# Best water filter?



## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

With the warmer weather and increasing amounts of water spots on my car I think I need to give in ang get myself a water filter, especially as the water in my area is very hard...

So do people still rate the oppm Aquagleam as the best? can I just attach this to the end of my hose and filter the water out or does it need a hose attached on both ends?

The DF peerless seems like a better choice as it can be re-charged but it doesnt seem to have had as good reviews as the aquagleam... how long can I expect the aquagleam to last too?


any advice is much appreciated!


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## TOGWT (Oct 26, 2005)

*Water Filtration:*

*a) Deionised (DI) water -* is water that lacks common Cations (Ones with positive charges, i.e. Na+ , Ca+, CU++ , Fe++ ) and Anions (ones with negative charges i.e. Cl-, Br-), so you are left with OH- and H30+ (effectively H20 and H+) this is achieved by passing the water through an Ion exchange resin. This is usually an organic polymer with a surface that simultaneously traps one type of ion, while releasing another, hence the name ion exchange; de-ionized water can still contain bacteria, end toxins and organic compounds.

To provide spot-free vehicle washing and to remove hard water minerals, raw water is passed through a pre-cleaner and then through a cartridge that contains mixed bed resins, a Cation (sacrificial anode) and anion resins, the process is that through an exchange of mineral ions for sodium ions, mineral ions are attached to the resins. Once the resins are depleted, which can be checked with a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter, periodically they require replacing. One of the advantages of DI water system is mineral free water and little to no wasted water -CR Spotless - http://crspotless.com

*b) The CR Spotless *DI100WM provides approximately 100 gallons of mineral-free, de-ionized water that will provide spot-free vehicle washing and remove hard water minerals, based on your water input quality. It consists of two 10-inch de-ionization housings that feature replaceable cartridges that simply slide into the watertight tubes. This unit can be mounted next to your hose bib and comes with pre-drilled mounting holes.

Using a cation/anion mixture; you get twice the filter life than the mixed bed which comes with the unit. The cationic resin goes in one chamber and the anion resin goes in the other. You won't get the 0 PPM reading that you would get with the mixed bed, but it'll be around 5 PPM (spotless if less than, 25-30PPM)

*Input TDS Level Expected Yield *
50 PPM 1600 gallons 
100 PPM 800 gallons 
200 PPM 400 gallons 
400 PPM 200 gallons

The unit has a water purity indicator light that, when plugged into any normal (I would advice the use of a Ground fault indicator AC outlet) TFI illuminates when the de-ionization resin is still active, when the light no longer activates, it's time to replace the resin. (Includes two 10-inch cartridges, unit weight 30 Lbs.
CR Spotless http://www.crspotless.com/index

*Operating costs formula - *
Operating costs = 235,000 / TDS * 0.33 cubic feet of resin = Gallons 
Cost of refill / Gallons = Final cost of de-ionized water
Using the above formula - hard water area with a total dissolved solids (TDD) meter reading of 550 PPM = (235,000/550) 0.33 cubic feet of resin = 141 gallons. Approximate cost of refill $90, de-ionized water costs me about 65 cents per gallon. Average final rinse 3-5 gallons

The EPA Secondary Regulations advise a maximum contamination level (MCL) of 500mg/liter (500 parts per million (PPM) for total dissolved solids (TDS). Numerous water supplies exceed this level.

[USA] For those of you who are wondering how hard the water in your area is, here's a general map you can use - What Is My Water Hardness? - http://qualitywatertreatment.com/city_water_guide.htm

*Caution-* if you use this filter on its own in a hard water area you may get as few as 5 washes before the filter becomes exhausted, if used in combination with a 30-TDS green filter up to 30 washes can be expected in hard water areas and up to 90 washes in softer water areas.

*b) Reverse Osmosis *(RO) -is produced by forcing the solvent (water) through an ultra fine membrane (filter) under pressure (leaving the ion in the water behind) the water system inlet takes water to a pre-cleaner sediment filter, then it is passed through a membrane, which captures the minerals and has to be flushed constantly to wash the minerals from the membrane, and then on to the water outlet to drain. Chlorine will damage the membranes over time, and will eventually "by-pass" the membrane, producing a mildly acidic solution. It requires up to 10-15 gallons producing 1-gallon of pure water. The RO system is slow and not very energy efficient due to its water requirements as opposed to its output of pure water (i.e. 1500 raw water to produce 100 gallons RO water)

* TDS / Conductivity Meter -*
http://www.digital-meters.com/TDS_Meter-p-1-c-309.html?gclid=CIKC3ZuHxIgCFShREgodDwvNLA

*Water softener:*
Salt does not directly soften water; salt is only used to regenerate water softeners. The salt creates brine, which flushes the resin bed in the water softener to restore the univalent sodium ions. The sodium does an ion exchange with the hardness metals (calcium, magnesium, etc), so basically the hardness metals are replaced with sodium.

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. This exchange eliminates precipitation and soap scum formation. As the water passes through both kinds of resin, the hardness ions replace the hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions which are released into the water. The "harder" the water, the more hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions are released from the resin and into the water

*Information resource-*
CRSpotless website
EPA Secondary Regulations 
Automotive Detailing Inside & Out, A Knowledge Base for the Perfectionist


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## Ionic Rinse (May 7, 2008)

TOGWT said:


> *Water Filtration:*
> *b) Reverse Osmosis *(RO) -is produced by forcing the solvent (water) through an ultra fine membrane (filter) under pressure (leaving the ion in the water behind) the water system inlet takes water to a pre-cleaner sediment filter, then it is passed through a membrane, which captures the minerals and has to be flushed constantly to wash the minerals from the membrane, and then on to the water outlet to drain. Chlorine will damage the membranes over time, and will eventually "by-pass" the membrane, producing a mildly acidic solution. It requires up to 10-15 gallons producing 1-gallon of pure water. The RO system is slow and not very energy efficient due to its water requirements as opposed to its output of pure water (i.e. 1500 raw water to produce 100 gallons RO water)
> 
> *Information resource-*
> ...


That would depend on the RO system, it is true that some are as inefficient as that, but there are RO systems available which produce pure:waste water at 50:50, 80:20 and even 99:1 ratios. It all depends on what you want and how deep your pockets are!


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

jsut seen this site too

http://www.ro-man.com


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## TOGWT (Oct 26, 2005)

Ionic Rinse said:


> That would depend on the RO system, it is true that some are as inefficient as that, but there are RO systems available which produce pure:waste water at 50:50, 80:20 and even 99:1 ratios. It all depends on what you want and how deep your pockets are!


As a ChemE I can appreciate that, but then we are just talking about rinsing a paint surface on an vehicle


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

RO for me is the only system which works long term. People moan about the waste water and with my RO-Man system that is 3 litres waste for 1 litre pure, but it costs a fraction of what buying a new aquagleam does and they last. A 10 quid set of filters every 6 months and it produces perfect water every time.


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Neil_S said:


> RO for me is the only system which works long term. People moan about the waste water and with my RO-Man system that is 3 litres waste for 1 litre pure, but it costs a fraction of what buying a new aquagleam does and they last. A 10 quid set of filters every 6 months and it produces perfect water every time.


Which RO system have you got Neil?


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Breezy said:


> Which RO system have you got Neil?


The 50 gallon a day 4 stage one from RO Man.

Takes about 2 - 3 hours to filter 25 litres, enough for a full rinse.

Might be worth looking into slightly larger capacity for quicker filtering.


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## digital (Jun 25, 2008)

could i just buy distilled water and rinse it with that after the carwash?


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## Ebbe J (Jun 18, 2008)

You need to have a look at this thread :thumb:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=88744&highlight=filter

Kind regards,

Ebbe


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