Spotless Water Deionizer Purchase??

[Marshall]

Considering buying a Spotless Water Deionizer from Adams or CR. I have somewhat hard well water at our house with a TDS reading of 294 ppm. No softener or filter on the house either. I do use a Aquacrest inline filter on my pressure washer for my final rinse. It's a little helpful but not a huge improvement.

 

All 3 of our vehicles are either medium dark color to strait black, so spots definitely show, lol.  On average I wash vehicles 2-3 times per month and house windows 2 times per year.

 

Just trying to decide if the investment is worthwhile? Is the maintenance of spotless equipment to great for the # of washes I do? To save time with the drying process would be very helpful. 

 

My wash/dry/protect products:

3500 psi/3.5 GPM gas pressure washer, inline water filter.  Adams truck brush, Adams wash mit, 2 bucket system w/grit guards/, Adams premium foam cannon, Dewalt battery leaf blower, Adams big white drying towels. Mega foam, Adams spray wax.

 

Just looking for some advice from others on the forum here. If I need to provide any other info just let me know. Thanks!

[falcaineer]

If you struggle with hard water spots, the Deionizer is the tool for you. You can always get more resin when it's time.

[Marshall]

Thanks Falcaineer. The unit from Adams I'm considering is the Standard Portable Spotless Water Deionizer. The bypass valve here is a huge advantage in my opinion. Just trying to decide if I want to add another "device" to my wash process. From what I mentioned above, I'm hoping I'd get a good bit of life from the resin before having to change it out? Welcome to all opinions here.

[falcaineer]

51 minutes ago, Marshall said:

Thanks Falcaineer. The unit from Adams I'm considering is the Standard Portable Spotless Water Deionizer. The bypass valve here is a huge advantage in my opinion. Just trying to decide if I want to add another "device" to my wash process. From what I mentioned above, I'm hoping I'd get a good bit of life from the resin before having to change it out? Welcome to all opinions here.

 

There used to be a chart on the website showing estimated usage but I can't find it now. If you save it for the final rinse, I think it's safe to assume you'll get dozens of washes with it, but that is determined by the hardness of your water and how long you're running it to rinse. For example, the Adam's 2.0 pressure washer is 1.4 GPM, so if you rinse for 2-3 minutes that's only a few gallons of water.

[Marshall]

I understand exactly what you are saying here. My pressure washer is running 3 gallons a minute at least so that's definitely something I have to factor in. I wonder how heavy the unit is once it is full of water? Just thinking to be able to move it around my house to wash all of our windows times a year.

[RayS]

There are plenty of 20-30 gallon portable water tanks that you wheel around with you.  They are used often for camping and are relatively inexpensive.  The good thing with the 20-30 galllon portable tanks is that they generally have the volume needed for the job while also remaining reasonable in their weight for being on wheels. 

While I hadn't thought about the need for having deionized water for going around the house for the windows. Why not run the water through the Deionizer and put it into the portable tank to wheel around your house.   That way you can leave the Deionizer stationary insteady of trying to move it around the house?  It would probably be easier to do and would reduce the risk of damaging an expensive piece equipment by constantly moving it.

[Marshall]

Thanks for the feedback Ray! The portable tank, filled with DI water, to get around the house exterior windows is a good idea. I could also put the portable tank in the back of our Gator utility vehicle? Or, strap the DI unit in the back of the Gator. With the valve assembly on the top of that device, I'm just a little hesitant to be too mobile with it and risk a break. Aside from spot free drawing of our vehicles, it would be a huge help to not have to squeegee all the outside windows on our house, haha! I do wonder how much of a pain it is when you have to refill with the bag of loose resin?

[Marshall]

Deionizer Update:  So I pulled the trigger and ordered the mixed bed std. unit with the bypass valve. Should receive it Saturday. I give an update on. It's performance once I use it.

[LT1xL82]

I'd really like to hear your opinion on how much squeegee/drying, if any, is needed to be spot-free. 

[Marshall]

Absolutely, I'm curious myself. I'll get some details and pictures once I use it.

[falcaineer]

6 hours ago, LT1xL82 said:

I'd really like to hear your opinion on how much squeegee/drying, if any, is needed to be spot-free. 

 

Assuming your water reads at 0.0, you can let the car air dry completely without risk of water spots. That's the beauty of it!

[Marshall]

Got the On The Go deionizer set up with some Eley quick couplers, ran water through it to remove new resin dust, and checked the TDS. Read between 0 and 1 so I was good to go for it's 1st use tonight.

 

Washed my '23 GMC 1500 AT4 with all my equipment/product listed above with a few exceptions. No drying towels, no spray wax for a drying aid, no tire shine, and only about 5 min of leaf blower use on window seams. I also used Wash & Wax (for the 1st time ever, more on that in another post) rather than Mega Foam. Mainly since I wasn't drying and I used Spray Wax 2 weeks ago.

 

I rinsed all the soap off with my pressure washer then connected the deionizer and did a final. I just used the garden hose to create a pooling effect with no nozzle, when using the deionizer. Then leaf blew the window seams and pulled in the garage. 

 

All 4 truck pics are after 4 hours in the garage. Truck is near dry and zero residue spots. Glass, painted surfaces, tires, and plastic trim have zero spots!! Needless to say I'm very impressed. I'd say it saved me 30 to 45 minutes of drying time. I've had to deal with water residue spots for years so this is definitely a game changer in my wash routine.  I highly recommend investing in one of these if you have moderately hard water and a medium to high TDS reading. 

 

 

 

 

[Marshall]

[Marshall]

So I had a little free time last night and decided to do a through coat of Adam's Spray Wax after the W&W and DI rinse the night before. Definitely not a long term form of protection and gloss, but it does look good! I'll get on the Ceramic/Graphene at some point, lol.

[matric333]

With a TDS reading of 294 ppm and no softener or filter on your house, you're experiencing challenges with water spots. Given the frequency of your vehicle and window cleaning, investing in a Spotless Water Deionizer could be beneficial, as it would save time on the drying process and help achieve a spot-free finish.

[Marshall]

So I've had my mixed bed with bypass valve deionizer since March of this year. I've used it for about 16 final rinses of mostly large vehicles. For the 1st 8 rinses, just flowing water directly from a open hose. The last 8 by using a gentle flow nozzle which helps conserve the DI water use. I'm showing about 90-100 ppm on my TDS meter now and with no drying I'm getting some water spots. Mostly noticeable on glass, hoods and roofs. Not horrible at all but noticeable. I'm also noticing a dirty fish tank kinda smell with the DI water, lol. I've ordered a resin refill kit so hopefully it's not too difficult to refill? The funnel doesn't seem large enough to pour the resin quickly but we will see. I'll update on how the refill process goes.

[falcaineer]

Be really careful with the resin that it doesn't spill. It's VERY slippery.

 

Refill instructions are found here: https://adamspolishes.com/products/adams-portable-spotless-water-deionizer?_pos=1&_psq=Deioni&_ss=e&_v=1.0

 

[Marshall]

10 hours ago, falcaineer said:

Be really careful with the resin that it doesn't spill. It's VERY slippery.

 

Refill instructions are found here: https://adamspolishes.com/products/adams-portable-spotless-water-deionizer?_pos=1&_psq=Deioni&_ss=e&_v=1.0

 

Thanks for the info Falcaineer! I understand on the "slippery" factor if spilled. Especially since I have an epoxy coating on my garage. I'll update here after I get the new resin added.

[Marshall]

On 8/15/2024 at 5:15 PM, Marshall said:

So I've had my mixed bed with bypass valve deionizer since March of this year. I've used it for about 16 final rinses of mostly large vehicles. For the 1st 8 rinses, just flowing water directly from a open hose. The last 8 by using a gentle flow nozzle which helps conserve the DI water use. I'm showing about 90-100 ppm on my TDS meter now and with no drying I'm getting some water spots. Mostly noticeable on glass, hoods and roofs. Not horrible at all but noticeable. I'm also noticing a dirty fish tank kinda smell with the DI water, lol. I've ordered a resin refill kit so hopefully it's not too difficult to refill? The funnel doesn't seem large enough to pour the resin quickly but we will see. I'll update on how the refill process goes.

I went through the process of exchanging the resin in my deionizer 2 nights ago.  Overall it was not a hateful process at all but here are my thoughts:

1. Took more like 30 min rather than the 20 min that is mentioned by OTG/Adams.
2. The tank head w/bypass valves attached from the factory is VERY TIGHT, rubber mallet helped break it loose.
3. Old resin comes out ok with some aggressive shaking of the tank upside down.  In the future, I'm going to drain as much water out as I can then take the head off and let it air dry as much as possible the day before the exchange.  Might help the clean out process some?  
4. Tank, tube, and head are easy to rinse off.
5. Refill of resin takes some patients but you don't want to just hold the refill bag at one end open and try to pour it in. Better off to scoop it in with a small cup while shaking the funnel lightly to get it to flow in the tank.  Also, it helps to stop a few times and shake the tank to settle/level the new resin.
6. Apply new silicone grease to all O ring surfaces, reassemble, fill with water, and run the DI water out of the tank for a minute or 2 so the dust on the new resin is cleaned out.
7. After this I checked the DI water coming out with my TDS meter and it read 0 which is what you want.