DI-Water Tanks came yesterday (locally supplied) results mixed

MorBid

New member
I started a thread last week about getting DI-Water from a company that provides the same to my employer.



Well the tanks came yesterday and needless to say I was eager to give this a whirl.



The tanks are about the size of small scuba tanks and the driver showed me how to make all the connections (they came off the truck ready to go, but I needed to fit them in the trunk to get them home so they needed to be capped off as there was water already inside.



I usually use the two bucket method w/Meg's Gold Class soap and several wash mitts but being lazy I grabbed a bottle of Eagle One Bucketless Car Wash (mistake one).



I also washed the car in front of the garage (in the shade) as opposed to inside where I usually do (mistake two - it was windy)



Other than that I washed the car as usual, initial hose down, wash the roof first and working my way down the panels rinsing each panel as I was done. But I did not do a final low pressure rinse as I usually do (mistake three).



Observations:



1) Initally there was no pressure at the PW as it took a little time for the tanks to fill all the way up. After that everything at the PW ran fine.



2) After I finished the whole car I began looking at the panels and windows for water spots (here's where the mistakes come in)



Because Bucketless wash is a spray, it will carry with the wind.



I did see some tiny spots of soap on the panels and windows because of this but not any craters like when you leave a car wash. This in addtion to some dust from the grass and driveway.



I pulled the car into the garage and dried it w/a WW towel and the tiny spots were gone.



3) I did not dry the door jambs and inside the trunk hood area. When I went to work this morning I checked these areas and there was no spotting (soap or water).





Conclusion:



I need to try again with my usual wash routine before making the final call. But the results do look promising.



That is to say I don't think my locally supplied DI-Water quality would be inferior to the CRSpotless system.



I also am tracking usage to get the number of gallons processed. I am guaranteed over 300.
 
Sure, did you get your order from CRSpotless yet?



The first point I need to make is that no DI-Water system will do magic, that is if you leave any soap on the panels it will dry and you'll see it. CRPSpotless makes this point quite clear.



I've washed my A4 almost every day since getting these tanks.



I went back to the two bucket system but altered it a bit.



I use 2 1/2 gallons of water in the wash bucket but only 1 1/2 ounce of soap (which is less than what the label calls for). I use regular tap water for the buckets.



I also stopped rinsing the car after each panel and go around the entire car with several mitts then rinse from the top down.



I wash the car in the garage and let it drip dry.



Bottom line, if I get all the soap off, everything works as advertised. No Spots :)



If I don't then I see dried soap in the those places but not those deep craters that need to be polished out.



I think I use more water making sure I get all the soap off than I did if I was going to dry the car.



So far I've gone through 135 gallons of DI-Water.
 
Did you measure the purity of the water with TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter? How will you know when the tank stops being effective? I tried a resin based water softener that advertised reduced TDS and it actually increased it a little. You can get a TDS meter for fairly cheap on ebay.
 
buellwinkle:



Nope, didn't measure the TDS, don't have one of those thingys you mentioned.



The tanks came with a small lamp (like the LED'S on the CRSpotless system) that is attached to the valve where you connect the output hose. You plug that in while using the tanks and when the lamp no longer lights up the tanks are dead.



That or the blub is brunt out :)
 
Rollman:



I do use the system w/a PW



charlesu:



how did you end up resticting the water flow on your PW?
 
I was unable to regulate the gpm on my gas powered unit, so I bought an electric one from costco. The new unit only uses 1.6 gpm and my neighbors will appreciate the low noise level since I wash my cars in the evening. Ideally I wanted the B&D electric which uses only 1.0 gpm but it had to be special ordered which adds another $50.00 shipping.



By the way I went to wall mount my CR unit last night, it slipped, landed on my foot and broke my toe!:angry :angry
 
You need to be a bit more careful with Da Kine filter unit's before you loose a foot :)



sux about having to buy another PW though but I hear you on the noise thing. I've had to wash mine at night too with the heat and humidty we've been having,



One thing I did notice though that it takes forever for my car to drip dry if I leave it in the garage (which I do).



So your CRSpotless unit leaves not a spot huh?
 
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