I have well water that is so hard you can walk on it. Washing a car with this stuff was a nightmare. Then I installed a whole-house water softener and use a DIC-20 system when washing the cars. By softening the water prior to the DIC-20, I have GREATLY increased the life of the resin. I have had the same batch in my Spotless for over two years. I wash a vehicle per week including a large SUV and pickup. I only use the Spotless water for rinsing and always use the flat setting on the nozzle. The vehicles are 100% spot free and the meter on the unit reads 000 - 002. Another benefit is the soft water allows the car shampoo to foam like crazy!!

You might want to give the water softener a try.

 

I have a CR Spotless which I did not use for over 6 weeks and did not drain the cartidges in this case. The TDS meter on the system is reading 5-6 ppm but now my car is spotting. Even though the PPM reading is low, do you think that I need to replace my resin?

BTW, do you just unhook the cartidges from the unit and turn it upside down to drain all the water out?

 

Chances are you have algae in the resin bed since there was stagnant water.

You'll probably need to change the resin.

You can actually tip the whole cr unit and the water will drain out. Good question.

 

Thanks for the quick respones. Yes, I am suspecting that I may have algae developing in there already. So once the algae is formed, there is nothing I can do?

Also, is it a good idea to hook up the CR to a water softener?

 

[...Also, is it a good idea to hook up the CR to a water softener?]

Hard water contains excessive amounts of minerals, calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+). These minerals when dried leave behind hardened deposits that appear as spots (hence ‘water spotting)

a) CR Spotless - water is passed through a column or membrane to remove ions present (ion exchange) using polyvalent ions such as magnesium (Mg2+) ++ and calcium (Ca2+) ++ for Na+ ions

b) Water Softener - the water to be treated passes through a bed of the resin; negatively-charged resins absorb and bind metal ions, which are positively charged. The resins initially contain a divalent (single) hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions, which exchange with divalent calcium and magnesium ions in the water.

Both the above systems remove minerals from the water, but they use differing methods.

Connecting a CR Spotless unit to a Water Softener; you've still got the same total dissolved solids (TDS) going into the CR unit with softened water and with tap water. Now you’ve simply exchanged hard (tap) water with a solution of sodium (what is basically salt water)


Sodium

[: a chemical element with the symbol Na]

It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive (alkali) metal Produced through the electrolysis of molten sodium chloride

Water softening methods mainly rely on the removal of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from a solution or the sequestration of these ions, i.e. binding them to a molecule that removes their ability to form scale or interfere with soaps by exchanging them for sodium or potassium ions. Removal is achieved by ion exchange and by precipitation methods.

The slippery feeling experienced when using soap with soft water occurs because soaps tend to bind to fats, making soap molecules difficult to remove by simple dilution.

 

Thanks for the info. Now, since the softened water is in fact just salt water; is it even a good idea to use softened water to wash the car as salt will promote rust (?). And is it even good/need to use it through the DI system?

 

Deionised resin strips out all the minerals and impurities from the water by exchanging Ca and Mg ions for H and OH, the resultant H20 is completely clean and 99.9% pure

The "harder" the water, the more hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions are released from the resin and into the water. Once waster is softened it results in an alkaline sodium solution.

What type of water would you prefer to use on your paint surface?

 

So does it even help to pass softened water through the CR Spotless?? I take it that I will get the same pure 99.9% in the end and the same amount of resin will be used to release the Na+ ion as for Ca ion.

 

Yes, after I changed out the resin, the CR is now working again without any spotting.

 

But did you pass it through a softener first?

 

I still have it through the softener. Not sure if it is really needed, I think I am just wasting salt.

 

LOL. Let us know if you think the DI resin lasts longer.

 

I bought a DI-120 system a month ago (same resin capacity as the DIC/W-10). The first 3-4 washes were great (though the rain and sprinklers quickly ruined things). For the 5th wash, the meter on the CR system initially jumped into the hundreds, but only for a few seconds. Then it returned to 0. Still, water spots galore. I live in southern CA, and I know our water here is notoriously hard. However, I didn't expect to only get 4 washes out of it per resin pack!



Thanks for the recommendation on the HM Digital water tester. I plan on testing the water after its gone through my whole system (i.e. the water that's actually hitting the car). My system is set up as such: from the water spigot, into the DI-120, through a standard old garden hose, to an AR118 pressure washer (1.5GPM). The first (wash) pass goes through a foam cannon filled with a 10:1 ratio of distilled water and Chemical Guys foam . At all times, the water is passing through the CR system first.



As you can see, I've taken every precaution I could imagine to ensure no water spots. My foremost concern is not the number of washes I am able to get out of fresh resin (though its a close 2nd)... but rather why I'm getting water spots at all when the DI-120 TDS meter is showing 0!

 

I suggest you contact DR Spotless customer service. I've spoken with them several times and found them to be EXTREMELY helpful.

 

Update: I bought an external TDS meter, and tested the water. My normal water was lower than expected, at 250. After going through the CR system, their "internal" meter read 75 (and was steadily rising at ~1 per 2-3 seconds). After traveling through my whole system (i.e. CR, garden hose, pressure washer), the external TDS meter showed 100. So either the internal CRS meter is off, or I'm somehow picking up 25ppm along the way. Next step is to pick up a new super high quality garden hose.