Washing with DI water

[GMB Racing]

So I order a Di filter kit and used it today for the first time, This thing really works I washed with non filtered water then did the final rinse with DI filtered. Blew off the extra water with blower and I have NO spots on both of my Ruby red cars

this is the DI filter I used. Put a regular sediment filter in the first stage and the DI cartridge in the second stage.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H8MQTMD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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[Dr. Norts]

That thing is tiny. Your resins will be spent after a few washes.

Hit up rvtransformers for new mixed bed virgin DI resins as your gonna need some soon.

Don't shit when you see the cost of the resins, spot free washing isn't cheap but it's glorious.

I've got a Cr spotless DIW-20. It's a dual cartridge system. Each cardtridge holds 14 lbs of resins and I get about 500 gallons of filtered water before it's time to change. Just an idea of how many gallons you'll get out of your system.

Your system will use up those resins fast as when they are inside a cardtridge inside the filter house you'll get blowby and spots on your car.

Cr spotless also has a PPM meter to know when the resins are are spent. Once you hit about 10ppm on the output water it's time to change the resins.

The flow rate on that unit is very low, only 0.75 gpm? It's a nice toy but you'll soon be unimpressed with it. I give it 3-5 washes and your gonna start to get spots.

I did the same thing as you. Bought a cheap unit first. After a month I ended up going to a professional unit.

 

[YumaStang]

Dr Norts is right, DI washing isnt cheap but at least for me here in AZ where our water is some of the hardest and dries quickly- its a must if you dont want water spots. I have the DI-120 by CR Spotless and only use it for final rinse and with a pressure washer to conserve the resin. CR Spotless also has a resin exchange program where they send you a new cartridge and you mail them back the old one for $60. Still pretty pricey. I have been thinking about cheaper alternatives such as distilled water and using a worx hydroshot for final rinse but will defiantly take a look at the conversion kit as suggested.

 

[ChrisJ]

Another option for DI rinse system (https://windowcleaner.com/unger-nlite-hydropower-stage-1). Just used it for the first time yesterday and was really impressed. Pricey unit but really liked the size , inline TDS meter, unhooks easy and fits nicely in the garage. Its made for window washing equipment so you need to put an inline flow restrictor, used 1.5 gpm and it worked perfect, rinsed the car and it stayed at 0 TDS.

 

[boB]

I have been using a gallon jug of distilled water for a final rinse, spot free! It's about $1 per wash, a good savings over a DI system if I wash it once a week. And I recycle the plastic jugs.

 

[Dr. Norts]

Here's my setup....

I have a sediment filter after my resin filters. I have a screen washer at the inlet to my filters and I want any sediment / dust created by the resins captured before it leaves my hose end. Kinda backwards to convention but it works great. The first empty canister is there more as a visual to the water entering the system. I had an extra one so figured why not plumb it it.

Also have a 3 way valve to switch between filter / non filter water easily.

I have a 55 gallon aquarium so the DI water is great for water changes. Also this past weekend I cleaned all the exterior of the house. No drying the windows. Just power wash with DI water and watch it dry.

For you guys that go thru alot of resins, rvtransformers is the cheapest / best source of resin fyi.

1 cubic foot does me an entire season of washing both vehicles and the house. I don't use it just for the final rinse either I use it for the entire wash. The cubic foot cost $225 usd and will fill both my filters 2x each with some left over for the next year.

I have a flow meter that I use to see my usage. The TDS meter will get up to around 10 ppm after about 500 gallons. It still drys spot free at 10ppm but I change the resins out at this level.

after I got my first taste of the mr. Clean Auto dry about 20 years ago after it went off the market my quest for my own DI water system started.

The best part about it is if your car isn't your daily when it gets dusty just give it a foam cannon blast / di rinse and you won't have to touch the car at all for a truly touchless wash. This will work indefinitely as long as the car doesn't see rain.

 

[YumaStang]

Here's my setup....

I have a sediment filter after my resin filters. I have a screen washer at the inlet to my filters and I want any sediment / dust created by the resins captured before it leaves my hose end. Kinda backwards to convention but it works great. The first empty canister is there more as a visual to the water entering the system. I had an extra one so figured why not plumb it it.

Also have a 3 way valve to switch between filter / non filter water easily.

I have a 55 gallon aquarium so the DI water is great for water changes. Also this past weekend I cleaned all the exterior of the house. No drying the windows. Just power wash with DI water and watch it dry.

For you guys that go thru alot of resins, rvtransformers is the cheapest / best source of resin fyi.

1 cubic foot does me an entire season of washing both vehicles and the house. I don't use it just for the final rinse either I use it for the entire wash. The cubic foot cost $225 usd and will fill both my filters 2x each with some left over for the next year.

I have a flow meter that I use to see my usage. The TDS meter will get up to around 10 ppm after about 500 gallons. It still drys spot free at 10ppm but I change the resins out at this level.

after I got my first taste of the mr. Clean Auto dry about 20 years ago after it went off the market my quest for my own DI water system started.

The best part about it is if your car isn't your daily when it gets dusty just give it a foam cannon blast / di rinse and you won't have to touch the car at all for a truly touchless wash. This will work indefinitely as long as the car doesn't see rain.

Interesting set up. Do you catch anything from the CR Spotless resins?

 

[Dr. Norts]

Interesting set up. Do you catch anything from the CR Spotless resins?

No there's never any sediment or anything after the di filters. It's there now just because I don't want to remove it just in case the downtube comes loose and resins come firing out.

I have that sediment filter there from before I converted to a downtube system. The shitty cartridges would leak and it would catch the DI resins before they would get shot out at my car.

 

[Kong76]

True gallons of treatment all depends on the starting hardness in your water supply. Some beds will exhaust faster than others depending. Like Norts said best to go off a set exhaustion ppm vs gallonage. I work with mix beds that get 1.2 million thruput before they exhaust. Usually go off conductivity or silica which are set at no more than .50uM cond or 10 ppb ( yes billions) for silica. This is overkill though because this is extremely clean water demin water used for steam turbines. Hell our water would actually eat your clear coat.

 

[OneFordGT]

We are the last house on the water line and have extremely hard and low pressure public water. I looked into the DI water filters and although they would work great I would be changing resin a lot more often than i'd like. I ended up buying this battery powered pressure washer with a 5.3 gallon water reservoir. I buy distilled water at Walmart for 80 cents a gallon and use about 6-8 gallons per wash. If my car is very dirty I stop at my local car wash on the way home (doesn't have spot free rinse anymore) and use the soap setting to blow the bugs off the front, then quick rinse and head home for the real wash.

 

[Dr. Norts]

We are the last house on the water line and have extremely hard and low pressure public water. I looked into the DI water filters and although they would work great I would be changing resin a lot more often than i'd like. I ended up buying this battery powered pressure washer with a 5.3 gallon water reservoir. I buy distilled water at Walmart for 80 cents a gallon and use about 6-8 gallons per wash. If my car is very dirty I stop at my local car wash on the way home (doesn't have spot free rinse anymore) and use the soap setting to blow the bugs off the front, then quick rinse and head home for the real wash.

Goddamn it that's a fucking great setup / idea!

 

[OneFordGT]

Goddamn it that's a fucking great setup / idea!

I used a TDS tester and Walmart distilled water is 0 TDS (total dissolved solids). I can wash in full sun and not have one single spot. It’s amazing to say the least.

 

[Genxer]

My local self-serve car wash has a "spotless rinse" in addition to the regular rinse. Comes out in a very light stream. I've never known what's in it (or not in it), but my cars do seem to be less spot prone using it.

 

[OneFordGT]

My local self-serve car wash has a "spotless rinse" in addition to the regular rinse. Comes out in a very light stream. I've never known what's in it (or not in it), but my cars do seem to be less spot prone using it.

The one near my house had the same and it was the best spot free I have used from a car wash, then one day it was high pressure and no longer spot free. It's been that way for about 8 months, sad to see it go. Consider yourself lucky to have a car wash with good spot free!

 

[Mr. Met]

I have reef tanks so I have had a RO/DI system from SpectraPure long before I got the Mustang. It makes about four gallons per hour but I haven't had to replace anything in over five years. I have two 40 gal buckets, one is always full of RO/DI water. I use the same pressure washer as @OneFordGT After washing I go for a drive on the highway and I am basically done.

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