How Deionisation Works
What is water Deionisation?
Deionisation of water is the removal of dissolved minerals suspended in water
Why is Deionisation necessary?
Removing the minerals present in the water is the simplest method for preventing spots forming on the surface the paint, therefore speeding up the cleaning process as drying is no longer required, and eliminates the chance of mineral etching of the clear coat which can be costly to repair
What are water spots and why do I want to avoid them?
Water spots are dried mineral deposits that are left behind when a droplet of water evaporates under the heat of the sun, leaving behind the minerals that were once dissolved in the water. These minerals etch into the surface of the paint/glass of the car and are notoriously hard to shift. The level of etching varies based on factors such as the hardness of the water, the ambient temperature and solar loading the paint surface is subjected to, as well as the porosity and hardness of the clear coat. To mitigate the risk of clear coat damage from the minerals suspended in the water, they need to be removed through the deionisation process
How does your Deionisation solution work?
The Cyclone Spotless Wash Solution completes the deionisation process via an ion exchange that takes places in the pre-filled resin cartridges. This process is the removal to commonly found Cations (such as Sodium (Na+), Calcium (Ca+), Copper (Cu++), Iron (Fe++) and Anions (Chloride (Cl-), Bromide (Br-), leaving behind only H20. Water enters one side of the housing and passes through both resin traps before exiting the system where the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS - measure in ppm) monitor is located, this verifies you are receiving mineral free water to begin your wash/rinse process, without the risk of itching the paint, even under direct sunlight
How long will the resin last?
There is no set answer to this question, however we do know the main variables that contribute to resin life span.
These are:
The hardness of your supply water
How often you wash your car
How much water you use per wash
The list below shows how many litres of water can be expected based on differing water hardness levels
PPM > Litres
50 > 5860
100 > 2930
150 > 1950
200 > 1460
250 > 1180
300 > 980
350 > 840
400 > 750
450 > 650
500 > 685
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Water usage will vary depending on if you are using a garden hose or a pressure washer (which reduces the water usage). As a rule of thumb a typical pressure washer will use 5-6 litres per minute, and a post wash rinse will have around 3-5 minutes of total usage
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Taking this as an example. Assuming 6 litres/minutes and 4 minutes of usage you arrive at 24 litres per rinse. If your water supply is moderately hard at 200ppm you would get 1460 litres which equates to ~60 washes before the resin needs replacing. This gives over a year of washing every weekend before you need to consider changing your resin