Cleaning with RO/DI water

[Steve@GM]

Do you guys know of any nice DI/RO systems?

Well for WFP window washing, I like the Wash-it Pro and I know a lot of pros in the industry use it and recommend it, which is why I bought it.

As for carpet/tile cleaning, I can imagine a regular household setup could be used. The flow is slow so it would be something you would do overnight. I've thought about having something like that actually mounted above my fresh water tank so all I needed to do was connect a hose and turn on the water. I would probably have to set it up with a shutoff timer or a float valve to keep it from overflowing though.

 

[old tech]

Well you definitely sound like you know your stuff, so I won't argue any further on the matter. I'm just repeating what I've read and learned while researching the pure water fed pole systems for the window washing side of my business. I'll take a technicians word on the matter over any book and probably stick with RO water instead of taking the TDS all the way down to zero with DI.

Well you definitely sound like you know your stuff, so I won't argue any further on the matter. I'm just repeating what I've read and learned while researching the pure water fed pole systems for the window washing side of my business. I'll take a technicians word on the matter over any book and probably stick with RO water instead of taking the TDS all the way down to zero with DI.

You don't use DI on your WFPs?

I was told it was necessary to 'polish' the water after RO and remove the remaining traces from the RO.

o

But saving a bunch on chemicals. Which is saving more the chemical costs or equipment costs?

I'm not sure if he's around anymore but I know @Lance Golden uses RO for carpet cleaning.

Deionization

Deionized water (DI water, DIW or de-ionized water), often confused with demineralized water / DM water,[3] is water that has had almost all of its mineral ions removed, such as cations like sodium, calcium, iron, and copper, and anions such as chloride and sulfate. Deionization is a chemical process that uses specially manufactured ion-exchange resins, which exchange hydrogen and hydroxide ions for dissolved minerals, and then recombine to form water. Because most non-particulate water impurities are dissolved salts, deionization produces a high purity water that is generally similar to distilled water, and this process is quick and without scale buildup. However, deionization does not significantly remove uncharged organic molecules, viruses or bacteria, except by incidental trapping in the resin. Specially made strong base anion resins can remove Gram-negative bacteria. Deionization can be done continuously and inexpensively using electrodeionization.

Three types of deionization exist: co-current, counter-current, and mixed bed.

But saving a bunch on chemicals. Which is saving more the chemical costs or equipment costs?

I'm not sure if he's around anymore but I know @Lance Golden uses RO for carpet cleaning.

Deionization

Deionized water (DI water, DIW or de-ionized water), often confused with demineralized water / DM water,[3] is water that has had almost all of its mineral ions removed, such as cations like sodium, calcium, iron, and copper, and anions such as chloride and sulfate. Deionization is a chemical process that uses specially manufactured ion-exchange resins, which exchange hydrogen and hydroxide ions for dissolved minerals, and then recombine to form water. Because most non-particulate water impurities are dissolved salts, deionization produces a high purity water that is generally similar to distilled water, and this process is quick and without scale buildup. However, deionization does not significantly remove uncharged organic molecules, viruses or bacteria, except by incidental trapping in the resin. Specially made strong base anion resins can remove Gram-negative bacteria. Deionization can be done continuously and inexpensively using electrodeionization.

Three types of deionization exist: co-current, counter-current, and mixed bed.

Soft water is good for carpet cleaning machines and will boost your chemicals without taking the water down to 0. Now if you are washing windows it's DI all the way for 0 spots. Great with tucker pole. I'm not trying to split hairs just save you money long term. Different applications Different needs.

 

[Tim Reed]

Would spot free water work as well or same as soft? I've read the manual of my TM of the importance of soft water

 

[akleenerimage]

What soft water systems are you guys using either in your vans or at your ships to fill with. Pros and cons? Difference between resin balls and salt? Looking to get a set up for my shop to fill my fresh water tank and just starting to do some research into it now

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[PistolPete]

I use an RV softener plumbed inline on the TM after the fresh water hose. Works fine.
BTW completely soft water (zero grains or ppm) is aggressive to soft metals but not stainless.

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[PistolPete]

I bought mine here
http://www.supremewatersales.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=nomad


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[akleenerimage]

Oh cool...I was kind of debating between having one stay at the shop where I fill 99% of the time or having one in the truck.
Has anyone done in research into the salt free water conditioners? I like the environmental side of these but it doesn't seem as though these would help much on the carpet cleaning side of things?
@scottw

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[PistolPete]

Salt free conditioners are not true water softeners. They add chemicals to the water to prevent calcium and magnesium from sticking.
Water softeners actually remove the hardness. Don't be fooled by stick on magnets or coils of wire wrapped around pipes either, nothing works like a good water softener.

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[Scott W]

Oh cool...I was kind of debating between having one stay at the shop where I fill 99% of the time or having one in the truck.
Has anyone done in research into the salt free water conditioners? I like the environmental side of these but it doesn't seem as though these would help much on the carpet cleaning side of things?
@scottw

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I agree with PIstolPete above. We sell the magnets, but I do not endorse them. I know several folsk who have them, use them and love them. But the science was never convincing to me.

Other water conditioners are chemicals. Basically this is the same as using a rinse since most rinses have water softening chemcials in them. The problem is that when a rinse is softening the water it is not cleaning or doing the other thinhgs it was designed to do.

 

[akleenerimage]

OK thank you. I wasn't looking at the magnets or electric ones but this one

http://doultonusa.com/whole_house_water_filters/NoScale-salt-free-conditioners.php

I was still guessing that because it wasn't removing the minerals it was just letting them pass through that it wouldn't be as effective.

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[Mike Krall]

OK thank you. I wasn't looking at the magnets or electric ones but this one

http://doultonusa.com/whole_house_water_filters/NoScale-salt-free-conditioners.php

I was still guessing that because it wasn't removing the minerals it was just letting them pass through that it wouldn't be as effective.

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I believe an RO unit will produce soft, mineral free water.

A little more expensive having RO ---> DI, but that's what I use on the van for windows. Will be trying it soon for carpets.

 

[akleenerimage]

I was looking into those but seemed from what I recall that they were pretty slow in generating the water. I fill at my shop and stop back multiple times during the day to fill and sometimes need to do it quick. Is your info different?

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[Mike Krall]

I was looking into those but seemed from what I recall that they were pretty slow in generating the water. I fill at my shop and stop back multiple times during the day to fill and sometimes need to do it quick. Is your info different?

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Yeah they aren't super fast. You can get different sized units though from ones that can make 1000 gallons per day to 2500. Above that I think it gets pretty expensive. I guess the catch is going to be the PSI you feed it. The 1000 GPD is about 80 PSI, 2500 is 150 PSI.

So having a fresh water tanks would be ideal.

@Lance Golden would be the guy to ask though, he has a system he uses on glass and carpets.

 

[akleenerimage]

Well that's not so bad. I'm usually only going through maybe 200 gallons a day on average. Do you know if those are more effective than a soft water setup for carpet cleaning purposes? For just carpet cleaning is it overkill? Meaning is the added price justified ?

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[KempWaterfall]

First of all let me say Hello to everyone. I have been cleaning for 38 years Master Cleaner.. You can Clean with Di Water have been for 5 or 6 years . Yes there is a huge difference in the cleaning If I start out with a new bottle it is 18 Mega ohms now that is cleaning but it will stay like that for about 400 gallons then goes down to about 4 or 5 Mega ohms and I can get about 6 months before I need to get new. Is it worth it I would not clean any other way my cost of chems is very low and carpets are soft and fluffy I carry 230 gallons of Di Water on my truck and can also make it on site. As a Added plus you can wash the wife's car and windows and not have to dry it off

 

[Jose Holguin]

First of all let me say Hello to everyone. I have been cleaning for 38 years Master Cleaner.. You can Clean with Di Water have been for 5 or 6 years . Yes there is a huge difference in the cleaning If I start out with a new bottle it is 18 Mega ohms now that is cleaning but it will stay like that for about 400 gallons then goes down to about 4 or 5 Mega ohms and I can get about 6 months before I need to get new. Is it worth it I would not clean any other way my cost of chems is very low and carpets are soft and fluffy I carry 230 gallons of Di Water on my truck and can also make it on site. As a Added plus you can wash the wife's car and windows and not have to dry it off

What kind of Di system do you have on board?

 

[KempWaterfall]

Mine is Pure Rinse I run a water softener first then two carbon blocks, 1 micron, 3 ros then to the di sounds like a lot but not you can make your own system

 

[KempWaterfall]

Pure Rinse I rent my di Tank Look up Industrial water

 

[Scott W]

Greetings Kemp, Welcome to TMF.
For any of you who do not know Kemp, he is an industry veteran with lots of good information to share. He and his famil have many years experience to share.

 

[KempWaterfall]

Thank you so much Scott