Deionized Water Plus/ Minus?

Beemerboy

Beemerboy

Just One More Coat
In reading about this 5 minute car wash...I decided to do some R&D on the DI water...this seems to me one of the huge time saving factors in this 5 minute deal.

Is anyone on here using it or have experience with DI water?

Here is an article about it written by Lance Winslow of the Car Wash Guys...in reading a bit more about Lance ..and his practice / technique is similar to what LD is talking about.:hmmm:

His theory is cheap and fast on car washes...again:hmmm:


Reverse Osmosis and Deionized Water Filtration
 
the machines seem fairly costly for a part-time detailer, yet it wouldn't be that bad for a full-timer with a good deal of business :idea
 
Poorboy said:
the machines seem fairly costly for a part-time detailer, yet it wouldn't be that bad for a full-timer with a good deal of business :idea
Click to expand...

I saw that Steve pretty costly....is there a place to buy DI water?...LD is using it so if you had to buy the water the price per-gallon would be a factor in the over all cost of the wash....maybe its cheap if you can find a place that sells it
 
Beemerboy said:
I saw that Steve pretty costly....is there a place to buy DI water?...LD is using it so if you had to buy the water the price per-gallon would be a factor in the over all cost of the wash....maybe its cheap if you can find a place that sells it
Click to expand...

true..if there is a place that has that large machine from the article and is filling many 100's of gallons overnight, as it said these machines should run constantly, they should be able to sell it cheap:hmmm:
 
Poorboy said:
true..if there is a place that has that large machine from the article and is filling many 100's of gallons overnight, as it said these machines should run constantly, they should be able to sell it cheap:hmmm:
Click to expand...

A small unit can produce 4 GPM...that's 240 gallons an hour...that unit is about 5K or about there...so some one could be selling water cheap enough.

All the said I'm more interested in seeing what the effect of the water is on the cars surface without drying it
 
Well it shows the smaller units costing about $4500 to get 4 Gallons per minute...

You would have to figure out the costs of drying the car and how long it would take to make up that money...

Personally if I were getting my car washed, with one of these five minute washes I would want my car dried...that way as I am driving away dust and dirt particles are not attaching themselves to the water.
 
There are 'water stores' that sell DI water. I've heard of them but never really went looking for one. My dad is an operations manager for a factory, he is always tells me to bring a barrel by and they will fill it up. lol They have to pretreat all their water before they can send it down the sanitary drain. It's pretty cool, the size and scale of the water treatment area of the factory.
 
BlueZero said:
There are 'water stores' that sell DI water. I've heard of them but never really went looking for one. My dad is an operations manager for a factory, he is always tells me to bring a barrel by and they will fill it up. lol They have to pretreat all their water before they can send it down the sanitary drain. It's pretty cool, the size and scale of the water treatment area of the factory.
Click to expand...

When I worked in the circuit board industry we had massive water treatment machines and like your father we returned better quality water than we received in most cases.
 
I may be mistaken, but RO and DI water are similar but different. Reverse Osmosis filters are extremely wasteful and unless to have a way to re-capture the discharged (unfiltered) water, it doesn't seem to be a very efficient (cost/resource) process.

Depending on how much DI water you wanted you could surely find a local provider. For smaller quantities (+/- 20 gallons) a local pet store that deals with aquariums could be a source.

There was someone on one of the fourms that did their own DI water from their garage. There were pictures of the setup and he mentioned the monthly costs to have the system serviced.
 
I used to rent mixed bed DI tanks which was costing about $.12/filtered gal. I have a local place that I can purchase RO water for .10/gal; so I opted to just buy it... when it gets busy though I will go back to DI, for the time in driving two times a day to refill is not cost effictive.

As for a little education, DI water is still on the caustic side of the PH spectrum, prolonged usage does cause premuture wear and tear on your pressure washer pump and can lead to a light etching on glass (use it every week for 2 years you'll see what I'm talking about). On the flipside RO is PH balanced -- thus pumps will last longer and no risk of etching. Yes, Both dry spot free, however if there is the slightest wind or dust, it can leave a ring where the dirt settled in the spots.

Beemer, for you I might suggest upgrading your house and installing a softwater system, you might just get a tax right-off while increasing the value of your home, and well, um.... as an added bonus you can tap into it to wash cars "spot free";)
 
Beemer,

I have a water softener hook up to my water hose which takes care of the water spots etc(I am assuming this is the premise for your post)...

Secondly it makes your cleaners more effective because they dissolve easily in soft water. Which make your whole cleaning process more effective....

I could be wrong but it would be a first for me... JUST KIDDING...Check out a water softner unit in addition to your other research on ro and di...

Ro and di water is really good for fish tanks because there are no contaminates and such but for car washing I really don't see the point in using water THAT pure.
 
Just one more small not. Water spots are caused by the minerals in the water that are left behind when the water evaporates. A water softener removes these minerals.

Ok I'm done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top