Anyone used this spot free hose attachment?

K

KWANG-SEOK

New member
http://www.spotfree.net/

I just read about this on another car forum, and since the water in my area is pretty hard, I thought it might be worth it to give this gadget a try the next time I wash my car. Does anyone have any experience with this product? Does it work? If not, is there anything else out there that's comparable that does work? It seems like it'd be easier to prevent water spots with a product like this than to try to eliminate them later.
 
to tell ya the truth i can barely see it...i clicked on the image on that page and its so thin...the pic i mean i cant really see the whole product.....do you see lots of water spots dood....otherwise...$50 is steep dood
 
I see people in car lots spraying the vehicles down each morning and the hose they use has an attachment that is the same concept as this. "De-ionization" or something like that, right?



I remember someone posted saying they knew the person who invented this technology...let me try a search.
 
Looks very interesting. Anyone has more information? Very tempted to order it right now. So basically it just filters out minerals from water, and does NOT add anything right? I mean it doesn't add any chemical of its own that may interfere with Zaino bonding right?
 
It does not add any chemicals to the water, rather pulls stuff out of it. Notice on the site it says it is only to be used for the final rinse and guarantees 120 minutes of usage. Then you have to spend $4 shipping it back and $20 for them to "recharge" it.



BTW be careful, the return policy is only 10 days from purchase, and shipping will take at least 4-5, not to mention the warranty terms are in <s>STRIKETHROUGH</s> which made me wonder a bit..



There may be more credible places to buy this technology. I know there was an As Seen On TV one, did anyone buy it? Someone here must have bought that thing!
 
Hi guys, first post here.

I used to work on fishing boats in south Florida where we travelled all over the Caribbean down to Venezuela. Water in most of these countries is horrible - very hard. We used a different product that does the same thing. It attaches to the hose on the dock. It basically filters the water through large rocks and then through rock salt. It works very well. I would still have to dry the boat after washing, but it was much easier and definately no spots.

I would only consider one if you have a problem with water spots on the car. Really the point for the boat was that by the time you finished washing, half would be dry and spots would be there. Shouldn't be a problem with a car though since you can dry pretty quickly after washing.

If you find water spots on your car, then you might have a bigger problem since you use the water in your whole house (asuming you wash at your house). There are many houses in S. Florida that have soften the water before it enters the house - a much better solution. You can recharge it yourself too. Really makes a big difference in the water in the house too.

Here is a link to a portable softner we used. I would not recommend the one above - you can't see it in the pic. I used to know the guy who invented this one and after using it for a while (4 years), I will attest to its effectiveness. Not sure if its needed for a car wash though.

Full_unit-cut.gif




Let me know if you have questions. YMMV

E. J.
 
Hey E.J., thanks a lot for the info! One question though: why did you have to dry the boat after rinsing with your spot free attachment? I thought the point of that application of the product was so that you didn't have to dry a huge boat by hand.



Forgive me if this is an ignorant question, I know nothing about boating. Port's left though, right? ;)
 
I have no idea what they are selling on this site but you can get a small 10gpd Reverse Osmosis unit that can produce thousands of gallons of mineral free water for under $100.

We have very hard water where we live so I have a 30g rubbermaid trash in the garage filled with purified water. I grab small 1g buckets full and pour them over the car for a perfect spot free rinse. When the trashcan is near empty, I hook the filter up to the gardenhose and let fill up the trashcan. For those that live in areas with water restrictions this product isn't for you as it produces a lot of waste water as part of the process. A Deionization filter will also do the trick too but for much more money.

Chech out http://www.spectrapure.com for water purification stuff. They sell units big enough to power car washes!

Mike
 
E.J. the price tag of that unit ($500?) is probably out of my league just to wash my car. You said you do not recommend the one from spotfree.net, any specific reason? Do you have first hand experience with it? Does it work and spots free? Let's see, 120 minute usage and $24 to recharge it. If I take 6 minutes to rinse my car then that will get me 20 usage so the cost for each use is a little more than a dollar. I really want to try it.
 
Actually, you'd get more usage out of it. You rinse your car with the normal hose, then just use this thing to rinse off the other water. So basically just hose off your car real quick and that's it.



I don't think I'd do it b/c I just don't like the idea of letting it dry and right now every time I wash my car I add another layer of something ;). It's just an interesting option to know about.
 
Okay Guys, let me try to answer your questions:



Puterbum: I still had to dry sections of the boat - especially the stainless and aluminum of the towers and rails. Those things spot no matter what you do. The piece was not a miracle worker - it did make the water spot less, but not completely get rid of them. On the wood of fiberglass sections - it worked great though. And yes Port is left and Starboard is right. ;)



Mike B - sounds like a good solution. We had big purifiers like that on our watermakers in the boat, but that is different. Sounds like you have the type of filter I saw in so many houses when I lived down there. Can you refill the canisters yourself?



William 420 - I don't recommend it without talking to the company first. I know nothing about that unit and can learn nothing about it from the website. That's the problem for me. I know the ones we used we were able to refill ourselves and $24 for some rock salt seems a bit high. And I would imagine you are going to get less usage out of it then you think. 120 minutes is a funny way to measure usage since all water pressures are different anyway.



Puterbum is right that you would only need it for the final rinse though.



I will say this, how many times have you gone through an automatic wash (maybe the wrong place for this ;)) and used the spot free rinse and had spots as soon as the car dries? Seems like the same problem at home.



Now will someone tell me what a QD is?



Thanx for listening.



E. J.
 
A QD is a bottled product you spray on the car that contains lubricating and 'glossifying' oils. It lubes up the surface of the paint so that you can gently remove dust using a nice plush cotton or microfiber towel.

Here's a link to one I use for more info.
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by puterbum [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>Here's a link to one I use for more info. [/b]</blockquote>
Thanx, I use that exact stuff, just didn't know the acronym. This board looks to be great.

E. J.
 
E.J.



The R.O. filters are user replacable. I've had this one for over a year and my hardness test kit still registers zero. We have well water here and it's like liquid rock. It doesn't taste too good either! :)



I was forced to this solution because during the summer I couldn't dry fast enough. The car would look like it had been dusted with a fine powder. Nothing short of a vinegar wipedown would get rid of the haze.



I tried rinsing with our softened tap water but those water softeners just replace the calcium with sodium. Sodium spots are just as hard to remove!



Now I literally let the car drip dry. The few spots left behind are easy to wipe off with a little QD or Window cleaner.
 
The spot free thingy is not a watrer softener. It is a mixed bed deionizer. What it does is take the static electric charge from the water and remove it, with plastic resins. There is no salt in it. When it removes the ionic charages it also removes the things that carry the charges, most notably, metals and calcium. Those are thte things that cause the spotting on cars, and windows and anything else. After a while the resins absorb as much of the metals and calcium as it can and it has to be recharged, or cleaned. They use strong Acids and bases to strip the stuff off the resins and make them ready for use again. I use these thigns every day in my fleet washing business, it saves a lot of time. I have a black truck, and as long as it is scrubbed down, there are not any water spots, or streaks after I am done washing it, and rinse it withe the DI water.



Scooter
 
Thanx for the clarification Scooter. I must have been confusing the home softners with the spot free. I do remember changing the 'rocks' (not sure what they were made of) inside it myself though. Maybe we got more deionizing rocks for refills. Certainly weren't sending it back from San Salvador to be refilled. :D



MikeB: sounds like you found a good solution. ;)



E. J.
 
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