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Spot Free Hookup

I'm gearing up to install a ro unit, I've read that a water softener is worth installing as well to prolong the ro membrane. As a new wash owner im trying to stretch every dollar and give my wash a new reputation this summer, I want to know what to look for in a water softener. Dose a wash softener need to be bigger than a home unit?
Also how much of the plumbing needs softened? Should it be decated pre ro? Or should it go before the hot water heater? Or should the whole wash get softened water? Dose it help the hydrominers to get soft water's I'm planning on hp solenoids and dual regulators to give a 500psi sfr from the pumps.
 
It all depends on the hardness of your water is as comes from the street. Its hard to give recommendations until we know what that value is.
 
goodingcarwash said:
I'm gearing up to install a ro unit, I've read that a water softener is worth installing as well to prolong the ro membrane. As a new wash owner im trying to stretch every dollar and give my wash a new reputation this summer, I want to know what to look for in a water softener. Dose a wash softener need to be bigger than a home unit?
Also how much of the plumbing needs softened? Should it be decated pre ro? Or should it go before the hot water heater? Or should the whole wash get softened water? Dose it help the hydrominers to get soft water's I'm planning on hp solenoids and dual regulators to give a 500psi sfr from the pumps.
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Get a water hardness test kit to see how many grains of hardness your water is. Then you also need to know how much water flow you will need. We soften everything except the outdoor garden hose spigot but our water comes in between 16 and 18 grains of hardness.
 
goodingcarwash said:
I'm gearing up to install a ro unit, I've read that a water softener is worth installing as well to prolong the ro membrane. As a new wash owner im trying to stretch every dollar and give my wash a new reputation this summer, I want to know what to look for in a water softener. Dose a wash softener need to be bigger than a home unit?
Also how much of the plumbing needs softened? Should it be decated pre ro? Or should it go before the hot water heater? Or should the whole wash get softened water? Dose it help the hydrominers to get soft water's I'm planning on hp solenoids and dual regulators to give a 500psi sfr from the pumps.
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Buy a hardness test kit and a TDS meter. Test your water and let us know the results. Ive seen some washes with low enough TDS that RO is not really needed.
 
Noob said:
Thanks Greg. Great idea on the softeners. What all would I need to recycle the reject water? I assume I would need an additional float in my rinse holding tank and a pump to pump it up? My rinse tank it not all that large.
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Whether it makes financial sense I guess depends on your total usage of spot free and if you have an easy way to reuse that water. My water and sewer combined can be as high as 2.5 cents per gallon so the payback is pretty quick at an IBA site that dumps lots of RO on the car. If you have to go to the expense of re-pressurizing you might need to do some math to see if it is worthwhile, especially if it is a SS only wash. Take your RO reject line out and put it in a garbage can or drum and see how fast it fills up to give you an idea of how much water you're throwing away.

At one wash I dump RO reject into a wall mounted tank and it provides sufficient pressure via gravity to use BOB type float valves in other lower storage tanks. At another wash I have a large freestanding poly tank that I dump RO reject into. At the bottom of that tank I have an outlet that I feed my chemical injector on an IBA.

Side note, the tunnels in my area have succeeded in getting a car so dry they've started ripping out their RO systems.
 
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Greg Pack said:
I use the hach 5b hardness test kit. You can buy a TDS meter off amazon for less than $20
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I found the previous owners test kit. It has a tds probe and some chlorine and other test stuff. I just need to look up the directions and test it. However the spot free system has lived behind his house for a decade now. Im going to clean it up and see if the pumps and solenoids are any good. What do you think, should I just look for a good used system instead?
 

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I'd give that one a shot. If no freeze damage it might still be functional. I've seen worse in service. You will likely need a new membrane
 
Greg Pack said:
I'd give that one a shot. If no freeze damage it might still be functional. I've seen worse in service. You will likely need a new membrane
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I wouldn't. Those hoses look horrible. I would not have any confidence in the pump/motors having much, if any, life left in them. If it's been stored outside the wiring is probably crap. You're looking into putting a bunch of money into a system that's been obsolete for about 2 decades.
 
Greg Pack said:
I'd give that one a shot. If no freeze damage it might still be functional. I've seen worse in service. You will likely need a new membrane
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If not too difficult to revive ... it could buy the operator time to shop around a bit longer for the best fit for him or her.
 
mjwalsh said:
If not too difficult to revive ... it could buy the operator time to shop around a bit longer for the best fit for him or her.
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$2K-ish in pumps/motors, probably $500-$750 in additional parts, and the time($$) to get it functional(if you can) and you'll still have an obsolete machine with limited factory support.
 
Greg Pack said:
Dan what is retail on a 3 bay productions/delivery unit like that now?
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We don't make an all in one unit anymore. For a new 600GPD unit(which that is), delivery unit, and carbon filter full list is around $8500. A 150 gallon storage tank complete assembly is around $3K but that floats a bit because tank pricing is a moving target
 
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