Autogeek deluxe water filter kit questions

[fjork_duf]

Hi guys! I just recently purchased the two filter kit from autogeek since I live in an area with awful hard water. I read through the guide that was packed with the product but still have a few questions to the experts:

How do you know when it's time to recharge the water softener and replace the sediment filter?

Will there be a visual change? Or should the softener be recharged after every wash?

Also:

Since the calcium is 'replaced' with sodium ions does that increase the chances of rust long term? or would that just happen with caked on salt from road salting?

Thanks!

 

[oldmodman]

Just keep an eye on the dissolved solids meter and replace the contents of the filter element when it gets up to the replace concentration.

But I do have a trick to extend the life of the big filter by quite a bit. I bought a pre-filter and let it do as much of the initial water cleaning as possible. By using it I have been able to extend the life of my big Spotless CR filters by many times. By changing the much smaller filter every other (or longer) time I use my filter I am able to get perfectly spotless water for a much longer time without having to replace the big cartridges resin.

Here is the small filter.
And you want the FC024 cartridge for whatever size filter tube you get.
Garden Hose Filters – Pure Water Products, LLC

 

[fjork_duf]

What is the dissolved solids meter? Is that something on the water softener itself? I haven't looked closely at it so maybe I'm missing something.

Mainly what I need to know is how many washes I can get from one filter before recharging. Can anyone tell me that?

 

[swanicyouth]

I think he is talking about the AG softner kit, not the CR Spotless. On the Water Softner kit you would need something that can measure water softness. There are kits from pool supply places for about 15 bucks that can tell you how soft or hard your water is. I got one from Amazon. You mix different reagents with your water sample until a color change occurs. Then, depending on how many drops it took to make the color change, you can tell how soft or hard the water is. Or, you could go by performance or just "re-charge" it in salt after every few washes. From what I am told, a TDS meter wont help you with a water softner to measure perfomance, as a softner is just exchanging calcium for sodium, thus the total dissolved solute is the same (ionic content), just "salt(NaCl) heavy".

My question is, does the water softner (apposed to a de-ionizer) really improve the spotting on the car? I bought a dispossible de-ionizer (all the way fron the UK) and it is amazing. You can just wash and dry a black car in full sun and let it air dry. Any spotting left, just wipes off with a quick detailer. I imagine a CR Spotless would be the same. However, it get's costly.