I got bored today and started thinking...

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jayhkr

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Well my wife is finally out of the hospital and got her home! She was restless so I started digging around online trying to come up with something for washing/rinsing. I'm not going to slap down $400 on a CR spotless system and there's a lot of talk about the DIY systems that imitate them that, after all is said and done will still end up costing me $250-300. So I got to thinking, and this will only work if my idea about my pressure washer works. The last time I used my pressure washer I remember my wife turning off the water while I was still using the unit, unknown to me. Well I look down and see the hose had completely flattened out due to lack of water. This tells me the washer sucked the water out of the hose. Now with that said my idea is this:

I have a few 55 gallon plastic barrels I used to use for rain water collection. What if I took the idea from this setup except only using one (maybe 2 later on) housing units with the DI resin in it to slowly fill at least one of the 55 gallon barrels with pure DI water. The barrels already have a male adapter hose part on the bottom so all I would have to do is hook my hose from the pressure washer up to it, turn on the water from the barrel to run to the pressure washer and run the pressure washer. THEORETICALLY it should suck the DI water out of the barrel, into the pressure washer and rinse my truck off nicely.....right? The unit I was going to use was from HomeDepot seen here or similar. The tube the gentleman uses on his website looks pretty straight forward. I simple TDS stick meter would tell me if I've done this properly and my costs would be very minimal. I would recharge the resin as needed using this method. Any thoughts or ideas on this? I don't need much, just something enough for 1-2 cars every few weeks. Of course none of this will work if my initial idea of the pressure washer NOT taking the water from the barrels doesn't work. So all in all, this might be a $50ish project till I get to the recharge phase. We'll wait and see, and hope.

See what happens when I get bored. Still working on that air powered pad dryer I started on years ago. A lot of personal issues came to my life 18 months ago so that project was put on hold. After I get settled back into my work bench downstairs that is another project I will continue to work on! Till then, I have this project! Thanks guys for taking the time to read this. I know some of you are DIY guys so this would be right down your alley.
 
um....what? dude, too much man. too much. I dont even know what I just read Albert.
 
Ok, sorry. Been a really long week. Picture this: a 55 gallon plastic barrel filled with DI water that I made myself using a simple DIY DI system (google search it). This water is then sucked out of the barrels through the power washer onto the vehicles to give them a spot free rinse. (all this is assuming the power washer will be able to suck the water out of the barrels as planned).

Does this help?
 
jayhkr said:
Ok, sorry. Been a really long week. Picture this: a 55 gallon plastic barrel filled with DI water that I made myself using a simple DIY DI system (google search it). This water is then sucked out of the barrels through the power washer onto the vehicles to give them a spot free rinse. (all this is assuming the power washer will be able to suck the water out of the barrels as planned).

Does this help?
Click to expand...

how are the ppm readings before and after you make the DI water? If PPM readings are low then sure, a pressure washer doesn't know if the spicot is attached to goes to a water line or a water barrel...
 
jayhkr said:
Ok, sorry. Been a really long week. Picture this: a 55 gallon plastic barrel filled with DI water that I made myself using a simple DIY DI system (google search it). This water is then sucked out of the barrels through the power washer onto the vehicles to give them a spot free rinse. (all this is assuming the power washer will be able to suck the water out of the barrels as planned).

Does this help?
Click to expand...
Not really.......
 
thats fine although ive never seen a pressure washer that has suction. you will need a simple pump to pull the water out and push it into the pressure washer. easy and cheap, no big deal. but otherwise I suppose that will work. have to ask.......you must live in like Vegas or something where there are serious water restictions, right? otherwise, why not just use the hose and dry?
 
Well I beg to differ goodasnew as if you would had read when I said after the water was turned off the hose attached to the pressure washer was sucked clean and flattened when the pressure washer was trying to operate. So I'm assuming it was sucking the water that was in the hose out.

No I don't live in Vegas, the reason for this setup is to have a spotless rinse after I've washed my vehicle to minimize water spots.

I will be doing some testing on the ppm later this spring just was putting ideas down for now and trying to get some feedback. I obviously have confused a few of you so I will come back to this later.
 
spot free rinse in your own driveway? heard of a chamois or MF drying towel. spot free rinse at home, really? cause after I wash the car, Im way too tired to think about drying it, lol.
 
wow, dont wanna get involved in any of that stuff. i just wash the car and dry it. and dont have to worry about spots. i try not to over complicate things.
 
I was the same way, till I found out that I was putting tine swirl marks and sometimes light marring in my paint when I did that. Trying to touch the paint as least as possible is all. Detailing can become very complicated....after all there's the wash, clay, dry, compound, polish, sealant, wax......then the trim, wheels, tires, windows, and the horrible interior process that I dread. LOL and of course each process has a right way and not so right way of doing things. Yeah some days I'd rather learn quantum physics. LOL
 
before i started doing this every day and hiring/training several employees at my lot, I would have been overwhelmed too. but now, not a single day goes by that I dont see several vehicles come in trashed and leave as "goodasnew". Its so second nature now. I swear I could do this in my sleep anymore.
 
I bet. There was a time I thought I would enjoy this as a job....but then it wouldn't be a hobby for me and what's the fun in that.
 
goodasnew said:
wow, dont wanna get involved in any of that stuff. i just wash the car and dry it. and dont have to worry about spots. i try not to over complicate things.
Click to expand...

Spotfree water has its uses. You could wash a car in direct sunlight while the paint is extremely hot to the touch and not have any water spots. It's very cool, and if I had an extra $400, I would probably invest in a CR spotless system myself.

It would be super helpful in Florida summers!
 
Sounds like it could work - I'd verify that the pressure washer does did suck the water first though, before spending on the other bits and bobs.
 
goodasnew said:
thats fine although ive never seen a pressure washer that has suction. You will need a simple pump to pull the water out and push it into the pressure washer. Easy and cheap, no big deal. But otherwise i suppose that will work. Have to ask.......you must live in like vegas or something where there are serious water restictions, right? Otherwise, why not just use the hose and dry?
Click to expand...

View attachment 14568
 
Well of course it'll work. Think what you see in mobile detailing, or mobile power washing units... Typically a trailer with a big tank. No upline pressure to speak of.

OTOH I'd put the barrels on some sort of riser, say 12" minimum so as the hose comes out, drops down, and then has to go back up to the pressure washer, that it ends up being lower than where it exits the tank. :xyxthumbs:
 
Hey thanks guys, the barrels actually already are on a platform of 18"! It's mid 30's today so I didn't get the washer out to test anything officially but it just makes sense that it will. That will probably be the easy part. Getting the DIY DI filter to work may be the tougher part, but I'm confident I'll find something to make it work! Thanks guys! I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Do some gravity feed Gallons per minute volume testing from the water drum and supply hose that you will be attaching the PW to and compare that to the water feed requirements of your PW in gallons per minute.

If the drums will only supply 2 gallons per minute on atmospheric pressure and your PW requires 4 GPM the end result will be pump/supply line cavitation which will damage the PW. You should be able to increase the diameter of the bulk head fitting and supply hose to increase the volume of water that atmospheric pressure will push through it until you find the right balance between Supply/feed volume and the PW GPM requirements.

Even if your PW does suck water through the supply line, if it sucks more GPM than the drum will flow out off of atmospheric pressure it will cavitate and suck the supply hose flat, meaning that the PW pump will be running dry or partially dry resulting in pump damage.

Don't forget that atmospheric pressure changes with certain weather patterns so be sure to have plenty of surplus feed water capacity.
 
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