# Goodbye waterspots... Hello DI Resin Filter



## jamrowls (Aug 30, 2008)

No shade, black car, very hard water = 

Decided on a DI Resin filter in the end as RO is just to much hassle (to install into a rented house).

Its a 16.3L from http://www.da-services.co.uk/products.htm


























*In*









*Out*


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## vauxhall (Aug 26, 2008)

Looks good mate :thumb:


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## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

keep the thread updated mate


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## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Cool...........:thumb:


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## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

How often do you have to change the resin?


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## dotnetdave (Aug 31, 2007)

i was just about to post up my thread as well on this, got the same bottle earlier this week, water measured going in was 310 ppm coming out was 0ppm. Washed the dark blue mx5 and black freelander today in 27 degree sun using BTBM and then rinsed each using the loose ended hose and DI water.

Both dried in the sun without a single waterspot on them, absolutly brilliant compared with 2 weeks ago when i tried to do the same with normal water and both were left covered in water spots.


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## HalfordsShopper (Jul 8, 2008)

Anyone used one of these attached to a pressure washer?


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## jamrowls (Aug 30, 2008)

HalfordsShopper said:


> Anyone used one of these attached to a pressure washer?


I wanted to give it its first test at the harshest time, which was today at midday :devil:. The snowfoam rinse was done with the pressure washer, as was the shampoo - it was so hot I had to rinse after each 1/4 of the car.

For 'normal' later afternoon/evening washes I will only use it via a hose at the end, as it sheets better that way.


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## Glasgow_Gio (Mar 24, 2008)

Surely its a waste to use it in a pressure washer or wash solution? The rinsing stage is what leaves you with water spots therefore only the rising stage requires 0ppm?


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## jamrowls (Aug 30, 2008)

Why is it a waste with a pressure washer? 
The pressure washer does a better job of rinsing off the shampoo than a hose.
If it is cool enough I will use it via a hose after the rinse because it sheets better that way. 
Yes it is a waste in a wash soultion because the shampoo itself will spot.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Can someone please track broadly the amount of water through against the PPM readings?

I like the idea of these but convinced they will deplete very quickly against my trusty RO filter which is consistent and cheap to run.


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

I have a similar unit to the op, used it approx 20 times and I am now getting a reading of 1ppm

Washed the black Merc today, hot sun, 30 minutes to wash including 4 alloys, it is without a doubt the most valueable product in my collection.


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## ShineQuest (Apr 12, 2006)

Great idea but seems a tad OTT to me, almost bordering on OCD car cleaning.
_(I am not going to duck)..._


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

The resin is bloody expensive, thats why I'm keen to understand how long it lasts.

My RO filter takes £12 of filters every 6 months and will do me 25 litres of filtered water every week for 6 months.

So excluding the cost of water, broadly 650 litres for £12


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

ShineQuest said:


> Great idea but seems a tad OTT to me, almost bordering on OCD car cleaning.
> _(I am not going to duck)..._


quite the opposite is true. OCD is timing your wash with the weather conditions, OCD is ensuring your drying aid is in perfect condition, OCD is worrying about watermarks from rinse water slowly escaping from all the nooks and crannies, I will have my feet up doing something else whilst you are still finishing the wash.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

S500 said:


> quite the opposite is true. OCD is timing your wash with the weather conditions, OCD is ensuring your drying aid is in perfect condition, OCD is worrying about watermarks from rinse water slowly escaping from all the nooks and crannies, I will have my feet up doing something else whilst you are still finishing the wash.


Hear hear, when you start using filtered water it becomes something you don't want to be without.


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## ShineQuest (Apr 12, 2006)

S500 said:


> quite the opposite is true. OCD is timing your wash with the weather conditions, OCD is ensuring your drying aid is in perfect condition, OCD is worrying about watermarks from rinse water slowly escaping from all the nooks and crannies, I will have my feet up doing something else whilst you are still finishing the wash.


Hehehe - well countered! An expensive luxury then I think.


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

ShineQuest said:


> Hehehe - well countered! An expensive luxury then I think.


Still wrong. I use less water, no microfibre cloths, so no washing machine costs, no qd, and the most expensive item for me, less time!

Speak to an industrial window cleaner, he'll convert you:thumb:


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## ShineQuest (Apr 12, 2006)

Neil_S said:


> filtered water it becomes something you don't want to be without.


Perhaps I should never start and stop reading this thread! Get the idea out of my head altogether ....
My garage is pretty crammed as it is. Can do without that rather large looking blue tank.


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

ShineQuest said:


> Perhaps I should never start and stop reading this thread! Get the idea out of my head altogether ....


We both live in the Southeast where the water is hard, do you want the ability to wash your car at any time of day regardless of any hot sunny conditions, wash you car in less than half the time, use a process that reduces the risk of swirling by 50% and at the end of the day may reduce costs.


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## firebod (Mar 25, 2009)

Maybe a simple question, but what is an RO?


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## Mini One Cabrio (Mar 9, 2007)

I googled it RO = Reverse Osmosis 

Regards Paul


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## HalfordsShopper (Jul 8, 2008)

jamrowls said:


> I wanted to give it its first test at the harshest time, which was today at midday :devil:. The snowfoam rinse was done with the pressure washer, as was the shampoo - it was so hot I had to rinse after each 1/4 of the car.
> 
> For 'normal' later afternoon/evening washes I will only use it via a hose at the end, as it sheets better that way.


Cool thats good to know. I take it u didn' have any problems with the PW not getting enough water and loosing pressure? Mine PW sometimes goes funny if i have dishwasher, washing machine and shower whilst trying to wash the car. I was worried i'd get similar problems with the filter slowing down the flow rate.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

RO, basically it pushes water through a membrane which is very fine and takes out the vast majority of the parts in the water which can dry to create water spots on your paint.

The membrane is continually flushed to remove these contaminents so in addition to the filtered water produced, you'll get a certain amount of "waste" water which carries away those parts.

My filter produces 3 litres waste per 1 litre filtered, but that water is perfectly fine, I tend to use it in summer for watering the garden.


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## Mr THX (May 15, 2009)

jamrowls said:


> No shade, black car, very hard water =
> 
> Decided on a DI Resin filter in the end as RO is just to much hassle (to install into a rented house).
> 
> Its a 16.3L from http://www.da-services.co.uk/products.htm


Looks a good system fella, did they mention how long it will last?? Either in weeks or ltrs through put. I know it's a "how long is a piece of string" question but did they give you any idea of how often you would be replacing the resin.

Cheers


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Neil_S said:


> Can someone please track broadly the amount of water through against the PPM readings?
> 
> I like the idea of these but convinced they will deplete very quickly against my trusty RO filter which is consistent and cheap to run.


Neil, I remember another thread no so long ago, I posted up some figures.
Don't think they were a million miles from the OP's here, so the same timescale should be applicable.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=117496 - last post


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## dotnetdave (Aug 31, 2007)

Neil_S said:


> The resin is bloody expensive, thats why I'm keen to understand how long it lasts.
> 
> My RO filter takes £12 of filters every 6 months and will do me 25 litres of filtered water every week for 6 months.
> 
> So excluding the cost of water, broadly 650 litres for £12


Neil, i appreciated you points but are you also taking into account the amount wasted water that an RO system produces ? The one plus point for me was that there is no wastage with a DI system


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## jamrowls (Aug 30, 2008)

From the other thread:



PJS said:


> This is by no means exact, but from a bit of rooting around on Google, the typical filtration capacity of 25L of mixed bed DI resin is 4000L, with a water hardness of 10º dH (German scale) or 179 ppm TDS.
> Since you're effectively twice that, and with 16L of resin, you should see around 2500L filtered, which approximates to about 213 uses if your consumption figures above are accurate.


At the end of the day I have spent a lot of money on my collection and I spend a lot of time on here and a lot of time on my car. So if the filter turns out to cost a lot of money to run, I will still pay it.

I have had many water spots that needed a good polish to get out.
_Not any more._

I still get water marks from water thats been hiding and coming out hours after the wash, and thats with a leaf blower too! 
_Not any more._

I have to wash seagull mess off the car 2-3 times a week!!! And this turns in to a messy exercise with water and QD. 
_Now I will just set the hose on them with no worry of water spots._

In the winter its very hard work trying to dry the car after a wash.
_Now I dont need to._

I would have bought an RO system if I could have used it, but I cant.


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## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

I think the Resin Filter is going tobe a life saver during the hot weather....

Im going to try and simply jet the car down with Filtered water to see how well it shifts the light dusting i keep seeing.

Mines still fine and reading 0ppm still, when it gets to 10-15ppm ill use it for more of the wash stage too.

Cheers

PaulN


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## Sav (Jan 9, 2007)

I got caught out with my old car down south in Yorkshire………Seagull got me in Filey. Just went to a local jet wash at night as I did not have any detailing stuff and it was a bloody mess…


So thankful of the Water up here……..Soft Scottish water.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

PJS said:


> Neil, I remember another thread no so long ago, I posted up some figures.
> Don't think they were a million miles from the OP's here, so the same timescale should be applicable.
> 
> http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=117496 - last post


Thanks for that, I think I need to look at a comparison between the RO filter and resin filter with the aid of those figures.


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## Amos (Feb 28, 2007)

Where do you buy a RO filter??


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Amos said:


> Where do you buy a RO filter??


I got mine from ro-man


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## Amos (Feb 28, 2007)

And what filter do you need to run in them...


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Amos said:


> And what filter do you need to run in them...


Basically mine is a four stage filter, it has a chlorine and then a particle filter and then the RO membrane and then a final DI step which polishes the water to remove the last few parts.

The filter pack consists of the chlorine and particle filter and some of the DI resin, so every 6 months or x thousand litres you change the filters and this costs about £15.

The filter itself cost about £80.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

I highly recommend RO-MAN, the 100 GPD 4 stage professional unit is superb. The refills are cheap too


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## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

jamrowls said:


> No shade, black car, very hard water =
> 
> Decided on a DI Resin filter in the end as RO is just to much hassle (to install into a rented house).
> 
> ...


Well after using the FLASH product for a while & really being less than impressed (needing to change the cartridge after 2-4 rinses), I was considering the Aquagleam, however, as I live in an area with SHOCKINGLY hard water was worried that it wouldnt last long at all!

Glad I read this & the other threads mentioned herein as I've just parted with my hard earned, looking forward to some good results!

Tell me, do you leave this outside or store it between uses?


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

nortonski said:


> Well after using the FLASH product for a while & really being less than impressed (needing to change the cartridge after 2-4 rinses), I was considering the Aquagleam, however, as I live in an area with SHOCKINGLY hard water was worried that it wouldnt last long at all!
> 
> Glad I read this & the other threads mentioned herein as I've just parted with my hard earned, looking forward to some good results!
> 
> Tell me, do you leave this outside or store it between uses?


I feel sorry for you, I used to live in Winchester and the water was harder than Phil Mitchell in a hardman competition.

Did you get a TDS meter to check for depletion of the resin in the filter?


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## RyanJon (Feb 18, 2009)

This RO system that is talked of on here, Is it somthing that clips to your hose pipe or does it have to be installed into the plumbing of the house?

Is there any pics of it anywhere so I can understand what it is?

Cheers

Ryan


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## little john (Jun 10, 2007)

You can feed them with a hose with the correct connections on butthe main downside of an RO system is you need to store the water for use as it takes time to go through each filter where a DI vesel is fed from the hose and goes out the other side after passing though the resin the benifit of that is the water comes out as quick as it is forced in from the hose/tap I connect my presure washer up and can use that for rinseing as I go or I use the open hose or as I did today just stick a bucket under the water out and fill a watering can to rinse the car which I guess is the same way Neil uses his RO water for rinseing.


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## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

Neil_S said:


> I feel sorry for you, I used to live in Winchester and the water was harder than Phil Mitchell in a hardman competition.
> 
> Did you get a TDS meter to check for depletion of the resin in the filter?


Sure did fella, I had considered the RO system in the last house, however, we're now on a water meter at the new place & I tend not to water the garden so what would I do with the waste water???

With the DI unit I'll only use what's required for rinsing, well that's the plan & hopefully it'll last longer than either the Flash or Aquagleam.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

nortonski said:


> Sure did fella, I had considered the RO system in the last house, however, we're now on a water meter at the new place & I tend not to water the garden so what would I do with the waste water???
> 
> With the DI unit I'll only use what's required for rinsing, well that's the plan & hopefully it'll last longer than either the Flash or Aquagleam.


I used to wash the car with the waste water but storing it all became a pain.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

I used to have the Peerless DI filters but frankly they never coped with the hard water I have here, and while reduced, spotting was still an issue for me. I suspect the container was just not big enough and there wasnt enough resin to do the filtering for the level of hard water we have? I looked at RO systems and they certainly seem to work, but the amount of waste produced put me off, especially considering we're on a water meter and I dont like waste....

My solution is to use collected rainwater and that is incredibly soft, and while I now use ONR and avoid the issue altogether, it did provide a virtually spot free finish at all stages of the process. I also have 2000L sat here for free now, so can use it for all sorts of garden and cleaning uses 

I really do fancy building a covered wash bay though, but dont suppose I'll get away with that :lol:


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> I really do fancy building a covered wash bay though, but dont suppose I'll get away with that :lol:


Go on, she won't notice :lol:, just put some hanging baskets up to hide it a bit and jobs a good'un


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

ads2k said:


> Go on, she won't notice :lol:, just put some hanging baskets up to hide it a bit and jobs a good'un


you think? Might be worth a punt - now the front garden is growing nicely she might not notice the new 20' x 12' covered bay on the other side of the house :lol:


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> you think? Might be worth a punt - now the front garden is growing nicely she might not notice the new 20' x 12' covered bay on the other side of the house :lol:


Just tell her it's a new style gazebo :lol:


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## jamrowls (Aug 30, 2008)

nortonski said:


> Tell me, do you leave this outside or store it between uses?


It doesn't move, it stays in the garage.

I see no reason why you couldn't leave it outside, apart from it being stolen!


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## wyliss (Feb 9, 2007)

I'm just about to get one of these. 
I used an AquaGleam filter last year but it didnt last long. 
I suppose this one will come up trumps...........


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## NeilMick (Dec 30, 2007)

Mine arrived today, cant wait to give it a go on my black car! :thumb:


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## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

NeilMick said:


> Mine arrived today, cant wait to give it a go on my black car! :thumb:


Snap! Mine arrived today also, new PW arrives tomorrow morning & working from home... :thumb: Me thinks that not much work will get done...lol


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

Does anybody know at what point the resin needs changing? Washed the car late last night and noticed a few tiny water marks on it this morning, checked the ppm and it's reading just 006, surely that should be ok still, or is it?


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## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

I was using the Flash system that starts at circa 30ppm, but after 2-3 washes was showing 50ppm & spotting.

As aquagleam & Flash have the 30ppm products (which they state are fine for most) I imagine it should be pretty good upto this level with minimal residue...could it be dew from overnight?


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

nortonski said:


> I was using the Flash system that starts at circa 30ppm, but after 2-3 washes was showing 50ppm & spotting.
> 
> As aquagleam & Flash have the 30ppm products (which they state are fine for most) I imagine it should be pretty good upto this level with minimal residue...could it be dew from overnight?


definitley not dew, a very dry and warm night


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

S500 said:


> Does anybody know at what point the resin needs changing? Washed the car late last night and noticed a few tiny water marks on it this morning, checked the ppm and it's reading just 006, surely that should be ok still, or is it?


That sounds too little for it to make much difference to me. Are you sure it wasn't regular water in crevises that caused the spots?


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

Neil_S said:


> That sounds too little for it to make much difference to me. Are you sure it wasn't regular water in crevises that caused the spots?


Nope, not that either Neil, didn't use any unfiltered water at all and the spots were bang in the middle of the roof and bonnet. Have to say they weren't too difficult to remove with QD but that somewhat defeats the object of the exercise.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Strange, I'd repeat the process and see what you get next time.


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## needhampr (Feb 13, 2006)

I've been using my 16.5l vessel now for almost a couple of months. Still getting 0 ppm readings and no marks. 

If you're getting spotting then I would recommend turning down the water pressure at the tap end a little. If you are operating at high water pressure then water could be passing through the resin too quickly. It could perhaps be that when you dispense just a little water into a jug to take a reading, it has passed through the vessel slowly where as when you are risning with an open hose water is passed through very quickly.

I'm very pleased with mine to date. I only once got some very slight marks on the car but that was pollen which attached to the remaining beading as it dried.


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