*Cheap* replacement for CRSpotless

Haven't gotten the cartridges yet.... the "Honey-Do" list has taken preferance to detailing this week. 'Sides, the shorter the honey-do list is, the happier the wife is = the more money I can spend on detaling products. Doesn't take a real smart engineer to solve that equation. :)



The cartridges will be here next week. I'll post pics and info (in a way sure to make even the most griseled engineer proud) as soon as I can.
 
Great, thanks.. I really appreciate it. I heard of a possible group buy on the CR spotless system, but don't expect it to be much cheaper than costco prices. Even at the costco price, it is still pretty expensive. Can't wait for your report
 
Edited/udated first post with initial information and pic of the cartridge. Test results tomorrow if the rain breaks. :/
 
SuperBee364 said:
There are also some other ways to put together your own CRSpotless wannabe system that look to be even better than my arrangement. When I get more time, I'll post the parts, links, and prices to put it together. It'll flow 3 gpm, and have 1900 grains of capacity for a bit more money than my arrangement, but still substantially cheaper than CRSpotless's bottom end offering. 3 GPM is more than enough for the vast majority of PW's to run at full tilt. My John Deere unit says 2.4 gpm minimum input, and it's a big PW.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the update, I'd love to here more about your idea that you're talking about here^.
 
Bee-thanks for the update and all the pics. It does seem a do-it-yourself system may also work for others depending on their water quality. I'm off to determine my hardness/TDS and see if this might be a solution for me.
 
Did some of my own searching and this looks familiar...



housing_slim_line_20.jpg




20" slim line filter housing



Only 30 bucks each too.



Edit:



Those seem to be smaller than the CR spotless ones, however here's the same one I believe: But this is 75 Dollars Each



http://www.waterfiltersonline.com/images-sm/150233-20-bb.jpg



Pentek ® 150233 Big Blue 20 Inch Water Filter Housing



However they have volume discount prices:



Buy 2 or more and save $10.00 on each item.

Buy 4 or more and save $17.50 on each item.



They also have mounting brackets for $25 Dollars. I think we can make an identical CR spotless system for less than half the retail price.
 
Those are just the housings. The DI cartridges are $50 each for the SlimLine and $120 each for the Big Blue. Then add $40 for the inline TDS meter and a few bucks for miscellaneous fittings.





PC.
 
the other pc said:
Those are just the housings. The DI cartridges are $50 each for the SlimLine and $120 each for the Big Blue. Then add $40 for the inline TDS meter and a few bucks for miscellaneous fittings.





PC.
Click to expand...



You can buy 2 cartridges with resin straight from CR for 120. So that's 240 total plus a tds meter (40 for inline) and a cart if you would like one. You can have an identical system to the large model CR for about 300 then, which is still cheaper than 450. The best price I've seen is for a group buy and that's 370. So you still save 70 bucks. I'm sure if we could find the cartridge that CR uses elseware we could save a bit more also.



RC2-20 Replacement Cartridges For The CRSpotless Wash System - CRSpotless.com
 
SuperBee364 said:
Environmental Protection Agency - Local Drinking Water Information

you can find out how hard your water is. Using this information, you can determine how many gallons of water these filters will effectively deionize. My water averages 13 grains per gallon (among the hardest water in the U.S.). Each of these filters has an estimated capacity of 300 grains. Since I'm using two (for 600 grains total capacity), that gives me a total capacity of about 46 gallons per set of two filters.



CRSpotless's cheapest model DIW-10 Spot Free Wash System - Deionized Water Maker - CRSpotless.com

says that it has a 100 gallon capacity. Unfortunately, they don't give the capacity in grains, so it's impossible to know how many grains per gallon they base that 100 gallons on. If they use an average hardness of about 7 (which seems fair, as somewhere I read that the U.S. average is 7 grains per gallon), then that would give them a total capacity of about 700 grains. 100 grains more capacity than what my setup has. So for $299.00, you get 700 grains of capacity with the CRSpotless system, or for $100, you get 600 grains of capacity with my system. I'm not a math wizard, but my setup sure looks to be a better deal. Hopefully someone with a CRSpotless can chime in with the actual capacity of their system *in grains* and not gallons.
Click to expand...



SuperBee,



Ok, 13 grains is equal to 224 ppm. At that water hardness, my CR Spotless will get approximately 375 gallons per resin fill. The resin costs $90. $90 divided by 375 gallons equals $.24 per gallon. Your setup costs $54 for the two filters that provide you with 46 gallons of filtered water. $54 divided by 46 gallons equals $1.17 per gallon. I know that you said that the filters can be unscrewed to allow the use of “bulk� media, but how cheap will that media be? There is a substantial price difference to make up between the two.



Thoughts? Thanks for taking the time to provide all of this info SB.
 
blk45 said:
SuperBee,



Ok, 13 grains is equal to 224 ppm. At that water hardness, my CR Spotless will get approximately 375 gallons per resin fill. The resin costs $90. $90 divided by 375 gallons equals $.24 per gallon. Your setup costs $54 for the two filters that provide you with 46 gallons of filtered water. $54 divided by 46 gallons equals $1.17 per gallon. I know that you said that the filters can be unscrewed to allow the use of “bulk� media, but how cheap will that media be? There is a substantial price difference to make up between the two.



Thoughts? Thanks for taking the time to provide all of this info SB.
Click to expand...



Your CRSpotless has a capacity of 84,000 ppm??? Wow, that's huge, and I think probably not correct. If so, then the CRSpotless cost effectiveness makes this whole discussion of putting together a DIY system moot. I'm just about positive that the 100 gallons of capacity from DIW-10 Spot Free Wash System - Deionized Water Maker - CRSpotless.com is figured at 7 grains per gallon which is the national average water hardness. The filters used in that unit are ten inch units, and the ones I'm using are 9.75 inch filters. The ten inch ones having a 700 grain capacity (per two filters) falls pretty much in line with the 9.75 ones having 600 grains capacity (per two filters). I'm pretty certain that my figures are correct. Plus, you're stating that your system has a 375 gallon capacity, which doesn't agree with the stated capacity from their web site of 100 gallons.



Anyway, here's the info for the higher flow and capacity system I was thinking of:



The 3 gpm capacity system consists of this filter: FPMBDIR-BB-20 which is $125.00 and has a capacity of 1900 grains (about 271 gallons at average water hardness of 7)



And the GH400 housing from this page: Garden Hose Filters with Higher

which is $118.00.



Total cost for this setup is $243.00, and would flow well enough to feed any home PW.
 
Here is the chart that they provide SB.



CRSpotless.com - Wash, Rinse, and Walk Away



They say that 200ppm (11.7 grains) will equal 388 gallons of filtered water, so I adjusted slightly, not totally accurate though. I'm using the DIC20 chart for reference, but it is a moot point because the DIC10 gets approximately half the gallons of filtered water per refill and the resin refills cost half as much as the DIC 20, so they are even in the price per gallon ratio.
 
According to that chart, the 0.17 cubic feet in the dual ten inch filter CRSpotless system would have a capacity of just slightly less than 200 gallons. Follow the "200 ppm" line, then look next to the .17 "Vol of Resin" column (which is the amount of resin in two of their ten inch filters), and you get 200 in the "#Gal from .17 cf" column. Since the actual hardness would be 224, it would be slightly less than 200 gals. Still quite away from 375, but certainly much higher capacity than the filters I have.
 
SuperBee364 said:
Your CRSpotless has a capacity of 84,000 ppm??? Wow, that's huge, and I think probably not correct. If so, then the CRSpotless cost effectiveness makes this whole discussion of putting together a DIY system moot. I'm just about positive that the 100 gallons of capacity from DIW-10 Spot Free Wash System - Deionized Water Maker - CRSpotless.com is figured at 7 grains per gallon which is the national average water hardness. The filters used in that unit are ten inch units, and the ones I'm using are 9.75 inch filters. The ten inch ones having a 700 grain capacity (per two filters) falls pretty much in line with the 9.75 ones having 600 grains capacity (per two filters). I'm pretty certain that my figures are correct. Plus, you're stating that your system has a 375 gallon capacity, which doesn't agree with the stated capacity from their web site of 100 gallons.



Anyway, here's the info for the higher flow and capacity system I was thinking of:



The 3 gpm capacity system consists of this filter: FPMBDIR-BB-20 which is $125.00 and has a capacity of 1900 grains (about 271 gallons at average water hardness of 7)



And the GH400 housing from this page: Garden Hose Filters with Higher

which is $118.00.



Total cost for this setup is $243.00, and would flow well enough to feed any home PW.
Click to expand...



Superbee,



The link I had before has what I believe is the same housing for 75 and if you buy 4 you get a discount of 17.50. I'm just trying to find the same cartridge that the CR spotless uses.
 
Yes, but like I posted before, the DIC10 resin costs half of what the DIC20 does and produces half as much filtered water, so the price per gallon is equal (as it should be).



Just for comparisons sake, at 200ppm, the DIC10 will produce 200 gallons of filtered water, so say at 224ppm, you only get 170 gallons. $45 resin divided by 170 gallons equals $0.26 per gallon. Still very close to my original estimate.



Like I said before, thanks for taking the time to provide this info. I think it is valuable for everyone. I think it makes it a lot easier to understand when it is broken down like this. As I said before, I tried to do it the "cheap" way and I ended up buying the CR. The "cheap" way turned out to be not so cheap after all. Not to mention the flow rates, but that is another point that may or may not be important to people. You know how it goes.....you get what you pay for.
 
Yup, it appears that this whole thing was rather a waste of time; the CRSpotless system does produce DI water at a cost per gallon that beats mine by quite a ways. Even if you bump the media up to $60 (which is what it's listed at on CRSpotless.com), the price per gallon is still only 35 cents. Much cheaper than mine, and you get a TDS gauge, too.



The real kicker is this: Costco - CR SPOTLESS De-ionized Water Filtration System



NSXtasy sent me the above link last year. Not only is this system 80 bucks cheaper than CRSpotless.com's price (the Costco price is $370.00), it includes 50 feet of hose, two filters, and *two additional bags* of filter resin. Buying all that from CRSpotless.com would run you $540.00, and you still wouldn't have the 50' of garden hose.



Sooooooo... save yourself some money and hassle and buy a CRSpotless. If you want to save as much as you can, and get the best price per gallon, the system from Costco linked above is going to be very hard to beat.



Oh well, it was a fun experiment. Guess I should start saving up for my own CRSpotless. :(
 
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