I’m a firefighter out here in SE Tennessee and started my own mobile detailing business this year (most firefighters have side gigs). I just wanted to say thanks for all the info you put out for free to everyone. You’ve probably saved me thousands in wasted products and wasted time. In the last few months I’ve matched my firefighting income with the detailing, couldn’t have made it happen this fast without your channel.
Another great video Josh. I’ve been thinking about a DI home system for awhile. You’ve just made the decision making process that much easier. I appreciate the hard work you put into this video. Thanks again.
Thanks so much for doing this video Josh! I’ve been researching the same items to decide which one would best work for me, and you answered all my questions! Definitely would love to see a bypass set-up for the larger OTG tanks - that system is probably going to be the system I would use as well. Always appreciate your knowledge and free advise! Thanks again!!
Thank you for taking the time to do this! I have the griots garage tank. It lasted me about 1 year in AZ where I initially had around 700 ppm reading on my TDS meter. I would wash once every 1.5 weeks. Lasted me roughly about 1 year since I bought. When I bought a refill from griots I decided to add a dual resin setup prior to feeding the mixed bed griots tank. I bought some resin from Bulk Reef Supply. I think it was roughly $60 for each 7 lbs bag of Cation and anion. I have the dual bed setup inside GE whole house filters. I’ve ran this setup for only 1 month so far so can’t speak on the longevity compared to just the mixed bed tank but the resin was cheap enough to try so gave it a shot.
Im in AZ as well! I’ve been looking at them for 4 years, but the prices have since doubled!! 😅 inflation. I took a break from detailing due to the pandemic hitting my family hard, so I took time off to grieve, had to move across the valley and back (moving 3 times in the past year). Now I’m back where I started, and I used to be one of 4 detailer’s I. My area, now there’s at least 50. So I’m trying to get up and going again. If either of you have a detail you want to pass on, or don’t have time to schedule them in, please reach out to me, I’ll send you my info and I’d be grateful and so happy to take literally any detail at the moment while getting my business back on its feet 🩵
Great video and research! Just remember you can lower the cost of using a CR spotless or any other by shopping around for mixed resin. You don't have to buy from CR Spotless and you can just buy the resin in bulk as the cartridges are refillable. I actually just recently bought resin from On The Go to refill my cartridges for my DIW-20. Other factors to think about is how much flow can the DI system handle. Is it enough for what you need if you are not storing the water in tanks. I also mainly got the DIW-20 for the built in TDS meter. I also got lucky and bought it at $390 before they made the $20 price increase.
Im in San Diego and use puretec. I dont have a shop so i have to drive to them and get them exchanged. I pay 130 every quarter. Its a pretty fantastic deal. Im mobile and always work in the sun for me it works. I keep it at home and fill my 65 gallon tank up i get 3 or 4 cars from that.
Great vid Josh! One thing to remember-max flow rate of all the options. For instance the On The Go system has a max flow of 2 gpm. Depending on the pressure washer such as Kranzle , this may not be a good option. Something to think about…. Thanks for all the great vids!
Thats a very good point to keep in mind! Even with the Kranzle though it comes in at just about 2gpm so it should be ok. But if someone is using a gas powered pressure washer that is definitely a concern!!!
Josh, great video. I have been using the On The Go system for over 5+ years here in PA where public water is hard and the On The Go TDS meter shows 350+ from the tap. I get the TDS down to 0 (Zero) with the One the go single Dual bed bottle setup. I piece of advice is to add a 20" x 4.5" Carbon Cartridge filter system Before the On The Go DI tanks and you DI tanks will last twice as long. No lie, it really helps your DI system last long and cutting down my refills to just twice a year. I do high end detailing as a side gig.
Man I’m so glad I stumbled on your channel, thank you for all the info you drop for us. I was leery about the ryobi pressure washers, but thanks to you I scored the 2000psi one for a heck of a deal and even got the surface cleaner for free with it. It’s mainly for washing my patio, rv and detailing my truck now thanks to you and your help. Thanks again!
I've read a lot of reviews on these DI systems and from what I can gather if you have water hardness above 400 ppm the Resin gets exhausted after a few uses. Yoh would need a really big.resin tank to get multiple uses. What I have been doing is just getting 5 gallon jugs from a drinking water kiosk at 25 cents a gallon and feeding that to my pressure washer with an electric pump for the final rinse. Very cost effective but less convenient than a DI system but if you are just doing 1 wash a week its a no brainer. I eventually will get an RO DI system like what they sell for saltwater tank enthusiasts to fill my own 5 gallon jugs to really get the cost per gallon down.
So the drinking water is low TDS? I've been purchasing distilled by the gallon and filling my 2 gallon bug sprayer. Extra steps but cost effective for my one car a week wash.
@@julesv2914 There are electric pumps that are used for RVs that take water from a tank and run it to a faucet. The one I got on Amazon had adapters for garden hose fittings that I use a small water hose to suck water from the 5 gallon jug and feeds it with another water hose to an electric pressure washer. It provides just enough pressure for the pressure washer to operate. I use regular tap water to foam the car and rinse off the initial foam and then switch to the Filtered water for the final rinse. No spots other than the tap water that gets trapped in the side view mirror housing.
When you set it up at home get a 3-way valve. That will eliminate the need for having to use multiple valves to bypass the filters. You put it in line before the filters, run a pipe into the filter and one bypassing them, then tee them back together before your output. You can basically then just use that one valve as a selector switch. I don't know if they make them in small sizes for PVC, but you should be able to just use a brass one.
Yea ive been looking into this. My only concern would be any back flow at the tee on the outlet side... And if that would cause a mixture. I dont think it would really matter but im going to be doing a gallons produced test so i dont want a mixture from that. I guess i could put another 3 way at the outlet and then would ensure no mixture from any backflow pressure right
Use a 3-way (L valve) on the tank input and with a check valve on the exit port. Blocks the backwash and allows you to run system with tank removed for service. 😉👍
Thank you for this, Josh. This video and your home shop buildout comes at a great time. I just built a secondary building with a wash-bay and wanted a water filtration system. Looking forward to future videos.
Great video, thank you for putting the time into it with all the details. I built a system around the RV DI tank. I have had it for years. The costs are going up each order, time for a change, this is a great option.
Great video, thanks Josh. FWIW RV-mods has a conversion kit for the CR Spotless that adds apprx. 40% more capacity to the DI20, and you can buy your resin anywhere. (You can find much better resin prices than CR-Spotless.) A little less convenient but for me, way worth it. (We have 450TDS in Carlsbad CA so I burn through the resin.)
very informative video. These are great solutions for cleaner water. I picked up a 10 inch DI tank from puretec that you mentioned awhile back from a pressure washer showcase video. It's been great to me, so I have you to thank for that.
Just purchases the OnTheGo Dual Bed Standard. My tap has 155PPM so figured that was a great buy for my situation. Looking forward to washing the Bronco with it. Thanks for this video that pushed me in the right direction.
Josh I literally searched RU-vid for “best price per gallon deionized” and came up with nothing. BUT I’ve been watching your videos and somehow RU-vid popped this one up. Viola! Anyway so I ordered the same dual tank system you’ll be using. When I did I noticed they had carts, I still to be able to move my system, then I checked around and Harbor Freight has an acetylene torch tank set up I think will work with this DI setup. I think I’ll probably have to rotate the tanks 90 degrees and address the plumbing because they will be literally touching each other. But hey, what’s not a little custom in this arena? Anyway y’all check out that cart from HF and let me know what you think. I think it will be perfect for this set up.
I built my own system using a filter housing, a refillable cartridge and cation resin that I bought on Amazon that cost around $200. I was 1 car a week at my house and this lasts for over a year.
really cool seeing the numbers on cost. The way to go is to have an RO pre filter set up so your taking your TDS down by 95% before even hitting the DI resin filter. Your resin will go easily 10x its life span. RO filtering is slow so the best way to do it is to be able to pre make your water and take it in a container you can either hook up your pressure washer to or pour out from if you use a rinseless method. With enough water weight you wont even have to have a transfer pump from the container to your pressure washer. 50 gallons of water comes in at 450 pounds. 450 pounds forced through a one inch hose outlet will be plenty to feed a pressure washer for awhile. Id also imagine 50 gallons would last more than a days worth of detailing.
This was some awesome information, I have the cr spotless 20 on the cart and love it, makes a huge difference, my tds meter shows 4 now and was wondering when I should change the resin, if I had the room in my garage I would go with the system you are getting but as a DIYer the system I have works for me, thanks Josh 👍😁
Thanks Josh for the testing and showing us various options. I am leaning towards the wall mounted CR Spotless for when i build a garage next year but many are very viable
Buddy, appreciate the hard work you have put into the videos that you do! My question is, how long would you think a setup like this would work without refilling it for someone like me who is going to use this as a convience at home not as a detail business . Probably wash a vehicle every other week of so.
Great video and very informative. Especially for someone who washes their personal cars on the weekend. For detailers I don’t believe this would profitable so I usually just get the spot free water @.10/gal at my local detail shop. Can’t beat .10/gal no need to worry about changing any filters/media, hardware etc. great video Josh! Keep ‘em coming!
Yea that’s what i did until i did the rental at my own shop.z the rental costs came to about the same price but it was just easier since i had it right there
Its worth mentioning that you can greatly reduce the amount of resin you need to purchase by getting the tds ppm down to 004-010 before it hits the DI. Sediment, Carbon and RO filters will do this. This setup is quite a bit more expensive because of the RO, but in areas that start at 350 ppm, you will notice the difference after a few years. Areas that have 500+ will see a difference quickly. Areas in the 100-300 should test if just the pre and RO filters do the trick.
Hey, if you look into the window washing world - the Xero DI tank is $315 and its equivalent to the onthego double standard I think. It's 1/2 cubic foot of mixed bed. The refill resin is a bit cheaper too so it could make it like $0.84/gallon initially and you bought 1 cuft resin from them it would be $0.27/gallon on the refill. WIndow washers also do an RO member before the DI to save resin but i didn't really look into that.
Great video and information. I am cheap and just washing a couple of cars so I added an RV water filter. It isn't perfect or as good as a DI system but costs very little.
Hi Josh, great video! Appreciate all the work you put into these things for us. I was curious what you think would be the best bet for me. I’m still new to the business and I only do about 3-4 cars a week, sometimes less. Unfortunately my TDS reads around 700. Do you think the 2 tank standard from OTG would be the best since I don’t use as much water? I doubt I’m coming anywhere close to 100 gallons per month. Would appreciate any advice!
Hi Josh! I always look forward to all your videos. I’m obsessed with keeping my vehicles clean, and have learned so much from your channel! I have a question I’m hoping you could answer… One of my vehicles is a 2022 Maverick with the factory hard rolling tonneau cover. I’m wondering what product would you recommend for keeping the cover protected and looking new? I use the TEC582 on the painted surfaces, and that works amazing, but I’m not sure if that’s good for the vinyl tonneau cover? Any thoughts or ideas?
This was exactly what I needed, thank you! But now I have a really serious detailing question for you: as another salt and pepper gentleman, what kind of coating do you use in that hair to get that perfect shine? 😄
I personally use the Allegro by US Water systems and I find it way better than all of these and much cheaper. Have you used any of their systems? Would love to know your thoughts. Love your vids my man.
I just ran the numbers and those look to be the cheapest upfront as well as on going use for a MIXED bed system! The dual resin systems are still cheaper at as low as .25 per gallon but for mixed bed these are the best option at .40 a gallon... good find!
@@imjoshv They don't have any YT presence and no reviews but I did my research on the company. I bought it and I was impressed. Can't wait for you to try it and hear your thoughts.
@@imjoshv pretty awesome set up, will you have all the options In your store ? Like the dual bed standard. I will just add bypass using some pex B . Probably get 200 cars if you just use for rinse.
I use the CR 20 with the RV Mods conversion kit. I buy my resin in bulk from other web sites. I can use my pressure washer and get a lot more washes out of the filters. I have not done any tests to see how many gallons I actually get from the set up.
In your experience , when using DI water , can you blow most of it off and let the rest of the water dry off by itself in the sun or is there still a chance that water will leave water spots ?
Do the resins have a life span (time, not water usage) after they first get used. I live in MN and wash outside. So I'm out of commission for 4-5 months a year.
Hey Josh this was a great video!! I’m definitely using this as my guide for choosing the proper filtration system for my detailing business I’ve been running out of my garage. I have a quick question for you or anyone else who’d be happy to answer; can I connect the filtration system straight to my pressure washer via a hose? I use a Ryobi pressure washer, 2000 PSI, 1.2 gpm. Or would I also need to get a tank (say, 30 gallons)? Which can then be gravity fed or pumped into my pressure washer…? Let me know if anyone can help me with this! Thank you.
Hey Josh, it looks like the link to the TDS meter is not in the description. Thanks for posting this video along with all the other informative content you provide for us. I've been looking into this for about 6 months now. Would you recommend a setup like this, or The Adams portable spotless deionizer. I've been looking at getting the Adams lately.
Before anyone invests in a DI system, you should measure TDS of source. Where I’m at, it’s pushing 500. Costs way too much for resin to use it regularly.
I ordered the Aspec DI system from Home Depot for $375 (I think it’s $68 per cartridge) & works good so far. But, I’ve only used it twice, my first DI system I’ve bought.
Just looked it up and it looks like the cr spotless one! Better up front cost to buy the unit compared to their 439 I think… looks like it’s should a great unit for you!!
great video.. i ended up getting the big tank one, cause there was a special for it which was the same price for CR spotless but twice as much, anyways, to really save the tanks, i ended up getting a 4040 Reverse osmosis tank and membrane, and get the water down to less than 5ppm before it gets to my DI resin tank, so hopefully i have spotless water forever... i use spotless water to rinse my brushes and clean my buckets, feel so bad.
New sub Josh.. I am interested on the car detailing industry. I am doing plenty of research regarding products and machinery. Just kind of lost regarding what equipment to buy when it comes a power shower, a generator, a steamer, a dry/wet vacuum...etc..etc. Now since where I reside the water is very hard, even when I detail my car it leaves spotted throughout very annoying. Anyways, if you could recommend me items regarding equipment and products really appreciated. Great detail channel sir. Much blessings 🙌 Ty
I have been pressure washing and softwashing some homes. And the water dries white. So, I am considering getting something cost-effective to do a rinse down of windows to add an upgrade to the house cleaning. Services and, yes, an upsell. Still not sure, and I hope that after this video, I will be a little closer to an answer to act on. So any advice is welcome.
As a home user, what are the pros/cons of using a system with a bypass valve for the final rinse vs using filtered water all the time? Should home users be doing this and does it get better results? Thx!
Depending on your usage, you can easily stretch the resin with the bypass. Without a bypass on a DIC-20, I would only be able to wash completely spot free 3 or 4 times
I only use DI through the whole wash if it’s a sunny warm day. I wash one side at a time and rinse to avoid drying soap and water spots. On overcast days I only use DI for final rinse. But if you don’t mind spending the extra money, use DI for everything.
Is there someplace to buy the resin in bulk? I'm looking at these systems for my mushroom growing. My alcoves, pressure cookers and humidifiers are getting too many mineral buildup spots in them. Bulk resin supplier?
Looks like On-The-Go sells the mixed bed double without the bypass for $65 less. My spigot faucet has a Y splitter so i can connect 2 different hoses to it. Can't I just connect the DI system to one side of the splitter and another hose to the other side for non-DI water? Those y splitters are less than $10. Also, Adams recommends storing the DI system in a garage when not in use because the sun can reduce the longevity of the resin. Have you found that to be the case? Thank you.
Amazing video. Thanks for all the research. After seeing your older video comparing spotless systems I found On The Go to be cheaper than CR Spotless also and went with one of their mixed bed options. Kinda wish I had shelled out a little more upfront for the dual bed. I wouldn’t need a refill for years as little as I use at home.
Awesome! When I ran the numbers it surprised me with some. If your not using it that much then sometimes the initial set up cost can be cheaper on the smaller unit! And since you’re not putting too many gallons through that may have been the perfect choice for you
I setup an RO system from my city water to a tank and I'm running 20 TDS by the time it hits my Mixed Double Bed Deionizer. How would I calculate how many gallons of water I would yield at this TDS value? What formula did you use to do this? Thanks.
Have you listened oked at a RO/DI system? You would need a storage tank since it will not flow fast enough. The RO would make the DI takes last way longer.
Wish I waited a little longer before I purchased mines (2 days ago)… I did a little simple research on my own and ended up purchasing the Adams deionizer… I saw the dual tank setup but was just thinking the mixed resin is a lot less hassle…
Hi Josh, I bought the Adam's double or Standard water deionizer with the Bypass (On The Go) I have 3 cars that I wash every 2 weeks, my tap water is around 285ppm, I wash my car with the Bypass ON and rince it off with deionizer water and after 5 months of use I still get 2 to 3 ppm on my TDS meter, so far so good, I don't know what will happen after the winter since I can't always wash the cars in the driveway and if the resin will still be good after 5 or 6 months sleeping there, but right now I'm very happy about this system 😉👍
I think it would be good to consider the cost of prefiltering the water before it enters the DI system, too. That would stretch out the DI resin a long way, but is the cost worth it?
Is 1200 gallons per year a lot, like that's what you use as a pro detailer? I wash my car 1-2x per month with typical at home foam cannon stuff and two bucket wash. Any idea how much water I'd probably be using?
I wouldn’t bother ditching you tank rental ! It’s a pain to order resin / rebed unless we can find out how to regen mixed bed resin which I found for about 250 for a 1 cub bag ! With your biz with filling mobile tanks and shop Usage prob need to look into building an RO system .
This might be a really dumb question, but can you just buy DI resin and pour it into a tank that's meant for water softening? It seems that di tanks designed for spotfree water is 2x the price (maybe marketing) and picking up a used softener tank is a fraction of the price.
Can you make a video showing the difference between a resin DI system and a whole-house water filter? I got a basic Culligan Whole house filter system for $50 at a local Ace Hardware in SD. I've also seen RU-vidrs use 2 filter systems. Would love to see your tests and learn what the difference is!
They’re two entirely different kinds of water filters. The DI water that comes out of these it not drinkable. The water softener for drinking water doesn’t have all of the minerals removed that causes water spots.
How much is your home rental system that you use in your shop cost you a month and how much water could you push through that before they need it come out and swap it out
Hey josh, I'm looking for water filter to reduce hard water. Not necessarily neinonized water resutls because I wipe dry anyway. Got any recommendations for a garden hose water filter to wash a car with ?
At the dealership I work for they have a water softener set up, but the company that maintains it went out of business 7 years ago.. so the softener has not been worked on in years, ao their DI system is basically not working right now, and I can see this on my foam canons and hose connections, they have a large tank similar to what you have on the table but 5x the size, then a small plastic barrel where I’m guessing I just need to add salt? I don’t know much about softeners but the water sitting in the barrel is disgusting. I was going to try and drain it an add softener salt? Can you add any insight on this? I know that’s not very much information to go off of but the dealership is probably not going to shell out the money for a new system
Hey Josh, I might have missed it but as you're using DI Water from the start to finish of the detail, how many gallons would you roughly say you use? Say middle of the row, a mid size SUV? I'm starting my detail business out of my home and trying to decide what is best. But, unsure currently how much water I would use per car.
Yea since 90% of my business is mobile I fill a tank in my van with di water so I use it through the whole process. However you can set up a bypass if your at home and just use the di when you need it like for final rinse and other parts of the wash process. That will really extend the life of the tanks. I am setting that up now for my home set up and will have a video out soon!
I heard with dual bed one of the resins lasts a lot longer than the other, so you don’t need to change both at the same time, which should save you even more. I’ve also seen somewhere that you can treat the resin to basically recycle and extend the life of it. I haven’t looked more into that yet. Waiting to get to end of life in my current resin.
Yeah I’ve heard of recharging the resin but from the experts I’ve spoken to it loses some efficiency… but if your able to do it and extend the life then it’s well worth it!
I know this question is nothing to do bout the vid. but was going to ask you should do like a 2 part detail vid on a car that step by step on how you wash a car and your process washing it nd what chemicals u use
100gallons per month? That's not much volume for a detailer. If you assume the incoming water TDS is 250 PPM, and you are using 2 GPM, using 5 gallons per car = 20 washes or 30 gallons per RV = 3 washes. With a incoming TDS of 250 a 1/2 cu. ft. of resin will last you only 90 car washes at a cost of ~$1.90 per car or $11 for each Class A RV ($335 per cu. ft. of media). It is worth it for a detailer but not a homeowner. Initial outlay is $335 (free shipping Amazon) for the media and $399 for the On the Go (free shipping Amazon) = $734.00 - IMO not worth it for the average car guy. You have to add a low pressure washer to this to rinse (you can only go 1.5 gpm otherwise the media won't work) which can be had new for
This would be something that would live in my garage and I sometimes leave the windows down on the cars. Is the fishy smell strong enough that it would leave the cars smelly?
Great job again Josh. Been waiting for this vid since you said you were testing these systems about a week or two ago. The dual bed with $112 refill, is that for refill for both or $112x2= $224?
