Water Filter Surprising results...

SuperBee364

SuperBee364

New member
Just got my water filters today. I got a double cartridge unit and put two water softening cartridges in it since the water here is extremely hard.



So this morning I hooked up the filters, filled the foam gun with 2 ounces of Meg's Gold Class, and fired up the pressure washer. This was also my first time using my new BHB.



I wasn't happy at all with the results. The Meg's gold class didn't foam for shucks, the BHB didn't clean nearly as well as a microfiber mitt, and the shampoo was extremely difficult to rinse off using the soft water. I let the surface of the car (my wife's very dirty Sequoia) air dry to see if I had finally hit the combination that would let me air dry my cars without spots. Nope, not yet. The soap failed to rinse completely off, and left a combination of dirt/soap spots/smears all over the car. Car still looked very dirty. First time I've ever washed a car and shown no visible improvement for my efforts. : /



Time to break out the Zaino (order came today, yay!) and the CW&G. I added three ounces of Zaino and one capful (probably about 1/2 ounce) of the CW&G to my foam bottle, and topped it off with water.



This combination of soaps is wonderful. Huge amounts of foam, with great "hang time". I had also disconnected the water softening filters for this go-around, as I wanted to see exactly how wonderful the CW&G's anti-spotting properties are. Once again, I let the car air dry.



The results were much, much better. I still have yet to get the hang of the BHB, however; there's still quite a bit of dirt left on the car. Quite a few water spots, too. BHB's are very, very gentle.



Right now, I'm thinking I'm going to hook up two hoses with a Y adapter on both ends. On one of the hoses, I'll hook up the softener filters, and on the other one it'll just go straight to the Y connector on the other end. This way, I can use hard water directly to the pressure washer for rinsing the soap off, then immediately (using the quick valves installed on each Y adapter) switch the water source to the water filters for the final rinse.



Why Zaino Z7 and CW&G together? It appears that as CW&G is diluted, it's lubrication properties get diluted/start to diminsh much faster than it's cleaning properties. It also has that great gloss and anti-water spot ability. Zaino, on the other hand, doesn't clean nearly as well, but it foams like crazy and has the best lubrication I've found yet.



Here's a pic of the water softener filters:



IMG_0263.jpg




More car washing fun to come...:chuckle:
 
I had one and it did wonders. It is also going to depend on what you are feeding into it....A filter can only do so much. You might want to consider an RO/DI filter. Some say it will work much better.
 
joshtpa said:
I had one and it did wonders. It is also going to depend on what you are feeding into it....A filter can only do so much. You might want to consider an RO/DI filter. Some say it will work much better.
Click to expand...



Yeah, that's definitely worth looking into... I'd love to have a full house RO system.



Right now, though, the water coming out of the filters is acting TOO soft; it just can't rinse the soap away. I'm willing to bet that using hard water to rinse the soap off, then soft water for the final rinse is gonna be just the ticket. We'll know for sure as soon as the wife's SUV gets dirty again (since my car isn't allowed to get dirty). : P
 
Did you run the water through the filter for a few minutes before starting to use it? I made that mistake too. We have a whole house RO system now. Had to for the large salt water tank we have. It got to be too much of a hassle to do refills. Works great, but takes out some nutrients that probably should be left in too.
 
joshtpa[B said:
]Did you run the water through the filter for a few minutes before starting to use it? [/B] I made that mistake too. We have a whole house RO system now. Had to for the large salt water tank we have. It got to be too much of a hassle to do refills. Works great, but takes out some nutrients that probably should be left in too.
Click to expand...



I did. I probably ran about ten gallons or so out of it. I had to run it for a full minute to measure the output since the pressure washer requires 3.4 gallons per minute. Luckily, I got 3.5 gallons per minute out of the filters. The two filter setup really drops the pressure and quantity.



We're probably going to be selling the house toward the first of next year, so I think I'll hold off on the house RO system til we buy our next home. Great idea, btw.
 
If it is really dropping the pressure and quantity, it is usually a good sign that the water being fed into it is very hard.
 
Yeah, it's dropping a lot. And the filters wear out quick, too. After a total of about 45 gallons of water, the filters need to be recharged. Luckily they can be "recharged" with water softener salt. Time for yet another trip to Home Depot.
 
SuperBee364 said:
.. the BHB didn't clean nearly as well as a microfiber mitt. I still have yet to get the hang of the BHB, however; there's still quite a bit of dirt left on the car. Quite a few water spots, too. BHB's are very, very gentle...
Click to expand...



Sounds like you're being properly gentle with the BHB but are running into the "so gentle it doesn't even hurt the dirt" situation. Heh heh, when you see how gentle the BHB was it kinda makes you wonder about how aggressively you'd been washing with the mitts, huh?



How were your LSPs? I try to stick with slick/self-cleaning LSPs and that helps a lot. Also, I often do a few of those gentle passes with the BHB and I keep spraying the foamgun's output at the point where the BHB contacts the paint.



Gently "jiggling" the BHB across the surface allows you do do a little "scrubbing" without inducing nasty marring (as long as you keep that foamgun output spraying at the point of contact...move the nozzle of the foamgun up and down along the length of the brush.



After using the BHB, I always do a follow-up with a mitt to make sure I get the last of the dirt off of there.
 
Accumulator said:
Sounds like you're being properly gentle with the BHB but are running into the "so gentle it doesn't even hurt the dirt" situation. Heh heh, when you see how gentle the BHB was it kinda makes you wonder about how aggressively you'd been washing with the mitts, huh?



How were your LSPs? I try to stick with slick/self-cleaning LSPs and that helps a lot. Also, I often do a few of those gentle passes with the BHB and I keep spraying the foamgun's output at the point where the BHB contacts the paint.



Gently "jiggling" the BHB across the surface allows you do do a little "scrubbing" without inducing nasty marring (as long as you keep that foamgun output spraying at the point of contact...move the nozzle of the foamgun up and down along the length of the brush.



After using the BHB, I always do a follow-up with a mitt to make sure I get the last of the dirt off of there.
Click to expand...



Hit the nail right there, Accumulator. I just used a mitt on my car today, and the whole time I was thinking it felt like I was rubbing sandpaper accross the finish after using the BHB.



Using the BHB on an LSP-free surface (my Charger after a zillion washes, including a really high strength CW&G) produced much, much better results on the dirt compared to using the BHB on my Wife's Zaino Z2'd Sequoia. I just couldn't get the BHB to touch the dirt in the Zaino at all. Definitely a good example of what you're saying about easy-to-clean LSP's being the ticket when using a BHB.



As much as I like the looks, ease of application, and durability of Zaino, I have always hated the fact that it is not easy to clean and gets dirty way too fast.



I'm going to have to give the jiggle method a shot.



Well, back at it... I'm doing a full exterior job on the Charger today, in anticipation of the UPS driver getting here soon. Just got done with the clay. It's time for a full-body IP on orange, followed by a 106ff on green, followed by a 106ff on white.
 
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