Recharging the CR

After about less than a month the TDS meter on my CRS has rocketed up to 160!!!

I ordered the Drum of resins $200 but I know there MUST be a cheaper way! So I went off to Lowe's today to buy a bag of salt tablets to see if I can recharge this badboy!

Price? $4.95

 

8 maybe more, but they TDS starts creeping up.

At 50 bucks a refill, it aint cheap! But personally I think its worth it.

 

Yea I'm waiting for the big drum too, hopefully I'll get it soon as I have a few vehicles lined up and I've spoiled my self with this unit.

So how did the salt re-charge go? I'd love to hear more about it :thumb:

Oh yea I agree with you not cheap but well worth it :thumb:

 

Yikes, NO GO NO GO!

The TDS meter ran up to 850!!!!

I ended up dumping the old resin and replacing it with new ones.

TDS now reads 000.


I called up my buddy and he called me an idiot, he said "soft water" is nothing like deionized water. He says you need a type of acid to reverse the ionizing effect or something like that.... :campfire:

Oh well....


Are there any other water systems out there?

 

mmmm...I honestly didn't know what the results would be on the salt charging...but thanks for sharing...I had a hunch it wouldn't work...like your friend said two different types of water systems...but I'm no expert just from what I've read.

There are other water systems available but not as good as the CR System...well that's just me :2cents:

I'll try to post a link to one that I found to be interesting but didn't go with it because of the amount of water you can use...it's on my other computer :coffee:

 

Whats the advantage of the CR?

 

Well one is the water flow, even though it may seem a bit low pressure it's actually one of the best ones available..well there are others that offer better Deionized whater flow but the price is quite steep.

The other advantage is how long the resins last..may seem as though the life expectancy of the resins are quite low but compared to others it's quite good....not to mention you get true 000PPM Deionized water.

There are many filters out there FMINUS and the CR System ranks quite highly...againnot an expert just from what I've read...before I purchased it I had to make sure as it's not a cheap tool/product.

 

The CR unit is awesome, you get what you pay for. I only use the system for a thorough rinse down after polishing. Before I would wash the entire car with it, then use it again after polishing to rinse the car. I only got like 5 or 8 washes out of the system. Now that Im only using it for a rinse down after polishing Ill probably get 5x that.

 

Yea I still use it the way you described D&D...love the fact i don't need to worry about drying the vehicle right a way. I don't mind paying for the resins to recharge the canisters...if you beak down the price per detail it actually pays for its self and some.

Just need to work it in the price, well that's just what I've done :2cents:

 

Hey FMINUS,

I found these sites so far, still looking for the one that is like the CR system..I know I saved the link in one of my computers.

Whole House Water Filters

Doulton Ceramic Water Filter - Ceramic Water Filters - Mr. Water Filter

Still looking for some other ones but I can't remember which computer I saved the links too :wall:

 

Found it, it was on the work computer :roll: go figuire:

Well this is the other one that I've been trying to post for you

On The Go - Portable Water Softener

 

I dont think any of those will be worth while, or better then the CR system. That on the go one is only recommended for 1- 1.5 GPM.

 

:nod: I agree, that's why I went with the CR System. But just thought I'd share what other options are available that's all.

 

Yep, CR is the way to go.

 

I got a lot of good info from our new chemist today regarding deionization/demineralization and the regeneration of these types of units. I'll post it up when I get home from work.

 

Ooooh do tell :leghumper: :leghumper:

 

OK got some very good info from our chemist today. First he said that many people get confused with deionized water and soft water. Soft water filtration systems take calcium out of the water by exchanging the sodium for calcium since it's easier to lose the sodium and pick up the calcium. To recharge these systems you use a very strong salt water solution. When you flush these systems with salt water and the solution is so strong that now the sodium overpowers the calcium and attaches and the calcium can be flushed out and you are right back where you started. This is what FMINUS tried.

Deionized water has actually used resin beads to take out cations (magnesium,calcium,iron,etc.) and anions (silica) out of the water and demineralize it. It exchanges these cations and anions for Hydrogen and OH or HOH (can't remember exactly which one he said) ions. This demineralizes the water and thus gives you "pure water". This water he said would have very good cleaning abilities and would also give you spot free drying because all minerals have been removed and spots are caused by the evaporation of water and minerals left behind. He said he could see how demineralized water would be extremely beneficial to all aspects of detailing. He said the only negative about demin water would be that over time it can be corrosive. However for that to happen he said you would basically have to soak a car in a pool of demin water for about a year. Don't think anyone here is doing that! As far as being counterproductive to the LSP since the water cleans so well he said no way.

He also gave a very good explanation of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) to me because I really didn't understand this that much. He said that what makes the TDS go up on your CR system is completely dependent on the water that is going in. For example using only tap water would cause the TDS reading to escalate at a lower pace than if one was using well water that has a lot higher solids count. So when someone like FMINUS gets 8 washes out of his system before the TDS reading gets high enough to change the resins Nica might get more or less depending on the solids count that is going into his system. I asked if you could use another filter to help and he said it would not be beneficial. He said think of it like putting sugar in your tea and stirring it up. The sugar dissolves (this would be like the solids in your water that your CR system is removing), but if you continue to put sugar in, at some point it will not dissolve into the water and just lay out in the bottom. Another filter would get rid of that sugar but the sugar that had already dissolved would not be removed which is really what you want out in the first place.

Now for regeneration. He said that these systems could be regenerated at home but it would take using Sulphuric Acid and Caustic. The Acid would be used to regenerate the beads that remove cations and the caustic would be used to regenerate the beads that remove anions. The process would work if the beads were in seperate canisters. I'm not sure if that is how the CR system works but would think so. Nica and FMINUS do you have different resins in each canister or are they mixed resin canisters? If they are seperate you would put a 30% solution of Sulphuric Acid in the cation one and a 30% solution of Caustic in the anion one. Let them sit for about 1 hour and then thouroughly rinse. This process would cause the beads to be regenerated thus making it much easier for them to take on the cations and anions again and your TDS reading would drop. He did say that your best bet for regeneration would probably be to find a power plant that does it's own regeneration and find someone there that would be willing to do it :shh:. If you have a mixed resin canister then the process would be much more difficult as a special process is used for this and doing it on your own would not be very possible.

Hope this info is helpful on some level as I really learned a lot about the science behind spotless systems!

 

Thanks Wolf. I think Ill just stick to buying new resin. The resin is the same in each canister.

 

Wow that's great info Wolf :applause: man you remembered all of that well done...I had to read it a few times to get it through my thick head :wall: hahahaha

Yea I'm with D&D I have no problems purchasing the resins a simple dump the old and put new rins is much isier for me :thumb:

I'm going to save your post my friend, well writen and well explained....oh by the way i don't mix the canisters? I just use the exact same resins to recharge.

 

Good info, in other words........ BUY MORE RESIN DRUMS!!! :rollingpin: