New Washing Apparatus - GleamFire

I'm intrigued. But not $100 intrigued. It's a good idea but I don't see enough people catching on to hit their mark.
 
I like it. It all depends how good the filters work though. The constant pumping seem like it could be a PIA. But using a wash mitt is a bit nicer opposed to a bunch of MF towels.

There is another 15 minute video on Vimeo where the dude demos it. But, for some reason he mixes regular wash solution with rinseless - so it's hard to tell how clean the solution stays (solution cloudy from "soap").

A while ago I came up with an idea of a "filtered bucket". It would be a rechargeable battery operated bucket with some type of electric fuel pump device forcing water through a filter type apparatus - chosen appropriately to remove damaging particles.

The filter / pump / battery part would be sealed off & built into the bottom of the bucket (walled off) so the bucket is balanced. It would be a 5 gallon size bucket, but the bottom gallon and a half area or so would be the mechanicals. It would be primarily for rinseless solution, the way I figure it you would need 2 gallons of solution max.

There would be a grit guard type device attached to it to scrub your mitt. There would be a few intake jets below the grit guard to designed suck in dirty solution in a swirling water down the drain type motion.

The clean solution would be pumped up a tube on the side of the bucket 3/4 of the way up. Kinda like an underwater fountain with an inline filter, or a pool filter.

I'm thinking this would enable you to do single bucket GDWM type washes with one towel and under 2 gallons of water.

The filter would obviously have to be some type of paper media type (easily replaceable), maybe with a screen type pre-filter (rinsable). The recharging cord would obviously plug into some jack in the bucket and would have a GFI.

I would want battery life to be around 2 hours (2 washes)... I'm not that familiar with battery technology - but my gut tells its reasonably possible without a super heavy battery - considering you will only need 2 gallons of water & depending on GPM. If the battery weighed 8-10 lbs I'd be happy.

Of course; all parts, filters, tubes, and battery would be replaceable (even the bucket assembly itself) and sold by me.

Ok. So now you can all make fun of me.

I have it figured out in my head. Maybe I'll invent it??

I'm thinking price would be between $200-$300... Which sounds like a lot, but if it kept the solution clean it would solve a lot of rinseless wash headaches and pretty much eliminate the need for a 2BM or washing a bunch of towels.
 
Swanicyouth said:
A while ago I came up with an idea of a "filtered bucket". I have it figured out in my head. Maybe I'll invent it??
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Ok, you just made public disclosure of your invention, you now have one year to file your patent application--go!

Anyway, that Gleamfire thing seems awful complicated for what it does, I watched a couple of the videos and I still don't understand how it works. I understand that when you plunge the thing down it forces water out in the middle, I'm not clear where the dirt goes after the water sprays on the mitt.

This kind of seems like one of those things a lot of people will buy, and it will wind up in the corner of the garage after a few uses, and eventually in the trash. Kind of like that Mr. Clean spotless rinse thing we all used to have, before we realized what a waste of time it was.
 
Unless I missed it, there is no good explanation of how the particles removed from the mitt become trapped in the "filters". I can see how when you plunge the plunger down it might push water out the top through that "filter", but there is no mention of a check valve or anything, so it would seem the reverse action would simply flush any trapped debris back out of the filter (or potentially would). As Tom Hanks said in Big..."I don't get it..."
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Unless I missed it, there is no good explanation of how the particles removed from the mitt become trapped in the "filters". I can see how when you plunge the plunger down it might push water out the top through that "filter", but there is no mention of a check valve or anything, so it would seem the reverse action would simply flush any trapped debris back out of the filter (or potentially would). As Tom Hanks said in Big..."I don't get it..."
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Ok, glad it's not just me. This is how I felt watching that video:

tumblr_mwfefycM6D1sh39amo1_400.gif
 
$130 glorified grit guard? Think I'll pass. I've done over 1,000 rinseless washes with ONR/ect. over the years and have never seen a need for this.
 
1) As mentioned, there appears to be foam 'filters' above and below the chamber where the wash mitt is placed. I don't see a way for the grit to escape the chamber.
2) This amounts to doing a no rinse wash with regular car wash soap. Who would do that?
3) I get the idea that the pumping action will agitate the mitt to remove grit...but that's not unlike what one would do in a rinse bucket.

This might appeal to the non-autotopian novice enthusiast lured to the dark side of car care or the unwanted present you get from your significant other, but I'm not buying in. I'll stick to conventional no rinse or 2 bucket wash with built in grit guards.
 
I'd rather use the "self-rinsing" approach of my BHB-foamgun combo. No need for dirt to ever end up stuck to the wash media if I do it that way, rinse buckets stay nice and clean as proof that it's working. But then some find the BHB-foamgun combo awfully pricey too.
 
Accumulator said:
I'd rather use the "self-rinsing" approach of my BHB-foamgun combo. No need for dirt to ever end up stuck to the wash media if I do it that way, rinse buckets stay nice and clean as proof that it's working. But then some find the BHB-foamgun combo awfully pricey too.
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Is that a rinseless solution?

Or you're using traditional soap + final rinse?

I like the idea of the contraption in the OP. Just needs to be better engineered.
 
JVD said:
Is that a rinseless solution?

Or you're using traditional soap + final rinse?
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Traditional soap/water, either a final rinse or a final misting with a rinseless wash. I wouldn't do a rinseless-only no matter what (I realize that many do).

I was perhaps unclear when I posted "self-rinsing"- what I meant was an automatic rinsing of the wash medium being used. The foamgun's output flushes all the dirt away and *out of my wash media* so that there's little need to rinse said media (more true with the BHBs, but also to a great extent with mitts).
 
Accumulator said:
I'd rather use the "self-rinsing" approach of my BHB-foamgun combo. No need for dirt to ever end up stuck to the wash media if I do it that way, rinse buckets stay nice and clean as proof that it's working. But then some find the BHB-foamgun combo awfully pricey too.
Click to expand...

Accumulator, can you do a video shoot of the BHB foamgun combo.
You have a bhb in one hand and a foam gun attached to a garden hose in the other?
 
Ok. You've all convinced me. Maybe it is kinda stupid. It seems designed to clean the mitt, but doesn't seem to do much of anything to clean the solution. So now you using a concentrated (1.5 gallon / car) dirty wash solution.


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