Spot Free water softener/Filtration system

[F-150]

Sorry I only saw the topic and quickly skimmed through a few posts to see if anyone found the link.

[mike_svt]

Thanks for the update. I think I'll order one of these when the budget permits!

[Tom Weed]

Okay, today I had time to do some testing of the filters and take some pictures of the results, washed a black vehicle, then pulled it out into the sun to dry, can't be much worse can it? As I mentioned before, I wouldn't dare do this without the filters or this thing would have nasty spots all over as I have pretty hard water.... Also, as I had mentioned previously, it wasn't 100% as I did find a couple of light spots, but it's pretty close...

here's the Water filter setup I have:


and with the Karcher hooked up to it:


My usual two bucket wash method:

[Tom Weed]

after washing the car:



Here's pulling into the sun to dry and I did not sheet the water off with the hose:

[Tom Weed]

here are the pictures after it dried in the sun:





So, I am very pleased with this purchase, but really curious to see how long the filters hold out, I used about them about 12-15 washes now, as they are kind of pricey with shipping.
My soap was Shampoo plus....

Tom

[Tom Weed]

and here's a pic after I had time to use NXT insane shine on the tires and Hper dressing on the wheel wells:

[mike_svt]

Wow, looks nice! This would definately come in handy when I hose my car off after I drive it in the rain. I usually bust out the dedicated leaf blower to dry the car. With this set up I could rinse it and forget it (sounds like the meat roster commercial )

[Tom Weed]

hey again everyone,
going to update this thread again as I got a cheap TDS tester and some water hardness strips from Lowes. I did three samples, one of my regular Tap water which wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought, but it's bad enough to spot like crazy on your car, next one of my 2 stage under the sink filter - first stage is some yarn like filter and the second is a charcoal like filter, and the last one was of my CR Spotless water.

here's the tests from my tap water which read 84:



Next is my under the sink filter, which the PPM was a tad higher on the TDS meter of 86, but on the strips it showed up as softer. Not sure about that?



Last is the CR spotless water, the readings were 0

[Tom Weed]

All three strips:

[Setec Astronomy]

How much did the tester/strips cost you? What dept. at Lowes? TIA!

[Tom Weed]

I got the TDS meter on Ebay for like 18.00 plus s/h. The strips were FREE at lowes, had them in a small wall container next to the water filters so I grabbed a few.

Tom

[F-150]

Great review, looks like your filter system works well. can't get any better than 0 ppm

[mike_svt]

Wow, that's impressive! I never imagined the fitration system would remove all of the dissolved solids. Thanks for the update.

[Rockpick]

Looks good Tom! Hard to beat 0 ppm! Thanks for the email the other day -- I'm very sorry I didn't get back in touch with you. I've been slammed lately with little to no time for anything that I 'want' to do...

The CR system is a very nice one but, what deterred me from it was the filter replacement thing (which I understand is a necessary evil to really achieve 'great' water) -- because the filters were a bit pricey and because I wanted 'softer'water for a full wash rather than just the rinse, I opted for the Spotfree system (review here @ MOL).

The CR system is probably way ahead (being that it's true DI) but, thusfar, I'm still tickled pink with the way it's performing....

Great review -- one of these days I may upgrade...

RP

[TripleDES]

Re: Spot Free water softener/Filtration system

Thanks Tom. I have a few questions for you.

Have you had to replace the resin yet?
Have you tried recharging the resin yourself by just running salt and water?
How is the pressure if you didn't use a power wash system? I plan on just plugging the system into just a normal hose that has measured around 75psi.