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Softened Water

Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson

Grand High Plumber
Messages
9,601
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33
Location
Henlow, Beds
Car
06 EX Tourer i-CTDI
Well as the ***le really. I have a water softener; so a choice of hard (with limescale) or soft (no scale and in theory much better soap and foam action).

Will try and wash the car with soft water and see if it is any better...
 
Pepster said:
Hell yeah , you wont have huge amount of water marks to deal with once the car is dry , soap suds will lather up nicely and you will use less suds when compared to get the same result with hard water..

What is this softener anyway ? any tech details PH values yada yada.. the top end auto suds have water softeners so check all these factors before..
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Hang on a sec are you saying that you are using water that has been through your domestic SALT based water softener, or are you suggesting the using an in-line filter type softener http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/aqua-gleam/0ppm-de-ionising-water-filter-12.aspx ?

I would argue that if you are suggesting the former this should be a definate no, no! If you wouldn't drink it you shouldn't wash your car with it! I have heard great things about the later, although not cheap!

Best wishes


Simon
 
This is what you want and its tried and tested by a friend of mine

http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/aqua-gleam.aspx
Whoops sorry simon its the same thing but 2 minds think alike ;)
 
I have a Tapworks Ultra, and have no problems with drinking the water. Modern softeners leave hardly any salt in the water. A glass of softened water has the same or less salt in it as a slice of brown bread.

Logic would dictate that as with showers and taps, there is no scum or scale left behind and you get far better foaming. I had a crack this afternoon bit the detergent dispenser broke on my washer.

Screwfix tried to refuse my exchange because I had no invoice, even though they could see it on my account. Their excuse?

HMRC told them, because of vat fraud. I told them to ahem... Get lost.

It has nothing to do with them if I am defrauding the tax man. Besides they don't HAVE to give a fresh VAT invoice anyway. Nice of them to give me one anyway ;)
 
Dan do Tapworks Ultra fit straight on to the incoming water supply if so i might invest in one.The water wear i live is very hard and full of lime scale.
 
Interesting and yes agreed with CJ on this, well atleast thats the theory
 
Yep, but you need to leave the kitchen and outside taps unsoftened. The Tapworks AD11 or AD9 are better and cheaper, but the Ultra fits under the sink. PM me if you're serious ;)
 
RO is for rich hippies with too much money :D

PITA to maintain as well.
 
Dan Robinson said:
Yep, but you need to leave the kitchen and outside taps unsoftened. The Tapworks AD11 or AD9 are better and cheaper, but the Ultra fits under the sink. PM me if you're serious ;)
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Cheers Dan ill think about it trouble is we are thinking of moving in the next couple of years.So it might pay to do it in the new house.
 
Dan Robinson said:
Yep, but you need to leave the kitchen and outside taps unsoftened. The Tapworks AD11 or AD9 are better and cheaper, but the Ultra fits under the sink. PM me if you're serious ;)
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why do you need to leave the kitchen and outside tap unsoftened?
 
Building regs, plus you don't want to waste softened water on the garden.

Babies and those on low sodium diets shouldn't drink it.

Remember the softeners only have a limited capacity - mine is 1000 litres.
 
Brett - you can always take it with you.
 
Still not convinced that cleaning a car with water with elevated sodium levels of any sort is a great idea...

Spoken to Ultimate Finish MD and he is going to send me a filter with my next order, as soon a things heat up I'll trial it and post the results.


Regards


Simon
 
When I kept my reef tank I had an massive RO unit with seperate di resin filters attached. It was the dogs but wasted an obscene amount of water but the water did produce awesome suds :lol:
 
My car would be lucky to just get a wash! at the moment I'm relying on the rain :p

Last time it was washed... the HH meet - was that 30th october 2010? Jeeeez
 
If space allows, I'd suggest rain water collection into linked barrels to get free (other than maybe needing an extra pump) soft water. I researched this this a while ago and there is a stickied thread at Detailing World on Using recycled rainwater but there are plenty of other suggestions all over the web.

However living in Scotland I've never had to suffer hard water and growing up never understood how crap water in England can be.
 
Avoid washing with softened water. It's not salty as the chloride's removed but there are lots of sodium ions and they are corrosive.

When softened water dries, it'll leave stains as well (of sodium carbonate, etc) but these are more soluble than magnesium/calcium salts and will come off much more easily.

I could be wrong, but I think car shampoos have non-corrosive softening agents in them but domestic cleaners like washing-up liquid use salt - so avoid them.

For what it's worth, when slagging off English water, studies show that hardness is good for you - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3396141.stm
 
cool thread i live in an area where the water is very hard.. to the point where any standing water on the car leaves marks

would you guys recomend the aqua gleam product ?
 
Have one to trial in my Detailing Kit so will post an update shortly :)
 
Dan Robinson said:
Building regs, plus you don't want to waste softened water on the garden.

Babies and those on low sodium diets shouldn't drink it.

Remember the softeners only have a limited capacity - mine is 1000 litres.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend anyone drink water from an ion exchange softener. Aside from the sodium loading, which can lead to BP & kidney problems long term, the large surface area of the resin bed is a great place for bugs to proliferate. Not a problem if you're just feeding a boiler or washing machine, but I would want to drink it.

It's a shame the Flash Car Wash died a death. That had a DI resin rinse cartridge that worked quite well when you're in a hurry.
 
:lol: Move to gods country, my good lady can fill the iron straight from the tap!!, soft as a babies ***!!
 
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