Deionized (DI) Water

My water is in the 440 ppm range so very hard. I use a water softener but don't use it for car washing as it leaves behind some salt.
 
Nonsense. Have you ever heard of foliar feeding and the roots suck it up!
Foliar is the leaves. Yes plants need oxygen and carbon dioxide but very few can utilize nitrogen. In fact none can, but some have nitrogen-fixing bacteria that can.

Nitrogen compounds in the soil is an entirely different need.

We are way off topic from using DI water for car washing.
 
My driveway faces South. During the spring and summer months, it is nearly impossible to wash any cars during daylight hours without spotting. I usually have to do my washing before 7am or after 8pm.

I am considering a DI water system and want to utilize it as follows:
- Mix soap solution using DI water.
- Pre-rinse vehicle with tap water, but perform a light rinse with DI water before washing with soap. This way, if water dries while the vehicle is being washed, there is no spotting.
- Rinse off soap using tap water, but perform a final rinse using DI water.

With those above steps, I think I can limit DI water usage to under 15 gals per wash.

Does anyone have recommendations for a DI system? I think this system provides the lowest cost per gal:

https://dirinse.com/product/d-i-rin...MI0OuL1qSMiAMVYh6tBh3mwjl1EAQYASABEgKS_fD_BwE
I have a small DI tank. Got it a couple years ago from an RV supply place. It works well.

However, if I were to do it again, I’d probably try a product like Superior Formula 4 Spray Wax. It contains PDMS which is the drying aid for the “spot free rinse” they use in automatic car washes. I think it’s the same stuff they put in dishwasher drying aids as well.

Full disclosure, I’ve never tried one of these products. But at $30 for 1 gallon, I would give it a shot before spending considerably more $ on a DI water system. If it doesn’t work, it was only $30. Plenty of YT videos out there on how to use the product, and there may be other offerings these days.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...uperior-products-1-gallon-spray-wax/scp0/c841
 
Foliar is the leaves. Yes plants need oxygen and carbon dioxide but very few can utilize nitrogen. In fact none can, but some have nitrogen-fixing bacteria that can.

Nitrogen compounds in the soil is an entirely different need.

We are way off topic from using DI water for car washing.
You don't know much about plants. Abandon ship!!!!!!
 
I filter my rainwater and use it for whatever I would distilled. 1 gallon will clog up a coffee filter. H2O2 makes a great easy and cheap purifier for storage.
 
Actually you are incorrect.

"Plants uptake and assimilate nitrogen from the soil in the form of nitrate, ammonium ions, and available amino acids from organic sources."

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=can+plants+use+free+nitrogen?&ia=web
Nonsense. Look up foliar feeding! Miracle Grow would be out of business if that were true. You want to see a plant take off spray it with some calcium chloride.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/l...liver-burst-micronutrients-plants/5584102001/
 
Nonsense. Look up foliar feeding! Miracle Grow would be out of business if that were true. You want to see a plant take off spray it with some calcium chloride.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/l...liver-burst-micronutrients-plants/5584102001/
Did you even read your link. Dude, slow down. You are wrong. Plants cannot absorb N2.

"However, many forms of nitrogen are not actually absorbable by plants. Nitrogen gas (N2) in the atmosphere combines to form nitrogen monoxide (NO) under very high temperatures such as lightning, which reacts with oxygen (O2) to yield nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas. Then nitrogen dioxide interacts with water vapor to form nitrate (HNO3).

This is the form of nitrogen which the plants can easily absorb. When the rain, which contains nitrate, comes down to the earth, plants absorb the water and nitrogen through their roots."
 
Did you even read your link. Dude, slow down. You are wrong. Plants cannot absorb N2.

"However, many forms of nitrogen are not actually absorbable by plants. Nitrogen gas (N2) in the atmosphere combines to form nitrogen monoxide (NO) under very high temperatures such as lightning, which reacts with oxygen (O2) to yield nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas. Then nitrogen dioxide interacts with water vapor to form nitrate (HNO3).

This is the form of nitrogen which the plants can easily absorb. When the rain, which contains nitrate, comes down to the earth, plants absorb the water and nitrogen through their roots."
Nobody has heard of foliar feeding? Or noticed how much better plants do from rainwater? Or that some plants get all their nutrients from the air and rain as they have no roots??
 
Nobody has heard of foliar feeding? Or noticed how much better plants do from rainwater? Or that some plants get all their nutrients from the air and rain as they have no roots??
Of course all those are great. I don't think anyone is disputing that.

But the fact remains plants simply cannot use N2 directly.
 
That filter removes hardness minerals from the water?
Not all, but some, of the contamination that leads to spotting, yes.

Really, the key to not having spots is to dry the vehicle before the sun does, would you agree with that?
 
Of course all those are great. I don't think anyone is disputing that.

But the fact remains plants simply cannot use N2 directly.
I never said they can, never said N2 is in falling rain water. But at least we are agreeing that rainwater can dissolve minerals as it falls though the air?

My argument starts with the creation of water from the elements of H and O and it is extremely reactive then. Not 20 seconds later or a half hour it may take for the rain to fall and actually hit the ground.
 
Here's a filter that fits the standard filter housing and removes hardness from the water. Good for a dedicated hose bib.




81egt-mjaXL._AC_SX679_.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/MaxWaterFlow-com-Magnesium-Hardness-Reduction-Softening/dp/B0789VTMWN
 
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