DI water vs. Pure water

R

RAG

New member
I've been greatly dissapointed with DI water so far. Long story short, my step dad used to own a water purification company and when I talked to him about my water needs/desires (I wanted water that would not leave any trace of deposits after a wash if the water "runs" out of the crevices afterward) and he told me I would be dissapointed with DI water in that regard and that it was over-hyped for this purpose - he seems to be right. I've been using my neighbor's DI water at my leisure, but still leaves pretty noticable spots and runs if you miss any water. To the cotrary, I've experimented with using my sparkletts drinking water on a few washes - and I've intentionally not cleaned up the water runs after the initial drying and NO traces of the runs remained after it dried :) My step dad informs me that I can get an industrial-grade water purification system that will be no more expensive than DI water...so I might have to go this route.



But I was curios, anyone else dissapointed with their DI water? Maybe my neighbor's system isn't up to snuff...but he get's it serviced and the filter replaced on a regular basis...so who knows.



Thanks.
 
Isn't this really a moot point. If your wet washes are followed by a drying process, the water you use (assuming it's clean and not swamp water) really doesn't matter. The droplet that comes from some obscure crack following a wash is nothing compared to rain falling out of the sky and the puddle in the road. If you can drink it, it's more than pure enough to wash the car.



However, if you're REALLY concerned, maybe it's time to 'go green' and switch to a rinseless wash (ONR or QEW like product) using only 2 gallons of water where there's no issue at all with spots.
 
I rent a DI system. Don't have any problems with it. It cost me $140.00 every time I exchange it. It comes with a quality light that turns red when tanks need to be exchanged.

It is a two tank system.



I use an electric leaf blower todry the car and remove the water fron cracks.
 
I have used Reverse Osmosis water from a local retailer called The Water Store. Ryan, they are off Patterson and Hollister if you care. It rinses/dries spot free but does leave drip "trails" lie you mentioned you're experiencing w/ the DI. There is a reason I have not looked any farther for other filtration types. I'll answer in two parts:



RO water costs my 10¢ a gallon. Anything else (DI, Distilled, Evian, etc) is going to be at least four times that, wether it's from my own system or store front purchases.



Fridays are my wash days. If I am washing say two vehicles at one residence, I will do my deal. . . wash both, WW dry both, door jams. At the end I purge all the cracks with my AC and wipe clean with a plush MF and QD which take me about two minutes a car.



what's you motive? Are you trying to cut out that last step? You're not neurotic about drips are you! :nervous2:
 
That's exactly what my stepfather suggested I use - RO water...supposed to be better than DI water.



I wash cars all day long twice a month and for this my motive is two-fold - I want to save time (not have to go back over the cars and clean up drip runs after the initial drying...time is money) and to achieve better results (I don't want to have to perfectly dry every little nook and cranny of the grill and bumper so I don't get accumulated water spots in thes regions).



Honestly, regular 'ol tap water has been working fine for me, but if I could save myself a couple minutes per car wash it would be worth it.







AMDin93103 said:
I have used Reverse Osmosis water from a local retailer called The Water Store. Ryan, they are off Patterson and Hollister if you care. It rinses/dries spot free but does leave drip "trails" lie you mentioned you're experiencing w/ the DI. There is a reason I have not looked any farther for other filtration types. I'll answer in two parts:



RO water costs my 10¢ a gallon. Anything else (DI, Distilled, Evian, etc) is going to be at least four times that, wether it's from my own system or store front purchases.



Fridays are my wash days. If I am washing say two vehicles at one residence, I will do my deal. . . wash both, WW dry both, door jams. At the end I purge all the cracks with my AC and wipe clean with a plush MF and QD which take me about two minutes a car.



what's you motive? Are you trying to cut out that last step? You're not neurotic about drips are you! :nervous2:
Click to expand...
 
Dent's & Details said:
I rent a DI system. Don't have any problems with it. It cost me $140.00 every time I exchange it. It comes with a quality light that turns red when tanks need to be exchanged.

It is a two tank system.



I use an electric leaf blower todry the car and remove the water fron cracks.
Click to expand...



This is what I use (my neighbor's system)...he's got a 10" tank.



He has they system so he can rinse his vehicles off without having to go through the entire wash process...but I just detailing his Yukon and it was spotted to hell - I had to charge him extra to polish the windows...so maybe his sytem just isn't up to snuff.
 
Dent's & Details said:
I rent a DI system. Don't have any problems with it. It cost me $140.00 every time I exchange it. It comes with a quality light that turns red when tanks need to be exchanged.

It is a two tank system.



I use an electric leaf blower todry the car and remove the water fron cracks.
Click to expand...





Do you get about 700 gallons per filter (exchange)?
 
I think the issue is the dirt/non-DI water in the cracks and crevices. First, you are not washing in the cracks and crevices, you get soap residue in there, you get your non-DI rinse in there. Since it's hard to get into the cracks, it really takes a prolonged DI rinse to get those areas rinsed, and if you are using some sort of air blow-off, you probably will drive some dirt out of there when you are drying. IMO, that's what make the DI an imperfect system--however I still use my CR Spotless.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I think the issue is the dirt/non-DI water in the cracks and crevices. First, you are not washing in the cracks and crevices,

.
Click to expand...



I use DI water through my pressure washer, for the wash and rinse.....I don't notice any problems with dirty run-off from cracks and crevices.



RET
 
Distilled water for $0.50/gallon at the grocery store! Filtration systems are cute, but god awful expensive -- and the recharging packs are highway robbery!
 
ret said:
I use DI water through my pressure washer, for the wash and rinse.....I don't notice any problems with dirty run-off from cracks and crevices.



RET
Click to expand...



I wasn't trying to say there is dirt in the runoff, just that it's not DI anymore after the water runs through there, and may spot.
 
the filter life of RO and DI is integral to source TDS. If high, your RO/DI will not last long.



If you have low TDS, like me, your RO annd DI will both have zero TDS, perfect. I am one 3 years with my RO/DI setup (for reef tank) and still have the original RO membrane. Made about 3,000 plus gallons so far. DI last shorter. Need to test. Membranes are cheap (depending on what GPD) you want. I like 75 and RO is like $38 to my door for Filmtec (dow)
 
RAG said:
This is what I use (my neighbor's system)...he's got a 10" tank.



He has they system so he can rinse his vehicles off without having to go through the entire wash process...but I just detailing his Yukon and it was spotted to hell - ....
Click to expand...
Sounds like your neighbor’s tank is past its useful life.



A properly spec’ed (sufficient resin volume and dwell time at the desired flow rate) and diligently maintained (resins changed often) DI system should be cleaner than any tap or bottled (drinking) water and most RO water. It’s common for industrial users to use an RO system to feed the input of DI resin tanks (to clean up the RO water).





PC.
 
the other pc said:
Sounds like your neighbor’s tank is past its useful life.



A properly spec’ed (sufficient resin volume and dwell time at the desired flow rate) and diligently maintained (resins changed often) DI system should be cleaner than any tap or bottled (drinking) water and most RO water. It’s common for industrial users to use an RO system to feed the input of DI resin tanks (to clean up the RO water).





PC.
Click to expand...



I agree 100% but at times they are very close. Example, if you have 10 ppm of TDS on tap (fed law I think is 500 or 1000) water and 99.5% rejection rate on membrane, that is 0.15 ppm left over. So the DI water is almost the same as RO output. I know my TDS meter would read zero on both.



And you are correct. I feed RO water to DI for my reef tank (makes 4 gallons every day). Most times higher pressue membrane have a better rejection rate. Mine is only 98% rejection. I think the pre-filters are what makes or breaks a unit.



I know most bottled are bad and most taps are bad. I was having fun one day annd tested like 6 bottled water. I think only 1 was below 10 TDS.
 
the other pc said:
Sounds like your neighbor’s tank is past its useful life.



A properly spec’ed (sufficient resin volume and dwell time at the desired flow rate) and diligently maintained (resins changed often) DI system should be cleaner than any tap or bottled (drinking) water and most RO water. It’s common for industrial users to use an RO system to feed the input of DI resin tanks (to clean up the RO water).





PC.
Click to expand...





I'm sure you're right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top