Author Topic: In line water softener (Read 8723 times)

Sol Asylum · « **on:** February 28, 2009, 05:30:06 PM »

I remember reading somewhere here on Kappaperformance that someone had installed an in line water softener to help reduce water spotting when they washed their car. Can anyone elaborate on what system they installed as well as the pros and cons of it? Perhaps also mention where you purchased it form.

lil goat · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2009, 07:51:16 PM »

That would be me, want a review it's great, it's meant to be used for an RV, it uses salt to soften the water, you get about 300 gallons of soft water before you have to add a box of salt from the grocery store, about $.99 it makes the water just run off in sheets and really reduces water spots, for some reason it even helps keep the car from water spotting when it rains. It just hooks in line on the hose. I would buy it again in a minute. Other than the initial investment it is really cheap to use and works as well or better than Mr. Clean. I have really hard city water and it's full of calcium, this takes care of it.

http://www.portablewatersoftener.com/

I just looked these up on line, they have really gone up in price, mine was about $100 now they are almost $300, there is and alternative out that I had never seen before called a Waterstick
http://www.watersticks.com/ they are only about $60

Sol Asylum · « **Reply #2 on:** March 01, 2009, 03:33:22 AM »

Thanks for the information.

Do you have to remove a filter and soak it in salt water or how does the element get regenerated so to speak? Does this use ordinary table salt or can you use ordinary water softener salt?

Anybody use one of those filter canister type water softeners?

BLK GXP · « **Reply #3 on:** March 01, 2009, 10:14:00 AM »

Thanks for the recomendation. I just found one on ebay.

lil goat · « **Reply #4 on:** March 01, 2009, 10:27:04 AM »

Quote from: Sol Asylum on March 01, 2009, 03:33:22 AM

Thanks for the information.

Do you have to remove a filter and soak it in salt water or how does the element get regenerated so to speak? Does this use ordinary table salt or can you use ordinary water softener salt?

Anybody use one of those filter canister type water softeners?

They just use table salt, but you can use potassium chloride. They come ready to go then you just pour a box of salt in the one I have and run water through it until you can't taste salt. Then you wash the car.

vstar · « **Reply #5 on:** March 01, 2009, 11:19:36 AM »

Here is a Dionization system for a good price...
http://www.dftowel.com/orderfilter.html

lil goat · « **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2009, 01:29:58 PM »

I have one of those too a whole house system, improves the taste of the water but doesn't soften it any or reduce water spots. I think the watersticks might work very well and they are easy to hook up. Same think as what I have only smaller, uses salt and a resin to soften the water. If you want to see the difference next time you wash your car use warm water and add a 1/8 cup of salt to the wash bucket and mix thoroughly. You will get a ton more suds if you have hard water. Pretty simple concept, you can soften the water in your whole house for between $500 and $1000 if you do the install yourself.

vstar · « **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2009, 05:25:07 PM »

De-ionized water is what you should use to rinse the car with, it will not leave water spots. The Mr Clean system has a de-ionizing water filter when you rinse it off. Costco sells a big buck system also...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11201522#

Sol Asylum · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2009, 05:51:00 PM »

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like there are a lot of options out there and I will have to look further into this.

Unfortunately a whole house system is out as my house was not laid out for one and it would be a major undertaking to install. Fortunately the quality of the water is not bad it just leaves spots when I wash the car.

lil goat · « **Reply #9 on:** March 02, 2009, 01:32:49 AM »

Quote from: vstar on March 01, 2009, 05:25:07 PM

De-ionized water is what you should use to rinse the car with, it will not leave water spots. The Mr Clean system has a de-ionizing water filter when you rinse it off. Costco sells a big buck system also...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11201522#

I have the exact unit you pictured like I said it doesn't work with hard water, I was still getting water spots. That's why I bought a water softener, it does work and actually the Mr. Clean has potassium chloride in it, thats why they only work for 5 or 6 washes, it gets used up and starts to water spot again. At $6 a filter for the Mr. Clean that is way to expensive for me, I get 300 gallons of soft water that makes a ton of suds with my foam gun for about $.99 Seeing how the price has gone up so much, the watersticks looks like a great option, if I didn't have one that's what I would get.

Sol Asylum · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2009, 10:55:22 PM »

So I bought one of the water softener cartridges from Auto Geek.
http://www.autogeek.net/wasoca.html

Bought a filter housing and some fittings from the local home center and assembled everything. Unfortunately the weather has not been nice enough to wash the car so I don't know how well it will work yet. Once I get a chance to use it for its intended purpose I will post a review. I did use it to add some water to the hot tub and it seemed to work OK for that.

G8TR · « **Reply #11 on:** April 07, 2009, 04:44:57 PM »

Well, so far from what I have read I think I will try one of the Watersticks. Of course I will have to wait until they relax the water restrictions down here. Right now we have no residential watering, except by hand and no residential car washing at all. Lot of people down here going

. Cars get so dirty so quickly due to the sand content of our dirt and the blowing winds.

lil goat · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2009, 02:05:18 PM »

Quote from: Sol Asylum on April 06, 2009, 10:55:22 PM

So I bought one of the water softener cartridges from Auto Geek.
http://www.autogeek.net/wasoca.html

Bought a filter housing and some fittings from the local home center and assembled everything. Unfortunately the weather has not been nice enough to wash the car so I don't know how well it will work yet. Once I get a chance to use it for its intended purpose I will post a review. I did use it to add some water to the hot tub and it seemed to work OK for that.

I just read about that cartridge from Autogeek, that is a minature version of what I have. Looks pretty cool, what do you want to bet those magic tablets you use to rejuvinate the cartridge are salt tablets. I use the same resin in my unit and just pour a box of table salt in the top every 300 gallons. Her is a weird benefit, after it rains my car doesn't water spot. If it is just sitting when it rains and I don't drive it, it will dry spot free all by itself. I used to get terrible water spots from rain. I get no etching of the clear coat from rain and water spots just wipe off. Soft water is the shizzle as my son would say.

Sol Asylum · « **Reply #13 on:** April 08, 2009, 08:06:58 PM »

I would bet money that those tablets are just plain old sodium chloride which I can buy locally at $5 for 50 LBS.

I found several cartridges that do the same thing however most said not to rejuvenate them but rather throw them out and buy new. This one you can even buy new resin.

BLK GXP · « **Reply #14 on:** May 07, 2009, 06:14:30 PM »

I finally got a chance to use my "On The Go Water Softener", and I am impressed. I have the Mr Clean gun, and this is definitely better. No special cartridge or soap to use. Just wash with whatever your favorite car soap might be. I washed my Black GXP, and my Black Tahoe. They both came out fairly spot free. Not perfect, but better than ever before. I'm sold.

lil goat · « **Reply #15 on:** May 08, 2009, 02:28:11 PM »

Which one did you get my son wants to get one for his house.

BLK GXP · « **Reply #16 on:** May 08, 2009, 07:45:24 PM »

I got the same one that you posted at the top of this thread.

lil goat · « **Reply #17 on:** May 09, 2009, 03:36:15 PM »

OK cool, I love mine, my son wants a cheaper one he can easily put in his trunk, looking at the Waterstick.

Sol Asylum · « **Reply #18 on:** May 09, 2009, 03:54:45 PM »

The one that I bought was like $20 the filter housing was $10 and the two fittings were about $6. So for about $40 including shipping the price was pretty reasonable. I did finally get a chance to use it and it exceeded expectations. I was truly impressed and will write a review when I get a chance. I highly recommend the Autogeek one.

PS this one would easily fit in the trunk of a kappa top up or down.

lil goat · « **Reply #19 on:** May 11, 2009, 07:13:26 AM »

I use that same canister on my whole house system except I use the charcoal filter to pull sediment and make the water taste better, that is a really inexpensive solution. You can get the canisters for like $26 on sale at Home Depot sometimes. Even buying all the parts from Autogeek, for under $100 bucks you will be very pleased. makes a huge difference. Yesterday morning I wanted to go for a drive, car was filthy, sprayed it with the foam gun, wiped it down with an MF sponge, rinsed and left. It air dried no water spots.

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Author Topic: In line water softener (Read 8723 times)

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