Best way to dry a car "swirl free"

RaskyR1 said:
Accumulator, what is the TDS of your water? I plan to get one this spring and our water is around 115ppm.....hoping this will help get more life out of the resin.



Sorry, I can't recall...it's been forever since I had it professionally tested and I don't have a TDS meter other than the one on the CRS. Never ran my CRS spotless resin down all the way either, once it gets to ~30ppm it spots enough that I don't bother using it until I've replaced the resin.



I do sometimes wonder if my softener helps make the resin last longer, like maybe it's easier to get the sodium/potassium out that the calcium/etc. that's in "hard" water. Maybe the filters help too, they sure do get a lot of big stuff out (amazing what's in my municipal water :eek: ) But I don't really know :nixweiss



I do suspect that my water isn't all *that* bad. I'm the only person I know on my water system who filters/conditions it, and my friends (who don't) think I'm off the deep end.
 
G37 said:
Can you really just let the water air dry with this system??

I agree with Accum. My wife’s Forester is a little more challenging than my Challenger (or my old WRX for that matter) due to extra nooks & crannies non-DI water can hide. In my case, I do most of my drying with a blower. I then do a walk-around and use a QD or QW to wipe down any areas with drips/spotting. For the most part however, I would say it does dry 95% spot free (for me) when used only as a final rinse solution. ….any spotting that does occur is usually quite soft and easy to deal with.



I like the fact that I can actually let the water sit on the car for several minutes before I get around to using the blower. I will typically work in reverse and do the wheels/wells last while the rest of the car is still wet. I just find it easier to do it this way in my process (saves me from having to hook/unhook the hoses from my CRS system more than I care to). As I do my wheels, I just use the DI water.



Ideally, I want to have two hoses. ….one running directly off of my soft water/sediment filters (for washing/rinsing) and one coming from my DI system (for final rinsing). I just need to buy the additional connector and extra hose (which I keep forgetting).
 
RaskyR1 said:
Accumulator, what is the TDS of your water? I plan to get one this spring and our water is around 115ppm.....hoping this will help get more life out of the resin.





Thanks,

Rasky
Hey Rasky,



I don't know if this helps but I tested my water a while back and found the following....



This was my reading when taken directly from the tap:



PPMStraightTap.jpg




This was my reading when routed through my sediment and soft water filter (note: at the time, the soft water filter had not been “rejuvenated” for quite a while):



PPMSoftSedimentFilter.jpg




By the time my meter begins to read anything more than “000”, it’s only good for 2-3 spotless washes (in my case) before I need to change out the resin (I usually do it at or under 20 ppm).
 
Kean- Yeah, you do have some hard water there! Interesting to see the diff after the (not recently regenerated) softener.



And yeah, I'm a *BIG* fan of dedicated hoses. I have *five* of 'em in my wash bay! One for the CRS, two each for the foamgun and rinse hose (one pair foamgun/rinse on each side of the wash bay). I also have redundant wash/rinse buckets (a pair on each side)....I just hate dragging stuff around from one side of the vehicle to the other.
 
Accumulator said:
Kean- Yeah, you do have some hard water there! Interesting to see the diff after the (not recently regenerated) softener.



And yeah, I'm a *BIG* fan of dedicated hoses. I have *five* of 'em in my wash bay! One for the CRS, two each for the foamgun and rinse hose (one pair foamgun/rinse on each side of the wash bay). I also have redundant wash/rinse buckets (a pair on each side)....I just hate dragging stuff around from one side of the vehicle to the other.



The next time I change out the resin, I am going to see what the PPM reading is straight from the tap (again) and then through a freshly charged soft water filter. ....just for kicks.



Yeah, I recall reading about your setup. I don't know if I want to go that crazy (;)) but I certainly do get tired of connecting/disconnecting the hose and attachments (from the foam gun and nozzle). ....even with the "quick-connects" I installed.





....on a side note: Does anyone have an idea why I might not be receiving subscription notices for threads I am subscribed to? Ever since the upgrade I don't receive email notifications anymore. The option(s) is enabled as far as I can tell.
 
Kean said:
The next time I change out the resin, I am going to see what the PPM reading is straight from the tap (again) and then through a freshly charged soft water filter. ....just for kicks.



Yeah, I oughta do that too.

Yeah, I recall reading about your setup. I don't know if I want to go that crazy (;)) but I certainly do get tired of connecting/disconnecting the hose and attachments (from the foam gun and nozzle). ....even with the "quick-connects" I installed.



I tell ya, it'd drive me nuts. Once you try just setting the foamgun down (I usually lay it across the rinse bucket) and grabbing the other hose, you'll be hooked! Hey, it's only one "Y" connector and an extra hose ;) Biggest downside is having two hoses sitting there taking up room all the time. Or get one of those 4-outlet things from Gilmour and hook everything up to that; with the four individual shut-offs it's nice and handy and you can just leave it screwed onto the spigot all the time.



Yeah, easy for me to spend your money, huh? ;) But really, that switching stuff at the end of the hose is something you'll be glad you eliminated.



On a functional note, I find that it makes it easier for me to work more meticulously in a panel-by-panel manner. Not like "eh, I might as well do the other door too before I bother messing with the nozzle again", if you know what I mean.
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, I oughta do that too.





I tell ya, it'd drive me nuts. Once you try just setting the foamgun down (I usually lay it across the rinse bucket) and grabbing the other hose, you'll be hooked! Hey, it's only one "Y" connector and an extra hose ;) Biggest downside is having two hoses sitting there taking up room all the time. Or get one of those 4-outlet things from Gilmour and hook everything up to that; with the four individual shut-offs it's nice and handy and you can just leave it screwed onto the spigot all the time.



Yeah, easy for me to spend your money, huh? ;) But really, that switching stuff at the end of the hose is something you'll be glad you eliminated.



On a functional note, I find that it makes it easier for me to work more meticulously in a panel-by-panel manner. Not like "eh, I might as well do the other door too before I bother messing with the nozzle again", if you know what I mean.
....thanks for the input.



I guess I'm a little weird (at least some of my neighbors look at me that way) because I typically wash my cars in my garage. Luckily, one of the agreements I had with the wife is that nothing but my tools, detailing supplies, etc. occupy that space. ....since I do 99% of the maintenance on our vehicles, she had no problem with that. This means no extra "stuff" to get in the way and enough space to work (including washing).



I actually have an L-bracket installed on my fence just outside of the side door (to the back yard) that I hang my hose on after use (out of the way; next to where my sediment and soft water filter are mounted). I run one hose from the tap to the inlet of the filters and then my shorter hose (that I hang on the fence) is my "working end". I'm envisioning that I can hook a "Y" to the filters, hook the CRS to one outlet (with one hose connected to that) and then the other hose to the 2nd outlet. Essentially, I will have one hose that has DI water and one that is soft water/sediment filtered.



I typically just use the 2BM and don't usually break out the foam gun for my standard washes so I think this will work *ok* for me in the meantime. ....at least it will cut down on the hooking/unhooking of the CRS, hoses, nozzles, etc. :frusty:



....btw, I may be wrong, but I recall that you mentioned something about having a pressure/flow regulator or a restrictor for your DI system? If so, would you mind letting me know what you are using and where you acquired it? This whole time I have been using the fan setting on my nozzles (per CRS's recommendation) to keep the pressure within the range needed for proper filtration. ....this is obviously limiting if I want to use other settings and/or the flood method.



Again, I appreciate the feedback. .....:sorry: for the hijack OP.



IMG_0443.jpg
 
Kean- That's a nice clean setup, and yeah you have the right idea with the "Y" connector.



The pressure limiter is just a brass fitting with some internal design that limits how much pressure it'll transmit. Just looks like a hose connector to me, except for the specs stamped on it.



Note that I really need the pressure-limiter because I have a booster pump that really ups my water pressure. You might not need one.



If you do, check out RV supply places. I scoped them out online (easy to find with a google) and then stopped by the local RV dealer for mine. The ~40psi limit (that's from memory, so check before you buy) for the CRS happened to be the same as what's recommended for RV hookups at campsites/etc. so it was easy to get the right thing, the guys at the store knew exactly what I was after. Forget what it cost, maybe a little under $20.
 
....thanks again. I found a cool regulator from Toro a while back with brass connections, an adjustment knob and gages for pressure & flow. ....but I think it is more for temp hookup for the purposes of testing (not sure how it would do as a long term solution). I'll likely just stick with the restrictor.
 
RaskyR1 said:
Accumulator, what is the TDS of your water? I plan to get one this spring and our water is around 115ppm.....hoping this will help get more life out of the resin.





Thanks,

Rasky



115ppm is pretty low and will definitely help the resin last longer. Mine is about 225ppm. You should keep the water flow between 1- 2gpm.
 
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