Help with my hard well water

[lasers]

Hello everyone, I am new here and searched through a few topics regarding hard water and I have come up with a few ideas. I live in Odessa, Tx and we are on water rations, meaning I cannot (legally) wash my vehicles with the city water. I suppose I could, but it is almost as hard as my well water. I also have a water well which I have been using to wash with, however the water is horrible out of it, very hard and etches the clear coat if it even has the slightest chance to dry.

 

I've researched a couple of options or came up with the idea myself, tell me what would be the best choice for spot-free, usable water.

 

First idea would be an inline filter set up with the softener. My concern is the water from my well already contains large amounts of salt, and since the softener just replaces harsher minerals with salt, it may have a null effect on my water. Also, the setup I saw was on ********, not sure of the effectiveness of the filter either.

 

Second, is a deionizer. I am not exactly sure what these do, other than remove particles. I assume they are similar to a reverse osmosis machine. There is a compact unit relatively cheap ($299) but again I am not sure how well this would work with the crappy water out of my well, or how long the resin inside would last.

 

Third idea is basically free besides some pvc and fittings. My water softener is located in the garage, and runs off the city water. I could tee into it and run a line outside. The water would no be perfect, however it would probably not leave as harsh of spots. It would have ample pressure since it is connected to the city line.

 

Here is how bad the spots are, I drove down the street and the water dripped from the mirror and etched my door

 

 

 

Thanks for any input

[Beemer]

I'm just down the road a few hundred miles from you and also have very hard water. The best three tips I can give you:

 

1: Never wash in direct sun. I don't care the temp - the sun will give you water spots. I wash before the sun comes up over the trees, or wait for a cloudy day or in the late afternoon.

 

2: Get a foam gun and foam down the entire car with Adam's shampoo. Wash the entire car. Only when finished rinse the soap off. Immediately put it in your garage and dry - either towel or blower.

 

3: Get a Blaster Sidekick to blow the water out of the cracks and crevs. You don't want ANY dripping.

 

I used to have horrible water spots but not anymore.

[Z71_Denali]

welcome to the forum! i'm not too far down the street from you!

 

in Midland the water is a little different, but still hard as a rock! i use the city water regardless of the restrictions.... we have zero-scaping and only use about 3,000 gal per month, including car washes.

 

i've been considering adding an outlet from my water softener, which is located in my garage also. but for now i do what Roger mentioned....

 

wash the car early in the morning or late evening to avoid sunlight. sheet rinse the vehicle after washing, to remove as much water from the surface as possible. immediately spray the whole car down with DS or WW. one of those handheld pressure sprayers works really well for this. i use a blaster sidekick to blow any standing water out of the cracks and crevices, then towel dry.

 

really important: protect the paint and glass with a sealant or wax! this really helps prevent the etching! if you haven't already, watch the Adam's instructional videos in the link at the top of the page!

[Beemer]

Ahhhh! I forgot the sheet rinse. Very important!

[THE Mook]

Very good advice mentioned so far, and from people who live relatively near you. If you are going to put a filter in line, you should probably test to see what minerals are exactly hardening your water, so you can aim a filter directed at those.

 

Mook

[goatheady]

I bought a water deionizer recently and am really happy with it. Just wash

rinse and walk away. They are a little pricy but should do the trick for you.

[Fat Mike]

Lasers -

 

It sounds to me as you will want to remove all of the dissolved solids from your water for at least the final rinse water. If I lived where you do, I would use softened water for the wash process. The softening process removes the calcium and magnesium ions which will allow the Adams detergent to make some really good suds.

 

The softened water will not be an ideal rinsing water because of the sodium and chlorides remaining in your water. I would use a DI filter for the rinse water and use the pooling rinse technique for best results.

 

The DI system will remove virtually all of the dissolved solids that will cause etching / spotting. An alternative to the DI filter could be purified water such as water from an RO system or distilled water. Both of these types of water has virtually all of the dissolved solids removed which will ensure a true spot free rinse.

 

If you use the DI system for the rinse water only, the filter should provide you an acceptable life span.

[Z71_Denali]

Lasers -

 

It sounds to me as you will want to remove all of the dissolved solids from your water for at least the final rinse water. If I lived where you do, I would use softened water for the wash process. The softening process removes the calcium and magnesium ions which will allow the Adams detergent to make some really good suds.

 

The softened water will not be an ideal rinsing water because of the sodium and chlorides remaining in your water. I would use a DI filter for the rinse water and use the pooling rinse technique for best results.

 

The DI system will remove virtually all of the dissolved solids that will cause etching / spotting. An alternative to the DI filter could be purified water such as water from an RO system or distilled water. Both of these types of water has virtually all of the dissolved solids removed which will ensure a true spot free rinse.

 

If you use the DI system for the rinse water only, the filter should provide you an acceptable life span.

 

i'd say 95% of the homes out here have water softener/RO systems installed for drinking water. but the typical RO system only makes about a gallon per hour.

 

Graham - give a local water system installer a call to see what they do for the well water in your area. the people that did it for our house were from Al's Water Systems. they may have something specific that differs from the RO systems.

[BRZN]

A real quick google search and I found this:

 

Can salt from softening installations enter drinking water?

 

Salt does not have the opportunity to enter drinking water through softening installations.

The only purpose of salt in a water softener is to regenerate the resin beads that take the hardness out of water.

 

I use softened water to wash/rinse my vehicles, there should be no concern that salt is simply replacing other minerials in the water.

[Fear Ls1]

I live in Midland TX and have the same problem, since we don't have a well. But the sheet rinse does knock off most of the water, and has helped tremendously.

[lasers]

i'd say 95% of the homes out here have water softener/RO systems installed for drinking water. but the typical RO system only makes about a gallon per hour.

 

Graham - give a local water system installer a call to see what they do for the well water in your area. the people that did it for our house were from Al's Water Systems. they may have something specific that differs from the RO systems.

 

Thanks for the help every one!

 

Going to try next time to wash in the morning and add the detail spray when I wipe it down. I also could just pull the blazer into the garage and shut the door which helps but isn't perfect. I will continue researching what to do

[Fat Mike]

A real quick google search and I found this:

 

Can salt from softening installations enter drinking water?

 

Salt does not have the opportunity to enter drinking water through softening installations.

The only purpose of salt in a water softener is to regenerate the resin beads that take the hardness out of water.

 

I use softened water to wash/rinse my vehicles, there should be no concern that salt is simply replacing other minerials in the water.

 

 

Dave -

 

While salt is not introduced into the water, "sodium" is as part of the ion exchange process.

 

If you're interested in learning more about the softening process, here's a pretty good explanation without going overly technical.

 

 

HowStuffWorks "Turning Hard Water Soft"

[Bluezey]

Where would you go to find out what's in your water? We have a well for water out here.

[BRZN]

The company that sold me my water treatment system checks the water during the yearly service plan. They check for grains of hardness, dissolved minerals (solids) and chlorine.

 

I'll bet if you take a sample of your water to someone that installs and services water systems they'd do it for you.

[Bluezey]

Thanks Dave, I give that a try!

 

Bluezey:pc:

[Z71_Denali]

Graham or Jory, if you ever need an extra hand one weekend detailing something, PM me! i work for pizza/beer

[ECaulk]

A plastic filter media filter will remove a large quantily of the problem mineral, just get a 5micron or smaller nominal pore size.

 

There are multiple companys you can send a water sample for full analysis of common minerals in water.

[Z71_Denali]

I just saw a sign at the local Home Depot for Free Water Tests 11-3 March 16th. You might want to check with the one in Odessa to see if they have this going too.

Edited February 2, 2013 by 2010TexasEdition

[lasers]

I just saw a sign at the local Home Depot for Free Water Tests 11-3 March 16th. You might want to check with the one in Odessa to see if they have this going too.

 

Thanks for the idea! May have to take up your pizza and beer offer some time lol