotless with fresh resin would. The problem may be that your water may "wear out" the resin faster than typical water and you will be changing resin at a much faster rate than most.


thewookiee said:
If they are good enough, what size should I get? The sizes I am debating a between the DIC10 and DIC20.

TIA
Click to expand...

Depends on how often you wash cars (in other words just your own family`s personal vehicles or do you detail for money also?) and which is more important to you, saving money or the convenience of not having to change resin as often. The smaller one will obviously need to be changed more often.
 
I used to use a CR Spotless...then I got tired of that and since I have a water softener already, I had the soft water piped to my outside hose bib adjacent to the driveway. You might want to thing about whether in the long term a $400 water softener (that`s a small one I see at Home Depot) is going to be more cost effective than a CR and changing the resin all the time. That`s presuming you have a place to put the softener and you can install yourself, or for cheap since the plumbing is minor if just for the one faucet (and you need an outlet and a slop sink or floor drain for the regeneration discharge). The soft water isn`t spotless, but the spots it leaves wipe off. I`ve never missed my CR after I changed over to soft water.
 
Hmm. You have me thinking. I am just wondering if these resin systems will even work for me. Since I have around 340-370 ppm on my TDS meter. I would just be rinsing with the system and that`s it. That being said if these systems work and can take my water down to I believe 50 or less this should get rid of water spots.

I`m also wondering even just by using this to rinse, how long will it last before I have to change the resin because my water is so hard.

What size was your CR Spotless and how often did you have to change the resin. How hard was your water before and after using the CR?
 
I bought my CR a dozen years ago so, maybe more than that, when they first became popular here, it was the bigger one, I don` t know what their lineup is like now. As a previous poster said, it doesn`t matter how hard your water is, the system will work, just will be exhausted faster the higher your TDS. My problem also was I didn`t have room for the CR in the garage, so I had to bring it up and back down the steps to the basement every wash.

For a while I was running a hose outside from the (soft water) sink in the basement, which was also a pain until I bit the bullet and repiped the soft water to that outside faucet. You have to look at where your hose bib is and what the logistics are. And whether this is a passing fad and your wife is going to be teasing you forever about "that year you put a water softener in for washing cars".
 
thewookiee said:
What size was your CR Spotless and how often did you have to change the resin. How hard was your water before and after using the CR?
Click to expand...

What a ‘water guy’ explained to us:

How to calculate capacity for your DI cartridges.

You need the water Total dissolved solids (measures in ppm). Divide the ppm by 17.1 and that will give you the grains.

Most DI filters are measured in grain capacity so take the capacity and divide it by the grains in the water you are using.

Example with water at 276ppm/17.1 = 16.14 grains per gallon (gpg)

Average 4.5” x 20” DI Cartridge is 2300 grain capacity; 2300/16.14 = 142.5 gallons per cartridge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I haven`t looked at CR but Griot`s has a chart for theirs to give you capacity based on TDS.
90158fcc15d343394991635391bf1460.jpg


https://www.griotsgarage.com/content/pdf/37201.pdf

Other systems may have similar info available.
 
Thanks Older. That was the one of the systems I mentioned. That unit is pretty much the same as the Adam`s and DI Pro 50D.

According to the link you provided, the On the Go system estimates approx 90 uses if your water is 250ppm at 2gpm and if you use about 5 gallons per rinse.

That to me is good enough for my use, since I am basically only using it to rinse my motorcycle and GTR with it. I will not be using it for washing.

Thanks for the help, I will be getting one now.
 
I should have mentioned this earlier, but it`s been so long I forgot. Part of my problem with the CR is you never really get a "spotless" rinse, if you are just using it for rinsing. I use a foam gun if I do a conventional wash, and there is always some hard water/soap somewhere, and unless you rinse forever, there is always going to be some that is going to come out later, so you can`t really just rinse and let it air dry. So then I started using the CR for the wash, too, and then you start going through the resin faster, and still there are always some drips out of mirrors or somewhere that leave some spots.

So, since I never really found the CR Spotless to be "spotless", I decided to go with the soft water, and I`ve never looked back. But everybody`s situation is different.
 
I have 300-400 ppm.

Got the bigger CR Spotless last year and I love it.
Measured 0ppm for about 90% of the year, then the cartridges needed replacement.

So I ordered the down tube mod, and half a cubic foot of loose resin.

Should get me 40% more life out of it.
 
I have a CR system, too. While effective, I don`t really find it very useful for a few reasons.

1. I burn through the resin way too fast. I don`t know if my water is extra "mineraly", or if I`m just too heavy on the spray nozzle with my Kranzle, but it`s just not affordable. The refill process is easy enough, but man. It got costly.

2. Since the whole point is to fight water spots, when I`m washing I tend to let the pH neutral soap I`m using (foam cannon presoak) dry on the surface rather than water. When I`m through washing, I have to blast that residue off. In order to stay within the flow specs of the CR system, I have to turn the dial down so much that there isn`t enough pressure coming out to blast all the dried soap residue off. Sure, I could rinse with ground water at full pressure then immediately follow that with the DI water, but that`s a dangerous game when you`re working against the clock, and a pain in the rear having to swap connections and whatnot. I can`t imagine using the DI water for the presoak AND the rinse. It would only last me a handful of washes.

3. I don`t know the science behind it, or if it`s even true, but it seems like the DI water causes things to rust quicker than ground water. Bolt heads and certain areas on motorcycles, for example, seem to show rust very quickly when using DI water. It also wreaked havoc on the valves of my Kranzle when left to sit for an extended period of time between uses. They rusted out almost completely and had to be replaced. I don`t know if the same would have happened with non-treated water.

4. If you leave your CR system sitting in the garage for extended periods of time between uses and don`t get every last drop of water drained out and the resin dried, it will basically grow algae and go bad. I know this because this is exactly what happened to me and that was the information I got straight from CR when I mentioned I had only used a fresh refill one time, and the next time I went to use it, the TDS meter was already showing out of spec for clean water because I didn`t disassemble the unit and let everything dry out enough after I used it last.

5. Air drying sounds like a great idea in theory, and it will (mostly) work, but it`s very windy where I live and dust settles in that clean water as it`s drying and when the water evaporates, the dust is left behind and doesn`t look very nice. I end up having to dry very carefully with a detail spray or drying aid anyways, so other than not having to work as fast, I don`t see much benefit... even when parked in the garage.

No thanks, too much hassle, too much expense.
 
Noting that I only use mine for rinsing, some random thoughts follow (and regulars here have probably heard `em all before):

- The combo of CRS + soft water works well. Long resin life.
- Mine can sit unused for *ages* and still work fine. And I don`t mean just a month or two! That really surprised me. I have never really maintained it properly, and that hasn`t bitten me so far (YMMV of course).
- My vehicles retain so much water in the nooks/crannies (even after lots of blowing with the AirWand and compressor) that I often still get a little spotting even with the CRS, but it`s not bad.
-I too find that deionized water seems to cause worse corrosion, but it`s not as bad as soft water, which I`m using anyhow. No, that`s not been a problem, but I can sure see how it could be for somebody else. I see it as a case of picking one`s battles, and I simply hate dealing with hard water spotting.

And like so many here, I haven`t used mine in ages, not for at least a year. Heh heh, guess I *will* be maintaining it, or at least replacing the resin, if I ever want to get it back in service :o
 
A side note, perhaps useful or perhaps not.

Was talking with the mfg of AR Blue pressure washers w regards to DI use and they recommend flushing/running non-DI water through the machine after use. I guess the DI water can have detrimental effects on some internals of the pressure washer…maybe the seals?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
981 Cayman S said:
A side note, perhaps useful or perhaps not.

Was talking with the mfg of AR Blue pressure washers w regards to DI use and they recommend flushing/running non-DI water through the machine after use. I guess the DI water can have detrimental effects on some internals of the pressure washer…maybe the seals?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in my reply above, this is absolutely true. I left DI water in my Kranzle for an extended period of time and the check valves corroded to the point they did not work any more and the unit could not be used until they were replaced. When I say left DI water in for an extended period of time, I mean I did not flush it with plain water after use. I did, however, blow as much of the DI water out of the pump as I could with the water source turned off before putting it away. Didn’t matter.
 
Hmmm, I did order an Adam`sdeionizer, but have haven`t had the time to test it yet.

Thanks for the advice on flushing pressure washer out. Odd that the deionized water causes corrosion at all. You would think it`s the other way around. But what do I know.

Maybe I will just use a hose and deionizer for my rinsing and pressure washer just for presoak and wash.
 
After reading all of these issues with DI water, I think I will stick with rinse less washing for my maintenance washes. Water spots from rinse less washes come off so easily, even if a day has passed before you notice them. Sometimes a hard rain will remove them, they just don`t etch into the paint for some reason.
 
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