Washing your car regularly helps keep that stunning shine sustained for a long time. But hard water can be a big problem if you use it to wash your car. High calcium and magnesium content in hard water can cause stains on your car. So, what do you do?
How to soften hard water to wash car? You can boil hard water to precipitate the dissolved minerals and make the water softer. Using special cleaning solutions will also work. You can also use washing soda or white vinegar to soften hard water.
Read the whole article to know these methods in detail.
What Happens When You Wash Car with Hard Water?
The first problem you will notice is soap suds don’t form as expected. This is because hard water has a higher percentage of calcium and magnesium dissolved in it. These minerals prevent soap suds from forming. So, no matter how much detergent you use to make foams, it won’t work with hard water.
Some people might try to use special car wash soap for hard water. But the case will almost be the same until the water is softened. Another big problem with hard water is they leave minerals behind. So, those minerals will build up scales and create stains on your car.
Even if there is no spot, the shine of your car will never be like before. You can only tackle these problems by softening hard water to wash your car.
How to Soften Hard Water to Wash Car: 4 Effective Methods
Following these methods will help you fight excessive minerals in hard water. Check them out.
Boiling Hard Water
This can be the easiest and most cost-effective way to soften hard water. As the percentage of calcium bicarbonate is higher in hard water, boiling the water will precipitate the mineral.
You need to boil the water on high heat for at least half an hour so that all the dissolved minerals get out of the water. After cooling the water, you can use it to wash the car.
But boiling so much water for washing your car might not always be possible. Also, this method is only effective for temporary hard water. You can’t soften permanent hard water in this method, which leads us to the next method.
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Using Washing Soda
Washing soda or cleaning soda is a chemical element that contains carbonic acid salts. This method is effective for temporary and permanent hard water. Let’s see how you can do this.
- You should mix two tablespoons of cleaning soda in a bucket of water and leave the water for some time. The sodium carbonate in the cleaning soda will react with the calcium and magnesium in the hard water.
- Though it won’t remove the calcium and magnesium content from the water, these minerals will turn into sodium content. As a result, the water will be softer and more suitable for washing your car.
- Remember, there can still be some mineral buildup when you soften hard water with washing soda. But that will be easier to wipe off after cleaning as the sodium content is higher.
Using White Vinegar
Vinegar can work like magic to soften hard water. Here is how.
- As you might already know, vinegar is a natural acid with a pH value of 2.5. On the other hand, hard water is slightly alkaline because of the presence of calcium and magnesium. It is simple chemistry that the alkaline in hard water will be neutral if you mix the right amount of acidic vinegar with it.
- You can use one cup of white vinegar in a bucket of water. The acidic vinegar will react with calcium and magnesium and turn them into salts that won’t be as hard on your car as before.
- Even if there is any spot on your car due to calcium build-up, you can clean that with a vinegar solution. You can use spray bottles for car detailing and spray the vinegar solution on those spots. Soaking them in the solution for some time and wiping them off with a clean rag will remove the spot.
Using Special Cleaning Solutions
When you use soap or detergent in hard water, the minerals in the water prevent soap molecules from dissolving. It creates soap scum, those white substances floating on water, and makes them build up on the car surface.
Softening hard water separately for car cleaning can be a hassle. So, you can get a special cleaning solution to fight hard water. These solutions contain the necessary chemicals to fight the calcium and magnesium in hard water.
The cleaning solution will neutralize those minerals, and soap suds will develop as usual to efficiently clean the car.
Best Method To Convert Hard Water To Soft Water For Car Wash?
Since you need a lot more car wash soap for hard water rinsing than soft water, soft water is cheaper to use at a car wash. Hence, car wash operators must find the most effective method to soften hard water. There are several methods of softening hard water;
1. Ion exchange
In this method, water passes through a resin tank where the hard ions like calcium and magnesium are replaced by potassium or sodium. Since potassium and sodium are easier to wipe off cars, the water is considered softened.
2. Nucleation-assisted crystallization
This method converts the ions in the water to a form that can’t stick on surfaces. While the hardness of water remains the same before and after the process, the resultant water does not create water spots.
3. Chelation
Chelation is similar to nucleation-assisted crystallization in that the hard ions remain in the water even after the process is complete.
It employs a compound that attracts metal ions. Once the metal ions cling to the chelating compound, the resulting lump stays suspended in the water. Even though the hard ions remain in the water, they don’t form water spots on cars.
4. Reverse osmosis
This system forces water to pass through several filters, sieving the ions that cause water hardness. Reverse osmosis also removes any salts or contaminants, resulting in soft water, which is 90-95% similar to distilled water.
Many car washes use water softeners and reverse osmosis systems to convert hard water to soft water. The water softeners used can be chelation-based or ion-exchange softeners. The softeners are generally used to treat water used for general car cleaning.
Reverse osmosis softens hard water intended for rinsing cars in spot-free washing. The water produced in reverse osmosis leaves no spots and is therefore guaranteed to satisfy customers.
The best method to convert hard water to soft water for a car wash is reverse osmosis, although due to costs, water softeners are used to treat water for most applications.
How To Soften Hard Water For Car Wash?
There are two main methods of softening water for a car wash; reverse osmosis and water softeners.
Soften hard water using softeners
Softening hard water for a car wash may seem like a daunting task at first because of the vast amount of water that has to be treated. Here’s a step-by-step guide.
1. Determine the right softener size
To determine the right softener, you need to know the water hardness. Get a hardness test kit and measure the hardness. Most kits measure hardness using a scale of grains per gallon.
The right softener for your car wash must have enough grains to soften enough water to meet your needs. For example, if a car wash uses 2,000 gallons of water daily, a 20,000 grains softener is a good size since it can last a week.
Generally, to find the appropriate softener size, multiply the grains per gallon with the daily gallon usage. Then, find a softener with seven times as many grains as required per day.
2. Select the right softener type
The best softener for a car wash must be capable of handling a high volume of water daily. Nucleation-assisted softeners may be great since they don’t add salt to the water, but their effectiveness drops as the water volume rises.
Salt-based softeners use the principle of ion exchange. Hence, they need to be recharged when the sodium ions used in the exchange get depleted. Most ion exchange softeners use metered or timed systems that recharge the sodium ions once depleted.
The best solution for a car wash is to use a dual tank softener system. In this case, when a tank gets depleted and needs to regenerate, the other takes over.
3. Install the softener
Once you’ve chosen the right size and type of softener for your car wash, get a plumber to install the system. Alternatively, you can use the manufacturer’s installation instructions for the softener and do it yourself.
After installing the water softener, all the hard water used in the car wash should run through it, softening it.
Soften hard water using reverse osmosis
Softening hard water using reverse osmosis is a simple process that requires reverse osmosis (RO) filter.
1. Choose the right filter
Since RO filters push water through membranes under high pressure, you need to choose a filter that can handle the volume of water that your car wash uses.
2. Install the RO filter
After finding the appropriate RO filter for the car wash, install it according to manufacturer instructions. Make sure that you include a proper wastewater disposal plan.
3. Filter the water
With the filter installed, run the hard water through it. Hard water will be filtered out by the fine sieves, leaving you with soft water for use in the car wash. The filtered hard water will be disposed of by the disposal drain.
FAQ
Check the following answers to some frequently asked questions.
Does softening hard water remove TDS?
TDS stands for total dissolved solids. You should keep in mind that treating hard water in different ways won’t remove the existing minerals in it. These methods just change the chemical composition of water to make it softer.
Can hard water damage car paint?
Though minerals in hard water won’t directly damage car paint, they will build up over time. And if you want to force clean that build-up, you might damage the car paint.
Will hard water leave permanent spots on cars?
Washing your car once or twice with hard water might not leave any noticeable impact. But if you continue doing this for a long time, you might notice unwanted spots or patches of scale build-up.
Conclusion
We understand how important it is to keep your car paint pristine. To do that, you must use soft water to wash the car so that no scales form on the surface. If you don’t have a soft water source, the only way is to soften hard water before washing the car.
These four methods will help you soften hard water to wash your car. You can choose any ways that suit you and treat hard water before using it on your car.
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