Deionizer for water spots

I have a question for the group, At my motor home barn I have everything but good water, It has a lot of iron in it 12ppm. I have a filter that has a media that is backwashed everyday, but I can not use it to wash my bus because it leaves spots; I have been told you can buy a deionizer at camping world and hook to your water supply in the barn and it will not leave spots just wash and let dry, does any body use this type thing and does it work and where do you get one ? I have used waterless cleaner but do not like to because of fear of scratching the paint. Thanks Gary

Gary,

I use this one: http://www.invisiblechamois.com/

The down side is you have to send it back to be recharged. There are other systems that you can recharge yourself and I'm sure someone will jump in here. We had a product at POG 9, but I forget the name.

yes you can buy a personal unit that does 3 to 5 washes,we have used d i water since the 80,s,in most areas they have it bigger containers,we have they call a wheat base,we used to have a medical grade,we found out later,it was much more expensive,we use ,all florida water ,they put in duo containers worth 4000 -6000 gal,they sold a lite kit to show when the tank run out and suppied two tanks on exchange,i think it was 350.00,now on a recharge 220.00,there,s alot of commercal buss, that use it,so look in your area for a dist.you may want a rust filter to prolong the tanks to max gal.,hope this helps

Thanks to both of you guys I will check into this!

It really depends on how bad your water is as to how long a DI system will last,I use a RO system in my plant and it removes 98.5% of the TDS in the water,we are on city water and we usually have 145 PPM incoming,I bet that you have at least 120 or more PPM.There are industrial suppliers that rent DI tanks and they are fairly reasonable.I have 2 tanks that hold 275 gallons each that I fill in the plant with RO water and take to the shop where the bus is,the RO water is about 3 PPM and it will not spot the stainless.

I have sold a few " On The Go" deionizers and my clients like them. http://www.portablewaterdi.com/

On my last coach I had a built in deionizer and pressure washer and will do the same on the new one. Some parks will not allow washing of your coach so I sometimes wash mine in a parking lot using on board water. I use a small mixed bed resin unit and use the deionized water for rinse only. They work great and you can buy refill kits so you don't have to send your unit away for recharge.

I spent a bunch of time trying to find a good de-ionizing water filter for the bus. The one I purchase was at COSTCO and consists of 2 large cylinders with a replaceable agent to de-ionize the water. The unit even has a TDS or total dissolved solids meter. The unit was removed from its rolling stand and is currently mounted in the spare tire area. I also have a pressure washer with 50 ft of high pressure hose that I use to rinse the bus with de-ionized water. The fine spray reduces the quantity of de-ionized water needed to rinse to less than 10 gallons. The cost is $369.00 including delivery. You can also find the same unit direct from CR on line for around $400

CR SPOTLESS De-Ionizing Spotless Water System™
Spot-free Rinse System, No Drying Required, Produces 100% Pure, Mineral-free De-ionized Water
Item # 180790 at COSTCO

Tom, I have some interest in this system after looking over their information. Which model do you have ? Any estimate on how many washes based on there numbers you actually get ?
Thanks,
AL

Al,

I think mine is the IC47. I probably get 10 bus washes with a charge, but I'm on well water. The regeneration cost is 79.00 plus shipping it to them, so it runs about 100 bucks. So if it costs me 10.00 per wash, it's worth it not to have the nasty spots. I'm now using a low PSI pressure washer to rinse, so maybe I can squeak out a few more washes.

Wish I was in Loc's league and just have the Man Boy take care of it.:p

I have been using CR Spottless http://crspotless.com/ for 6 years, you can replace the resin in the filters yourself buy in a bulk no shipping cost. I get about 25 washes. Its an amazing product.

Ditto on the CR and ditto on Costco. Prices are all over the map from other suppliers. We found the output pressure a bit anemic so attached the unit to a pressure washer.....perfect!

I like the idea of recharge without sending out. Which model are you using for appox 25 washes ?

That I think would be about right.

I use the DIC-20 model and I also use a pressure washer

Thank you so much for the info I will check them all out I am on a well here in V.A. Lots of water but a lot of iron. I am on a spring at the house which is about a mile from my bus barn and water checked out perfect guess I am on two different water sources.

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Originally Posted by Gary Carmichael

I have a question for the group, At my motor home barn I have everything but good water, It has a lot of iron in it 12ppm. I have a filter that has a media that is backwashed everyday, but I can not use it to wash my bus because it leaves spots; I have been told you can buy a deionizer at camping world and hook to your water supply in the barn and it will not leave spots just wash and let dry, does any body use this type thing and does it work and where do you get one ? I have used waterless cleaner but do not like to because of fear of scratching the paint. Thanks Gary

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Gary,
I bought the mixed bed deionizer standard model from On The Go Portable Water Deionizers www.portablewaterdi.com. It is unbelievable. I've used it twice now and the bus is spotless. You can throw away the chamios and stainless steel polish. You don't have to send it in to be recharged and they sell mixed media refill packs in bulk. Supposedly, you can get 6 washes out of one filter pack, but I checked the TDS after the last use and the reading was 5. A reading of 50 TDS or less will produce spotless water and I suspect that I'll get more uses than six per charge. Hope this helps.
Ken

Gary, I also have used the Invisible Chamois that Truk4u talks about. It has worked great and no problems. I have yet to return for a recharge, but have found out most local water softener companies can also accomplish this without the shipping back charge, if you are interested? I too have a pressure washer mounted on the bus for the work.

Can't find too many parks that will let you wash your own bus.

Wash / Rinse with regular water, and then turn on the Di water for the final rinse. Works like a charm.

Gary S.

Sponge,

Tell me more via e-mail on how to not have to send this bad boy back for an overhaul.

I also have the Invisible Chamois. It works great. The guy used to call me wanting to recharge it but it is yet to need it. I guess he gave up.

Include me on the local water softener instructions

Thanks