The Effect of Water Hardness on Car Washes for Spot-Free Washing
The term Water Hardness refers to the calcium and magnesium content of car wash water. The term softening in the traditional sense means removing these minerals by replacing them with sodium or potassium.
When spots appear after washing a car, they are usually attributed to the hardness of the water. This leads to the assumption that “softening” the water will result in a spot-free wash.
Not necessarily. Water hardness represents only part of the mineral content of the water – calcium and magnesium ions. The total mineral content, referred to in water treatment as TDS, or total dissolved solids. It is the real predictor of the possibility of spots in the water. The higher the TDS content, the more spots appear.
The Harmful Effects of Hard Water on Various Industrial Environments
Hard water is harmless to health, but its harms begin with its inability to form foam when used with soap or toothpaste, which causes an increase in soap consumption and may end with serious problems in industrial environments!
In boilers and pipes:
Calcium and magnesium salts are deposited with heat, which leads to an increase in their concentration. Thermal conductivity decreases in various thermal vessels. It becomes difficult for heat to reach the heated liquid, thus increasing fuel consumption. This may result in boilers exploding due to the formation of insulating layers that prevent cooling, causing the temperature to rise dangerously. Or due to blockage of boiler pipes, in addition to rust and metal corrosion problems.
In the spinning and weaving industry:
When treating textile fibers with soap, the salts that cause hardness react with the soap to form a calcareous soap that is insoluble in water. It is deposited on fabrics and threads irregularly, thus helping to attract dust particles. It also leads to irregular dyeing due to the resistance of dye particles to entering the places where they are deposited.
Solving the problem of Water Hardness on Car Washes
Contrary to popular belief, softening does not remove minerals from water. Rather, it replaces sodium with hardness minerals, calcium and magnesium, in approximately equal proportions. The total dissolved solids in softened water is the same as the total dissolved solids in hard water. Softened water has less calcium but more sodium. The softening process is an advantage for car washes because the minerals in softened water are easier to remove and do not form hardness-related deposits, but water with a high dissolved solids content, whether softened or not, will still produce spots. With softened water with a high dissolved solids content, you will still have spots. It will just be easier to wipe them away.
Car wash spots occur because the water evaporates and any minerals in the water are left as a residue
The best car wash water, of course, is water with a low dissolved solids content. However, removing all of the mineral content of the water is not practical in most cases. Deionization removes all of the minerals and will certainly produce a spotless wash, but it is impractical due to the high cost, especially at the beginning of the project. The same is true for distillation. Many professional car washes feature spotless rinses with reverse osmosis water. Reverse osmosis reduces dissolved solids in water by about 95% and ensures a spot-free rinse with most types of water. This is something to consider if you are a car wash enthusiast.
Additional Benefits of Car Wash Water Treatment
One thing that softened water helps with in car washes is soap consumption. If using less soap and reducing the work of scrubbing spots is important, washing your car with softened water may be worth the effort.
If you don’t know the hardness or dissolved solids level of your water, you can usually find out by contacting your local water supplier. Or by having your water quality tested.
Learn about the benefits of car wash water treatment systems with CareWater. Your partner for excellence in car wash projects.
