Pretty good solution for hard water

J

jayzbird

New member
After spending most of my autopian life on the SF Peninsula with it`s wonderful soft Hetch Hetchy water, I was dismayed with water spotting after moving to San Jose with its hard water. Plumbing a dedicated hose bib from my water softener helped, but only to make the spots less stubborn. I`ve been toying with the idea of a deionized system for years, but with the hassle and expense I never pulled the trigger. So I decided to try a simple solution first.

I picked up one of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/SOLO-4-Gal-Backpack-Sprayer-Diaphragm-475-101/312096596

solo-pump-sprayers-475-101-64_400.jpg




and a bunch of these: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Distilled-Water-1-Gallon/10315382

I do wheels last as I hate refilling the wash bucket, so after I`ve washed the body, I grab the sprayer and walk around the car spraying down with distilled water. A sports car takes maybe 1.5G = $1.20 of distilled water. The Solo is good for this because though it`s perhaps not the best quality, it has high pressure and can get the water down. I tried a more expensive/better Echo after the first Solo leaked, but it didn`t have the pressure, so got another Solo and this time it is tight. I also didn`t depressurize the first Solo after use, so that may have played in. Anyway, leaking a bit of distilled water is no biggie.

After washing down with the distilled water, I then do the wheels with the residual wash water and then finally dry with a blower. Before, I was always rushing with the wheels, respraying down the car intermittently so it didn`t dry, and also rushing the blower for the same reason. Now, I can take my time with the wheels, blow darn near all the water off and blow the heck out of all of the crevices. My drying towel is now barely damp afterwards.

And yet, practically so spots whatsoever! While you do have to haul out the sprayer and fill it occasionally, I think this is quite easier than rolling out a deionizer unit, dealing with long hoses, etc. And it seems at least as economical despite buying the water by the gallon.

Anyway, I just thought I`d share this that seems to have worked pretty well.

The results!

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Nothing "wrong" with your innovative soft/distilled water approach. Some may see it as expensive and crazy, BUT if you do it on an infrequent basis, even once a week, it is, as stated, cost-effective compared to the cost of buying and maintaining a CR Spotless System.
I do see that the Autopia Store is selling a hobbyist-centered (AKA, inexpensive) de-ionizing system that might interest you:
https://www.autopia-carcare.com/car-wash-water-filter-kit.html#.X9jp2VVKiM8

And, yes, there is a difference between distilled and de-ionized water.
 
Wish mine didn`t retain so much water as to make such an approach unfeasible :( Even pressure washing with DI water is *FAR* from satisfactory...

That said, when I do need to do something like that I use first IUDJ and then Distilled Water through the Tornador Black.
 
Lonnie said:
Nothing "wrong" with your innovative soft/distilled water approach. Some may see it as expensive and crazy, BUT if you do it on an infrequent basis, even once a week, it is, as stated, cost-effective compared to the cost of buying and maintaining a CR Spotless System.
I do see that the Autopia Store is selling a hobbyist-centered (AKA, inexpensive) de-ionizing system that might interest you:
https://www.autopia-carcare.com/car-wash-water-filter-kit.html#.X9jp2VVKiM8

And, yes, there is a difference between distilled and de-ionized water.
Click to expand...

I question if they are misrepresenting what that actually is. They say de ionizer however refer in the description to it being a softener.

Also worth mentioning they say the cartridges can be renewed (regenerated) which leads me to believe it`s a softener, not a de ionizer. From what I have read, it`s not exactly a consumer friendly process to regenerate de ionizer resin like it is to regenerate softener resin (just add salt).
 
Accumulator said:
Wish mine didn`t retain so much water as to make such an approach unfeasible :( Even pressure washing with DI water is *FAR* from satisfactory...

That said, when I do need to do something like that I use first IUDJ and then Distilled Water through the Tornador Black.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this doesn’t work so well on cars with big flat surfaces or that don’t have a good LSP to bead up well.
 
jayzbird said:
Yeah, this doesn’t work so well on cars with big flat surfaces or that don’t have a good LSP to bead up well.
Click to expand...

Heh heh, actually....those factors work in my *favor*! Big panels on most of my vehicles, *always* well-LSPed...it`s the water *retention* that drives me nuts! Think "panel gaps you could lose a small child in" ;) and trim/etc. that`s just as bad. Funny, at least to me...that the cheap vehicles aren`t any worse than the pricey ones!
 
Maybe a quick blow to get off the large pooled/heavily beeded areas, then the distilled spray.? It costs time, but perhaps you get it back from less marring with the drying towel. Another problem with blow drying with hard water is the last little bits will “atomize”, dry and leave a splattered residue, so you can never fully dry the panel with air. I’ve found this to be greatly reduced with the distilled spray. My dry towel is now barley damp at the end where it used to be pretty saturated, even after blowing first. But still the biggest benefit is the luxury of time to do the wheels and blow crevices not fretting that every minute spent is spotting up the main panels.
 
jauyzbird- IMO if there`s any marring from the Drying Process that`s a clue that something`s very wrong. (I assume that the towels themselves don`t mar paint! You did/do test `em, right?) I`d *expect* that any Drying-related marring comes from residual dirt that somehow failed to get cleaned off during the wash, and if that`s the case the solution is to simply get the car cleaner before trying to dry it. While a touchless drying approach might sidestep that issue, there`d still be that residual dirt on the car..."no thanks!" since clean(er) cars look better and don`t get marred if somebody/thing touches `em ;)
 
Lonnie said:
Nothing "wrong" with your innovative soft/distilled water approach. Some may see it as expensive and crazy, BUT if you do it on an infrequent basis, even once a week, it is, as stated, cost-effective compared to the cost of buying and maintaining a CR Spotless System.
I do see that the Autopia Store is selling a hobbyist-centered (AKA, inexpensive) de-ionizing system that might interest you:
https://www.autopia-carcare.com/car-wash-water-filter-kit.html#.X9jp2VVKiM8

And, yes, there is a difference between distilled and de-ionized water.
Click to expand...

Those cartridges look pretty small (10x2?). Depending on the quality of your water you could blow through those very quickly even with just final rinses. CR spotless systems have larger capacities but do cost more. I have a version of this diy setup: https://reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/comments/e1jolf/diy_di_spotless_rinse_setup_parts_list_included/

I was able to source mostly cheaper parts than the OP. Cost around $200 and $40 of that was the in-line tds monitor. It will still cost (dependent on water quality) a bit more per wash for me than a portable distilled setup due to having to replenish resin. But it is worth it to me to have my pressure washer/hose reel/di filters wall mounted together for convenience.



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I have a deionized water question, I`m looking into a small system to buy. There are 2 detailing stores in my city that sell deionized water, I know one charges 8 cents a gallon. I understand they`re doing huge quantities, but these are tiny mom and pop shops. What kind of setup would they be using to be able to sell water for that cheap and still make money? The stuff I`m finding to buy and make my own I`d be at .30 a gallon minimum. Obviously they`re not using a system that you need to replace resin every 400 gallons. But even the bigger systems I`m seeing the price per gallon doesn`t change all that much. 8 cents a gallon makes me wonder if the water`s even good for detailing. I want to buy some and use a TDS meter to test it.
 
quebert said:
I have a deionized water question, I`m looking into a small system to buy. There are 2 detailing stores in my city that sell deionized water, I know one charges 8 cents a gallon. I understand they`re doing huge quantities, but these are tiny mom and pop shops. What kind of setup would they be using to be able to sell water for that cheap and still make money? The stuff I`m finding to buy and make my own I`d be at .30 a gallon minimum. Obviously they`re not using a system that you need to replace resin every 400 gallons. But even the bigger systems I`m seeing the price per gallon doesn`t change all that much. 8 cents a gallon makes me wonder if the water`s even good for detailing. I want to buy some and use a TDS meter to test it.
Click to expand...

Do you know what the quality of their incoming water is? Low TDS combined with a cheap resin source could produce cheap DI water. That is very cheap to sell at though. I’m at around 220 TDS and it should come out around 20-25 cents a gallon.


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