What do you think your biggest 2012 single item detailing purchase be?

Bunky said:
I have a water softener and our salt usage is fairly low (maybe 2 bags per year) because we only had moderately hard water (7 grains). Your salt usage also depends on your water softener brand.

NaCl costs about $6 per bag and yes Potassium salt (KCl) costs about $25 per bag (40#). I do plan to try potassium this year.

If you use softened water on grass it is not an issue (you are drinking the stuff). I water my grass with it in the fall when reseeding. There is a very slight increase in sodium content (say no more than say a cola drink) in the softened water itself.

The problem with sodium salt (NaCl) is the regenerate from the tanks since it is very high in salinity and can kill grass or cause issues in septic tanks.
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My problem is that I have well water, and it's beyond hard water. It makes it really frustrating to wash cars, Ill have to do something about it. Right now I'm using an iron out salt since we have so much iron in our water. I can't move fast enough to prevent water spotting.:wall
 
CT3 said:
My problem is that I have well water, and it's beyond hard water. It makes it really frustrating to wash cars, Ill have to do something about it. Right now I'm using an iron out salt since we have so much iron in our water. I can't move fast enough to prevent water spotting.:wall
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I have community well water and the water is considered moderately hard. With the softener, it is soft but there are still suspended stuff (iron, etc) in the water so it is not the end all. You would need to have to get extra filtration equipment.
 
Bunky said:
I have community well water and the water is considered moderately hard. With the softener, it is soft but there are still suspended stuff (iron, etc) in the water so it is not the end all. You would need to have to get extra filtration equipment.
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Do you have anything extra on your setup, something like a whole house filter or iron curtain? I guess I don't expect it to completely eliminate the problem as I know how difficult a problem hard water can be, but I'm looking for some
relief maybe so it's not quite so hard.
 
I have a Kenetico water softener. I did not get the complete package (charcoal, etc). It comes with a whole house water filter but you can change what it filtration by using a different filter.

The best advice is to call a water softener salesman and they will usually do a free water analysis (hardness, suspended particulates, etc). For example, some people get the reverse osmosis setup applied to the kitchen sink faucet.
 
Bunky said:
I have a water softener and our salt usage is fairly low (maybe 2 bags per year) because we only had moderately hard water (7 grains). Your salt usage also depends on your water softener brand.

NaCl costs about $6 per bag and yes Potassium salt (KCl) costs about $25 per bag (40#). I do plan to try potassium this year.

If you use softened water on grass it is not an issue (you are drinking the stuff). I water my grass with it in the fall when reseeding. There is a very slight increase in sodium content (say no more than say a cola drink) in the softened water itself.

The problem with sodium salt (NaCl) is the regenerate from the tanks since it is very high in salinity and can kill grass or cause issues in septic tanks.
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Al, I literally :lol2: when I read this... I would kill to only use 2 40# bags a year. Here in Ohio I go through any where from 6-8 40# bags every 3-4 months. But then again our water hear is crazy!!!

Luckily being in town I have city water but I also have a well that is used specifically for the sprinkler system and one outdoor spigot. My garage water is run through the water softener though. ;)
 
Jaddie said:
Dear SS 07C70



I have the Blaster and don't see anything miraculous about it. It reduces labor and if its user knows what he's doing, it could save some time. I have less than an hour on mine, and I don't know how to use it very well yet.

As far as convincing your wife, tell her it doubles as a blower. I just blew out our garage with it and can't believe the debris it found along the edges and in the corners. I'm not sure but I think it may have come with an adapter to inflate balls, air mattresses, and things like that.

Tell her that it'll save you lots of time, which you could use for her benefit, and that it'll save lots of wear and tear on your joints, which you could also use for her benefit.
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Those are some good alternative uses, the Master Blaster, Thanks!
 
I'm thinking this year will probably be the new steamer, maybe the VX5000 since it's at a good price point and I doubt I would use it long enough to go through an entire tank, so the continuous fill on higher end units might not be necessary.

We will probably end up getting a CR Spotless as well, other than that, we have everything we need. If it's a good year I'll upgrade the paint gauge to a Defelsko.

-Kody-
 
Well I made mine today not that I wanted to but had to. My Reznor heater in the garage had the gas valve go bad and was filling it up with gas and then lighting and damn near blowing it up. I felt the concusion in my chest from across the room. So a new heater was bought today. Not really new detailing supplies but at least i can still be warm using what I have. And don't have to worry about it being in the street when the garage blows up. Scary stuff.
 
rzatch said:
Well I made mine today not that I wanted to but had to. My Reznor heater in the garage had the gas valve go bad and was filling it up with gas and then lighting and damn near blowing it up. I felt the concusion in my chest from across the room. So a new heater was bought today. Not really new detailing supplies but at least i can still be warm using what I have. And don't have to worry about it being in the street when the garage blows up. Scary stuff.
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ouch. sounds like a close call. stay safe.
 
Just made the purchases on a VX5000, Mytee lite ii, and Highline meter ii. This should hold me off on any big item purchase for a long time.
 
I just picked up a Mytee Lite II 8070 so that will probably be it for me this year.

If some extra money happens to appear in my wallet I think a scissor lift will be my next investment, though I'll probably just wait until I figure out where my future shop will be...
 
It'll definitely be the Flex PE14 for me. I've been wanting one for a while now and I'll pull the trigger if we get a sale of that.

I also bought a master blaster so as of right now, that's the biggest single detailing purchase I made until the PE14 comes along.
 
Did mine, too - Dupray Hill Injection Steamer. Love it. Don't have any more expensive ambitions for the year.
 
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