Water advice needed

[ShockDoc]

The water utility where I live provides really crappy water. It actually starts to smell in the late summer due to extra chlorine they add to kill off algae from the supply reservior. I have a water conditioner for my household needs- but the service to the external spigots is not conditioned.

When I wash my M3- I get immediate water spots- even when blotting or blowing the car off immediately after the sheeting rinse process. I want to invest in a decent system to prevent this from happening.

My question is what type of system works best and where can I get one. Any advice is appreciated. I used the search function and really didn't find much on this- sorry if its a redundant post.

[sawzall]

Sounds like you have some seriously mineral-rich water (at least i'm assuming). If you are getting little white spots, or outlines, that's typical of mineral-rich water. To get rid of this, you want to use de-ionized water. Most people i've seen using a de-ionizing systems to get rid of this problem use the CR Spotless machines (www.crspotless.com). They've got a few models, ranging from $350-$500USD.

[ShockDoc]

Thanks Shizzle. I checked out the site and plan to order the system very soon. Will post my impressions once I get it running.

[BCA]

Originally Posted by ShockDoc

Thanks Shizzle. I checked out the site and plan to order the system very soon. Will post my impressions once I get it running.

get it from Costco...best deal I've seen by far when you consider all the extras, even if you are not a member and have to pay the surcharge. I actually don't have a CR Spotless but have considered getting one and if I do, Costco will be the place.

[eclipsisNA]

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...rodid=11201522

Indeed Costco has the best price. My recommendation is don't use the CR Spotless with a hose, as it'll exhaust the system quite quickly. Buy a pressure washer that consumes much less water and use the CR Spotless with that.

[mexicanmike]

How may washes does the DIC 20 provide before having to replace resin?

What Pressure washer is good to pair with this?

[ShockDoc]

Everyone:
My CR Spotless arrived today. Ordered it from CostCo. Easily the best price. Thanks for the suggestion. Got a free hose and replacement resin packages too. Plan to use it with my Karcher pressure washer this weekend.

The instructions mention installing a flow rate limiter in the system (2-4 gal/min). Is this necessary?

I saw a blog somewhere where people advocate only using the Cr Spotless to rinse the car and use regular water for the initial rinse/foam/wash, etc. I was planning to try this to see if I could prolong system lifetime and still eliminate the damned spots.

[BCA]

Originally Posted by ShockDoc

Everyone:
My CR Spotless arrived today. Ordered it from CostCo. Easily the best price. Thanks for the suggestion. Got a free hose and replacement resin packages too. Plan to use it with my Karcher pressure washer this weekend.

The instructions mention installing a flow rate limiter in the system (2-4 gal/min). Is this necessary?

I saw a blog somewhere where people advocate only using the Cr Spotless to rinse the car and use regular water for the initial rinse/foam/wash, etc. I was planning to try this to see if I could prolong system lifetime and still eliminate the damned spots.

Glad to help

On the water flow rate (again, I don't own one of these but I'm just recalling what I read when I was researching them), I think it's basically a way to prevent the resin from being used up too quickly. If you just had water running through the thing at a normal "water hose" rate, I think the resin would wear out very quickly. It may also have something to do with the system only being able to de-ionize so much water at a time. In other words, it's more effective with a slower flow rate.

Regarding using it only for final rinse, that's what I plan to do if I ever decide to get one of these. The main reason is that I don't want to worry about flow rate during the washing process. I think the system should work fine as a final rinse only if you make sure to make that final rinse a thorough one and wash away all the regular water. Maybe someone that has actually tried it can chime in...

[ersin]

Originally Posted by mexicanmike

How may washes does the DIC 20 provide before having to replace resin?

What Pressure washer is good to pair with this?

I've been researching ionizers too and it seems that the life of the resin depends on the quality of the water. To be more specific, the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) that must be removed from the water is what determines the life of the resin. The link to the one from Costco gives a table on expected lifetime depending on TDS towards the bottom of the page. You can check the TDS of your water (and the water after being de-ionized) with a meter. Griots garage sells one for about 20 bucks.


Cheers.

[ShockDoc]

I used the CR Spotless this weekend for the final rinse of my Jet Black M3.

Thanks to everyone's for advice/suggestions. I really appreciate this forum.

My impressions:
Costco took less than 1 wk from time of order to arrival at my house (San Diego to Indy). It comes complete with system, 2 quick-connects, a cheapo 50' hose, replacement resin bags, and free shipping. The system is very easy to assemble. You put a few quick-release connectors on the input/output sides, insert the cartridges into canisters, and seat the canisters (less than 5 mins). Connect to water supply at approx 1/4 to 1/3 pressure and flush through system, then attach the output. I used my Karcher pressure washer at lowest setting on the output side. I pre-rinsed, foamed, and washed the car with my normal tap water. I only used the DeI system for the final rinse. I went over the car twice, trying to "sheet" the normal water off the car. I estimate that I used less than 5 gals (maybe much less) for this final rinse process. I quickly used a blower to get the larger water droplets off the car, then let the car air dry in the shade. I had absolutely zero spotting!! System worked like a charm- it made a huge difference. The inline TDS meter read 000 the whole time. It will climb upwards as the system needs resin replacement.

Pros:
Great price, extra goodies, fast shipping, easy to set-up, NO SPOTS!, no need to blot/wipe the car off with MF towels

Cons:
Extra step involved, concerned how long before system will need replenished, not looking forward to adding replacement resin. The DIC-20 cart was unstable - the left sided prong the rests on the ground is about 1/2" higher than the right prong. I plan to call CostCo and see if they can replace the cart- might need to send me a new system. Actually- the pic from the Costco website potentially shows this prong slightly off the ground.

[ShockDoc]

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...rodid=11201522

[///Mperative]

Or instead of buying a bunch of expensive equipment, you could just use Optimum No Rinse and distilled water... Easy, fast, cheap and does an excellent job.