FYI if anyone is wondering it’s a Clack system bypass. On-The-Go (which makes the DI kit for Adam’s and some others and potentially even Griots) sells the kit. Or can source the parts individually I believe OTG also sells brass and stainless adapters if needed. I’ve spoken to OTG a couple times and they’re very helpful. May pick up their bypass head for my smaller Adam’s DI that has the basic distribution head
The tank is Clack as well knowing Griits they went straight to Clack and branded especially at the price they are selling. The Adam’s one for basically the same size is like $500+ as they are paying OTG to build them. Griots might also be using a different resin or even a cheaper regenerated resin to get the price down.
I bought this last year when I bought my brand new truck and I love it! I have a black truck and the water spots were easily see on that paint. My water measured at 147 but with this system I measured my water at 0
It is a great system and really all the tank style ones like this are basically the same just different sizes. I think for the size this is one of the best deals out there as the Adam’s one is like $400+ for the same thing.
@@whitegoodman7465 Not too sure how many gallons I got because I didnt measure the output but the resin that was in the tank when I bought it lasted all of last year from April 2023 until this Spring and I washed my truck every single week. I only used the system to do the final rinse
Keav, love your videos. Probably the most informative and entertaining videos out there! Question: since I will be using this deionizer strictly with my new AVA Go, should I be concerned with the water flow coming out of my house spigot (around 7-8 GPM)? Thanks again for all you do.
I just replaced the resin in my Adams DI bottle. I think this go around I won't be so liberal with the DI use. I will save it for a final rinse off after I rinse the soap with non DI water.
There really is no need outside the final rinse unless you wash in the sunlight and hot conditions where the water could dry onto the paint before you get to that section. That DI resin is not cheap and its not exactly the most fun experience to refill these either.
so I just got mine. Does the water have a fish-like smell? And also my TDS read 70 from 200, do I have to let my hose water run through the system for awhile?
I mean it’s possible to have that smell in the beginning. Weird though only 70 tds from 200. This is a very stout DI system. Just a few things to look at is the top sealed properly and the tube in the inside fully seated? Is the in and out hooked up properly? I myself hooked them up backwards to begin with.
So I have watched several of your videos pertaining to DI spotless system. I am on a well with really bad water. TDS untreated is 1800 I have an RO system for drinking and ice that gets it to 0. But even with my water treatment / water softener I am at 785. I'm guessing a DI system would be a waste of money?
With that kind of TDS only thing I can suggest is 48 inch tanks and best to rent them so they swap out the resin for you with a new tank. That can still be costly at that TDS so the other option would be to RO that water and store it to be pumped and used later.
Depending on the water I think it would work great. Usually you don’t need as much flow as car washing so many go with larger RO systems if water is bad, but then you got to deal with all that waste water.
If you are washing a single car a by-pass systems isn't worth it. I have a 50-foot garden house between my Spotless DIC-20 filter and my Active 2.0 pressure washer. Next is a 25-foot water pressure hose between the pressure washer and spray wand. Between getting the air out of the hoses and releasing the pressure after washing I use around 3-gallons of water, of course which I save in a bucket for the next wash. If I went back and forth between city water and filtered water, when would I have the type of water I wanted?
Most people only use spotless water for the final rinse and not any rinses before that. Whether some thing is worth it or not depends on the person, their system setup and their water quality. If your water quality eats up expensive resin quickly you won’t use it for all aspects of the wash. I myself would only use on final rinse and my water is great quality. I want it to last as long as possible. I personally would not have a long run of hose between the DI system and the pressure washer. I would want it as close as possible using a small jumper hose. Since I’m only using for final rinse I’m not bypassing back and forth during a wash just from city to spotless and since my di system is much closer to my pressure washer I’ll get my spotless water in a minute or less. You can capture the water left in the lines when you’re done and then bypass back to city.
Great vid. I've been eyeing one of thess for a while. Do you know how rebuildable these units are in case the plastic fittings break? A comparison video on the top units would be nice since there are a few out now.
The bypass head is made by clack. It’s like 3 different parts (the distribution head, the bypass valve, and then the “down spout” pieces), and they’re all readily available to replace if needed vs repairing
Yes, parts are available for the bypass sections if you break something in the head itself then there are replacement heads at many water filter company websites. Comparison video would be tough as all of tanks out there are mainly made by the same company and they all work the same just different sizes and resin capacities. Such as On-the-go, Adam’s, clean garage and the Griots they are all the same basically.
Question. At the end of this video, you had the water flowing from the outflow port. I made the same mistake on my DI system as well. Does this mean that the resin is now contaminated and needs to be replaced?
@@marka1424 no, just not flowing the optimal direction and it’s forcing resin out in the water. Good thing is like in the video I show how there is a filter at the top that limits the resin getting out that way so you should be good.
@@CarsWithKeavI like these systems but Griota definitely needs to improve the UI and the color schemes of the two nozzles. For in and out they look exactly the same and same color. Terrible UI design. It should have a different shape and different colors so that one can easily tell the difference between the inflow and outflow. I know Griots uses red to maintain its brand color but the nozzles need different colors. Other than that, I do like the system.
@@lanceguilin That whole assembly and the tank are pre-made by Clack systems they just slapped a sticker on there and filled it with resin. A couple stickers or painting afterwards might have helped though. There are detailed instructions on the tanks as well and the arrow levers on top only turn in the direction of the water flow. I just rushed to make the video and totally wasn’t thinking.
The resin uses positive and negative ions to attach itself to solids in the water such as lead, magnesium, sodium, etc. and by doing this the little pieces do resin exhaust themselves and no longer clean. Chemicals in the water such as Chlorine do break down the resin and “eat” it.
Even though some challenges, great video to test this out, that is a super good deal. Did you add the additional 8 pounds of resin? It got a little confusing, I'm assuming you just took out the resin it came with and just put it back in. Do you think you could get that tube seated back down in if there was more resin in the tank and do you think you could get the whole 8 lbs in? Thanks.
I didn’t add any resin I tested with the way it came and weighed the resin and out it back. Just suggested there is much more capacity to be used. You could get the rest of the resin in easily and as long as you got water above the resin then it will go in there may take some time, but the water being in there makes it so much easier. Just make sure to run the water for 5 minutes to get any resin that might have been forced through the filter out so it doesn’t clog nozzles.
@@CarsWithKeav I was thinking the same thing about how would adding more resin to fill up the tank up would affect its' performance. Since your Spotbye DI System testing performed better with a smaller tank & less resin before the PPM numbers started climbing. Which one would you pick between the 2 while ignoring the bypass on the Griots? Do you think the resin that they came with made a difference?
@@enj9400 The difference between the two had a lot to do with me running at 4gpm vs 2.5gpm on the Spotbye. Once the resin breaks down to a certain point you need extra time on the resin to stay at a lower ppm. They both are the exact same type of system so they should not perform any different if at the same flow. Griots possibly could have lower quality resin as well. But no way to know that. I do think if Griots was at 2.5gpm it would have been well beyond the 400 gallon mark before going above 0ppm. If you got good water the Spotbye is a great value. If you want to change refills less often the Griots is the way to go.
@@CarsWithKeav I think the Griots system is the best value (extra capacity + bypass) for my Active 2.0 but I'd still toss an extra bag of that colombian bam bam to fill that tank up 🤣
Good video. In my day job I service a customer that builds large scale water filtration systems for disaster areas and shipping/cruise ships. They also reclaim resin and make their own. I needed to replace the resin in my Adam's Polishes/On The Go standard DI system with bypass. They gave me some resin the try. I bought an inline water meter so i could monitor water usage. I have 150-200ppm coming in and I was shocked to only have gotten 177 gallons of filtered water before the ppm started to climb. I'm hoping meter wasn't measuring water usage correctly. It looks like I am using the same flow meter.
Could be the meter and possibly was that resin given to you 100% regenerated or possibly a bad mix? Do you dial back the flow coming in to match the max for the system? On the Go states their standard mixed bed tank can do 280 gallons at 200 ppm. You could have chlorine issues possibly as well?
@@CarsWithKeavThe resin is 100% regenerated. So are you saying that you adjust your flow every time you use your di system? What is the GPM requirement for an ar630?
@@stevel3881 Depends how you are using the Di water having it hooked up to an AR630 does limit the flow to around 2 to 2.2 gpm depending on the nozzle used so you should be good there. I use it through a garden hose and spray nozzle so I have to dial down the flow so the resin has time to clean.
I’ve seen you review a few of these. I’m in Utah and our water is terrible. It will etch into paint in just a couple days. So I’m looking to pick one up but I’m just a home car detail enthusiast. I see a few in sale right now. Which particular DI System would you recommend? Looking to spend under $300 or under $400 if the jump is totally worth it.
This Griots one packed all the way will work well. Bad water you’ll have to refill much sooner than others. If the TDS is above 400 I always suggest going RO and storing your water to be pumps out or gravity fed later. Resin cost is not cheap and I’d say we both use the same amount of water and my water quality at 60ppm and you at 400ppm it will cost you 4 to 5 times what it costs me to clean the water.
@@CarsWithKeav Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I ordered a TDS meter that should arrive today to see how bad my water is. Looking at the options I'm liking the Griot's and also the other one you reviewed with the 2 shorter blue tanks and built it by pass valve as well.
@@alltheboost801 The Griots for sure is built more for higher TDS. The Waterdrop has the best bypass in the industry just not a lot of room for resin. Just did a video on upgrading one to 20 inch canisters and converting the old ones into a carbon pre-filter.
@@CarsWithKeav interesting and I’ll have to check out your new video. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible. So the Griots seems like it may be the best option for me at this time. The other one on my list is the “On The Go” system, JoshV used this in his recent video. Seems like the Griots but no bypass valve which im unsure if I need. I was originally thinking I would use the Spotless DI system for the entire wash beginning to end. Is it only best to use it for the final rinse?
Great video Keav! Serv-A-Pure makes a similar setup and probably uses a lot of the same parts, I know they white label for other companies too. I currently have a 1 cu.ft. unit at my home and love it. If you order all the parts individually from various suppliers, I was able to get the total price down to about $420. But for an extra $60, I was able to order it from Serv-A-Pure using some discount codes online.
That’s a great value as the 1 cubic foot ones from On the Go are like $600 which I’m sure is basically the same. I wonder if Serv-A-pure is even making theirs or if it’s all Clack brand tanks and heads.
Just looking at the listing and size I think this Griots is basically that washpak 50 for $300. If packed full it would be 1/2 cubic foot. Same tank style and head.
This all depends if you want spotless water or not. If you are not having issues with water spots after washing then it’s not needed. Some of us just want to have all the cool toys whether we need them or not. I’m guilty of that for sure. 🤣
Yes, they come off very easily. They are the waterproof type of stickers that don’t rip when you pull them. It’s a very smooth surface nothing really sticks to it permanently.
Unless running “open” to fill a tank / bladder, wouldn’t the actual gpm flowing through the DI tank be limited by the pressure washer pump or hose nozzle (if no pressure washer)? Example: with an active PW, only about 2gpm is going to flow through the tank. With a ryobi/etc, it’ll drop to about 1.5. Still a great test/video because the more flow the tank itself can output the better (to ensure it’s not causing a restriction), but just wanted to ask in case someone’s takeaway was they need crazy high gpm
All depends on what you plan to do I always run tests at what the products states or at least 2gpm minimum. Griots stated their numbers were at 4gpm. I myself like some others use unrestricted garden hoses with high flow nozzles for the final rinse so I want a higher GPM. Some also like to use gas pressure washers and those mostly range in the 2.5 to 3.5 range. Your flow will always be reduced down to whatever the nozzle is so you would be correct that a Ryobi would pull much less. Some pressure washer companies always give a minimum input flow they would like to have and some they say they need basically double their output not sure why though. 2gpm pressure washer asking for 4gpm minimum input. Can’t remember which one it was though.
I like the “Spotless” deionizer but it doesn’t have a shut-off valve bypass system. I think the Griots or the “WaterDrop” as the best options for the Weekend Warrior.
Agreed,but the top part of the Griots can be bought separate and would fit the smaller tanks as well just extra work though. You could also build your own, but this one is nice and easy to use.
Nice video as always. There is another DI systems that I think it’s 2x the size of this one. Rvmods sells the di pro 100 and a few other companies sell what I believe is the same system rebranded. They claim 4000 gallons @ 1.8gm.
Yeah, they are all the same just like pressure washers lots of companies selling different ones, but only a few actual manufacturers of the pumps. Most of these are made by Clack. When you search around you for sure will see they are all the same head and tank just different sizes and colors. Obviously each company could be using different blends of resin to get the costs where they want. Serv A Pure has their 100 system as does Clean Garage. On the Go has theirs as well. It’s basically a one cubic foot tank which is twice a the size as this Griots one. 4k gallons is one heck of a claim when the other ones are saying half that. All depends on the water, flow rate and quality of resin. They could be running a 60/40 high grade blend of resin to get higher numbers as well. Some might be using regenerated resin to keep costs down. Griots says to run their at 4gpm which obviously mean the resin will wear out sooner. If you lower the flow you would extend the life. 1.8gpm to me is just too low a flow for a system of that size. I would rather run higher flow and change resin more often. Obviously if my water was much harder I would have to sacrifice flow to extend resin life and filter time as resin isn’t cheap.
In my experience it's between 5 and 10 all variables considered. You learn to be conservative once you realize the limited amount of spot free water and obviously dependent on source water. In my area it's off the charts
Depends how frugal you are if you are like me you tend to use way more water than most just rinsing over and over. 🤣 I probably use 20 gallons, but you could do it with 10 gallons if you are efficient. I only use spotless on the final rinse so maybe 5 gallons. The rest I use just the two water.
Does anyone make a garden hose treaded TDS meter like the flow meter? I would like to put one between my DI system and the pressure washer and not hard plumb anything.
I would love one as well only thing I know is to create one using some adapters. Just never got around to figuring that all out as ai only ever measure tds at my DI system and CR spotless has it built in.
I had a CR spotless and used the conversion tube from that RV British guy. It exploded my tank and I’ve done without it now. Tempted to go DI again but instead my final rinse is with the foam cannon filled with ONR. It softens the water and allows me to leaf blow most the water off and then finish drying with bead maker and a MF drying towel. I honestly think this way is just fine and I don’t have to dick around with resin anymore
So many way to do it there is no wrong way just the way that makes it most enjoyable for you. I tried the rv mods as well it didn’t blow up, but it was sending resin through my nozzles and clogging them up so went back to the cartridges.
@@CarsWithKeavthat’s why mine blew up. Resin got packed in the CR spotless top and water couldn’t pass. So one of the blue tubes exploded. The dude said it’s never happened etc. As soon as I bought those shity tubes I asked to return them and he declined. They have a crap O ring that doesn’t seal.
@@CarsWithKeavI wasn’t clear what your 500 gallon bladder was for. When you first said it I figured it was in a mobile detail setup but it’s in your backyard. What’s the use for it how you are doing?
@@whitey4311 yeah, several in my video I made on going back to the cartridges said they had resin getting through as well. Jamie the cleaner said his did it as well. Now these tank style is the same type of method, but they seal way better as they were designed for that purpose. I have seen no resin get through any that I have tried. At one point the shower setting on my garden hose sprayer would barely run because the holes are smaller than the resin. Was a pain to clean out.
@@whitey4311 I use it to do all types of stuff mix chemicals for the yard, occasional grass watering, golf cart battery fills and I will pump it back to my pressure washer and use it to wash cars. It mainly to not waste good expensive DI water when doing these tests. DI water not the best for watering grass all the time as it has no nutrients, but in a pinch it will help out.
Mineral removal much like distilled water just a different way to use ion exchange resin to pull the minerals out of the water. You can use this water to mix with coolant, use in batteries, wash cars spot free, chemical dilutions, works real well for clear ice too.
I think it all depends on your water quality, if you want wall mounted, you need lots of water flow, etc. so many variables in deciding on a DI system. Griots is great out the box. Waterdrop takes a little work to switch to bulk resin containers to get better resin life.
@DaveFogel It will definitely help get you to 0, it is a bit pricey because you have the carbon filters to think about and replace at different intervals too.
20 gallons or so depending on your flow rate. It is recommended by manufacturers to run for a few minutes to make sure everything is flushed out correctly. Since this was at 4gpm maybe 2 or 3 minutes would be a better suggestion. I had always done 5 minutes, but that was mainly 2gpm flow rate so only 10 gallons. Most DI system instructions say 5 to 10 gallons for the first initial run to flush out manufacture debris and get the resin fully submerged and filtering.
@@CarsWithKeav just read a review on Griots site. One guys water was just below 400ppm. The Griots unit got it down to 97ppm. That's esentially worthless. Does this make sense? Thanks.
@@orthodox1717 I don’t read much into reviews unless they state flow rate and others contributing factors to resin not having enough time to clean. Maybe they got the inlet on the wrong side who knows. 🤣 all these tanks are the same and the resin is pretty close as well. If it didn’t work with the Griots probably wouldn’t work with any other except the others are usually filled all the way. If the Griots was at full capacity it would clean that just fine if it was in the 2gpm range. If they had 400ppm water and it was heavy in Chlorine that could be problematic as well if only 12lbs of resin in there.
@@CarsWithKeav yeah I seen that lol didn’t feel so bad after I saw you do it but thankful I made the correction only after 1 wash. Had my own DI tank made with 40lbs of resin.. 👌 love it.. great content man.. keep it coming )
@@eastcoastlife3547 Nice, I have looked at the big systems, but always wondered to myself would I be better off running two of these 1/2 cubic foot units and running separated resin instead of mixed bed.
@@eastcoastlife3547 I guess it depends on how much you save and how quickly you deplete resin for there to be an ROI. You could improve resin refill times by 10% even up to 20% depending on your type of water. Changing out your cation more often as the anion will most likely last longer. When running mixed bed you have to change when the cation is depleted even though the anion is still good. That’s the reason there are 60/40 blends to combat that, but they are usually more expensive and not worth the price increase. Two Griots units for example is the same cubic foot as the big $600 On the Go cubic foot ones so equipment wise about the same money. I will probably run mixed bed most of the time, but if I ever get into regenerating my own resin I’ll probably run a 3 stage system. Separated resin in the first two and mixed bed in the third. Aquarium guys have tested that is the cleanest water possible and that final mixed bed almost never needs to be changed.
I’ve been eying this I got a griots gift card but I decided to spend it on other things. I just don’t think it’s worth it for me. I’d burn through the resin sucks ):
I’ll be putting in my lab coat soon and coming up with a whole easy to use system to regenerate resin and save us money. Going to take me awhile and many fails I’m sure, but I’ll figure it out. Resin is so expensive to refill all the time when you have hard water.
Funny thing Matt hasn’t found an accurate enough one yet either even the $400 ones seem to be off. That’s why we still use the bucket method to measure GPM. 🤣
@@CarsWithKeav gotcha. Btw just watched the long video with you, og and Josh. Boy does Matt sure love to talk. Thought the whole point of having guests on your podcast was to ask them questions and gain their insight. Lol. I almost 🤯 too as I thought he was about to try and say he was the first person in detailing to use kranzle and mosmatic. Lol. Must have forgotten about detailers domain and how they were selling kranzle long long before he ever used one. So much for him honoring the source
@@1thechosenjuan1 He talked about detailers domain and was working with him for awhile to help sell products. Matt made them popular for home enthusiasts through his RUclips and website. Way more reach than a forum. I think he meant he was the first to really show and use them on youtube to a large audience. He loves to talk that is his biggest skill the ability to talk clearly about a subject for an hour. 🤣
It will hold about 1/2 cubic foot, but they only put less than a 1/3 cubic foot in there. It will hold 20 lbs or so, but they only put 12 lbs in there so easily will hold 8 more.
FYI if anyone is wondering it’s a Clack system bypass. On-The-Go (which makes the DI kit for Adam’s and some others and potentially even Griots) sells the kit. Or can source the parts individually
I believe OTG also sells brass and stainless adapters if needed.
I’ve spoken to OTG a couple times and they’re very helpful. May pick up their bypass head for my smaller Adam’s DI that has the basic distribution head
The tank is Clack as well knowing Griits they went straight to Clack and branded especially at the price they are selling. The Adam’s one for basically the same size is like $500+ as they are paying OTG to build them. Griots might also be using a different resin or even a cheaper regenerated resin to get the price down.
I bought this last year when I bought my brand new truck and I love it! I have a black truck and the water spots were easily see on that paint. My water measured at 147 but with this system I measured my water at 0
How many gallons do you get out of one bag of resin?
It is a great system and really all the tank style ones like this are basically the same just different sizes. I think for the size this is one of the best deals out there as the Adam’s one is like $400+ for the same thing.
How many washes do you think you got per tank of resin? Thanks and did you just use it for final rinse?
@@whitegoodman7465 Not too sure how many gallons I got because I didnt measure the output but the resin that was in the tank when I bought it lasted all of last year from April 2023 until this Spring and I washed my truck every single week. I only used the system to do the final rinse
Great job Keav. Very thorough testing.
Thanks 🙏
LOVE the bloopers!🤣 The whole video was very informative
Thank You
Keav, love your videos. Probably the most informative and entertaining videos out there! Question: since I will be using this deionizer strictly with my new AVA Go, should I be concerned with the water flow coming out of my house spigot (around 7-8 GPM)? Thanks again for all you do.
No concern needed as the pressure washer will limit the flow for you and allow the filters plenty of time to clean.
Excellent video. Very informative. Just paced an oder. Thank you.
You’re Welcome!
Love the timing of this review video. Starting my search for an awesome di system
That’s great I hope the video helped out.
I just replaced the resin in my Adams DI bottle. I think this go around I won't be so liberal with the DI use. I will save it for a final rinse off after I rinse the soap with non DI water.
There really is no need outside the final rinse unless you wash in the sunlight and hot conditions where the water could dry onto the paint before you get to that section. That DI resin is not cheap and its not exactly the most fun experience to refill these either.
Columbian bam bam…..gets me every time 😀
The good stuff. 🤣
Great review Keav! Have a good day!
Thank You
Great job Keav. I'm still not sure if JTC took your advice for his setup and his tannin water
😅
That is some potent swamp water it even blows up pressure washers. 🤣
so I just got mine. Does the water have a fish-like smell? And also my TDS read 70 from 200, do I have to let my hose water run through the system for awhile?
I mean it’s possible to have that smell in the beginning. Weird though only 70 tds from 200. This is a very stout DI system. Just a few things to look at is the top sealed properly and the tube in the inside fully seated? Is the in and out hooked up properly? I myself hooked them up backwards to begin with.
@@CarsWithKeavYou know what, I do think I put the hoses on backwards.😅 I’m going to refill my water tank here in a few days and retest
Keav, don't worry. Mr. Giraffe exists in real life. I met him at Toys R Us once. We're all good!
I knew it! I thought it was either Geoffrey the Giraffe from Toys R Us or it was Cleetus McFarland 🤣
So I have watched several of your videos pertaining to DI spotless system. I am on a well with really bad water. TDS untreated is 1800 I have an RO system for drinking and ice that gets it to 0. But even with my water treatment / water softener I am at 785. I'm guessing a DI system would be a waste of money?
With that kind of TDS only thing I can suggest is 48 inch tanks and best to rent them so they swap out the resin for you with a new tank. That can still be costly at that TDS so the other option would be to RO that water and store it to be pumped and used later.
@@CarsWithKeav If I only used the RO water for final rinse, how many gallons do you think it would use on average per wash?
@@fishingwitheric7828 Between 5 and 8 gallons most of the time.
@@CarsWithKeav Thank you sir. I appreciate it.
Thank you
You’re welcome
Good information on the Griots. I wonder if a Chloramine pre filter would improve the time the resin lasts?
If Chloramine is in the water it will for sure improve it. Same with a Chlorine pre-filter.
is this system good for pro window cleaning?
Depending on the water I think it would work great. Usually you don’t need as much flow as car washing so many go with larger RO systems if water is bad, but then you got to deal with all that waste water.
If you are washing a single car a by-pass systems isn't worth it. I have a 50-foot garden house between my Spotless DIC-20 filter and my Active 2.0 pressure washer. Next is a 25-foot water pressure hose between the pressure washer and spray wand. Between getting the air out of the hoses and releasing the pressure after washing I use around 3-gallons of water, of course which I save in a bucket for the next wash. If I went back and forth between city water and filtered water, when would I have the type of water I wanted?
Most people only use spotless water for the final rinse and not any rinses before that. Whether some thing is worth it or not depends on the person, their system setup and their water quality. If your water quality eats up expensive resin quickly you won’t use it for all aspects of the wash. I myself would only use on final rinse and my water is great quality. I want it to last as long as possible. I personally would not have a long run of hose between the DI system and the pressure washer. I would want it as close as possible using a small jumper hose. Since I’m only using for final rinse I’m not bypassing back and forth during a wash just from city to spotless and since my di system is much closer to my pressure washer I’ll get my spotless water in a minute or less. You can capture the water left in the lines when you’re done and then bypass back to city.
Great vid. I've been eyeing one of thess for a while. Do you know how rebuildable these units are in case the plastic fittings break? A comparison video on the top units would be nice since there are a few out now.
Not repairable. You takes your chances with the quality of the repair. Trying to figure out if it's a good deal or to buy the blower
The bypass head is made by clack. It’s like 3 different parts (the distribution head, the bypass valve, and then the “down spout” pieces), and they’re all readily available to replace if needed vs repairing
The tank is clack as well and depending on what you need rebuilt there should be parts available for sure.
Yes, parts are available for the bypass sections if you break something in the head itself then there are replacement heads at many water filter company websites. Comparison video would be tough as all of tanks out there are mainly made by the same company and they all
work the same just different sizes and resin capacities. Such as On-the-go, Adam’s, clean garage and the Griots they are all the same basically.
Question. At the end of this video, you had the water flowing from the outflow port. I made the same mistake on my DI system as well. Does this mean that the resin is now contaminated and needs to be replaced?
@@marka1424 no, just not flowing the optimal direction and it’s forcing resin out in the water. Good thing is like in the video I show how there is a filter at the top that limits the resin getting out that way so you should be good.
@@CarsWithKeavI like these systems but Griota definitely needs to improve the UI and the color schemes of the two nozzles. For in and out they look exactly the same and same color. Terrible UI design. It should have a different shape and different colors so that one can easily tell the difference between the inflow and outflow. I know Griots uses red to maintain its brand color but the nozzles need different colors. Other than that, I do like the system.
@@lanceguilin That whole assembly and the tank are pre-made by Clack systems they just slapped a sticker on there and filled it with resin. A couple stickers or painting afterwards might have helped though. There are detailed instructions on the tanks as well and the arrow levers on top only turn in the direction of the water flow. I just rushed to make the video and totally wasn’t thinking.
So the water eats the resin?
The resin uses positive and negative ions to attach itself to solids in the water such as lead, magnesium, sodium, etc. and by doing this the little pieces do resin exhaust themselves and no longer clean. Chemicals in the water such as Chlorine do break down the resin and “eat” it.
PERFECT timing.
Awesome!
Even though some challenges, great video to test this out, that is a super good deal. Did you add the additional 8 pounds of resin? It got a little confusing, I'm assuming you just took out the resin it came with and just put it back in. Do you think you could get that tube seated back down in if there was more resin in the tank and do you think you could get the whole 8 lbs in? Thanks.
I didn’t add any resin I tested with the way it came and weighed the resin and out it back. Just suggested there is much more capacity to be used. You could get the rest of the resin in easily and as long as you got water above the resin then it will go in there may take some time, but the water being in there makes it so much easier. Just make sure to run the water for 5 minutes to get any resin that might have been forced through the filter out so it doesn’t clog nozzles.
@@CarsWithKeav I was thinking the same thing about how would adding more resin to fill up the tank up would affect its' performance. Since your Spotbye DI System testing performed better with a smaller tank & less resin before the PPM numbers started climbing. Which one would you pick between the 2 while ignoring the bypass on the Griots? Do you think the resin that they came with made a difference?
@@enj9400 The difference between the two had a lot to do with me running at 4gpm vs 2.5gpm on the Spotbye. Once the resin breaks down to a certain point you need extra time on the resin to stay at a lower ppm. They both are the exact same type of system so they should not perform any different if at the same flow. Griots possibly could have lower quality resin as well. But no way to know that. I do think if Griots was at 2.5gpm it would have been well beyond the 400 gallon mark before going above 0ppm. If you got good water the Spotbye is a great value. If you want to change refills less often the Griots is the way to go.
@@CarsWithKeav I think the Griots system is the best value (extra capacity + bypass) for my Active 2.0 but I'd still toss an extra bag of that colombian bam bam to fill that tank up 🤣
@@enj9400 Adds a little spice to the mix. 🤣
Good video. In my day job I service a customer that builds large scale water filtration systems for disaster areas and shipping/cruise ships. They also reclaim resin and make their own. I needed to replace the resin in my Adam's Polishes/On The Go standard DI system with bypass. They gave me some resin the try. I bought an inline water meter so i could monitor water usage. I have 150-200ppm coming in and I was shocked to only have gotten 177 gallons of filtered water before the ppm started to climb. I'm hoping meter wasn't measuring water usage correctly. It looks like I am using the same flow meter.
Could be the meter and possibly was that resin given to you 100% regenerated or possibly a bad mix? Do you dial back the flow coming in to match the max for the system? On the Go states their standard mixed bed tank can do 280 gallons at 200 ppm. You could have chlorine issues possibly as well?
@@CarsWithKeavThe resin is 100% regenerated. So are you saying that you adjust your flow every time you use your di system? What is the GPM requirement for an ar630?
@@stevel3881 Depends how you are using the Di water having it hooked up to an AR630 does limit the flow to around 2 to 2.2 gpm depending on the nozzle used so you should be good there. I use it through a garden hose and spray nozzle so I have to dial down the flow so the resin has time to clean.
@@CarsWithKeav I use it through my ar630.
@@stevel3881 Then you are good to go.
I’ve seen you review a few of these. I’m in Utah and our water is terrible. It will etch into paint in just a couple days. So I’m looking to pick one up but I’m just a home car detail enthusiast. I see a few in sale right now. Which particular DI System would you recommend? Looking to spend under $300 or under $400 if the jump is totally worth it.
This Griots one packed all the way will work well. Bad water you’ll have to refill much sooner than others. If the TDS is above 400 I always suggest going RO and storing your water to be pumps out or gravity fed later. Resin cost is not cheap and I’d say we both use the same amount of water and my water quality at 60ppm and you at 400ppm it will cost you 4 to 5 times what it costs me to clean the water.
@@CarsWithKeav Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I ordered a TDS meter that should arrive today to see how bad my water is. Looking at the options I'm liking the Griot's and also the other one you reviewed with the 2 shorter blue tanks and built it by pass valve as well.
@@alltheboost801 The Griots for sure is built more for higher TDS. The Waterdrop has the best bypass in the industry just not a lot of room for resin. Just did a video on upgrading one to 20 inch canisters and converting the old ones into a carbon pre-filter.
@@CarsWithKeav interesting and I’ll have to check out your new video. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible. So the Griots seems like it may be the best option for me at this time. The other one on my list is the “On The Go” system, JoshV used this in his recent video. Seems like the Griots but no bypass valve which im unsure if I need. I was originally thinking I would use the Spotless DI system for the entire wash beginning to end. Is it only best to use it for the final rinse?
Great video Keav! Serv-A-Pure makes a similar setup and probably uses a lot of the same parts, I know they white label for other companies too. I currently have a 1 cu.ft. unit at my home and love it. If you order all the parts individually from various suppliers, I was able to get the total price down to about $420. But for an extra $60, I was able to order it from Serv-A-Pure using some discount codes online.
Their WashPak-50 system is a great value! With a few coupons you can get it near $350. Not many people talk about them!
That’s a great value as the 1 cubic foot ones from On the Go are like $600 which I’m sure is basically the same. I wonder if Serv-A-pure is even making theirs or if it’s all Clack brand tanks and heads.
Just looking at the listing and size I think this Griots is basically that washpak 50 for $300. If packed full it would be 1/2 cubic foot. Same tank style and head.
@@CarsWithKeav It's all clack branded heads. I asked them this before I purchased it.
how much is this unit?
$299 at Griots
My TDS measure 50-100 ( Atlanta). Do I need to invest in a DI system? Thx. Owen
This all depends if you want spotless water or not. If you are not having issues with water spots after washing then it’s not needed. Some of us just want to have all the cool toys whether we need them or not. I’m guilty of that for sure. 🤣
Is it possible to take off the stickers cleanly?
Yes, they come off very easily. They are the waterproof type of stickers that don’t rip when you pull them. It’s a very smooth surface nothing really sticks to it permanently.
@@CarsWithKeav thanks for the response.
Unless running “open” to fill a tank / bladder, wouldn’t the actual gpm flowing through the DI tank be limited by the pressure washer pump or hose nozzle (if no pressure washer)?
Example: with an active PW, only about 2gpm is going to flow through the tank. With a ryobi/etc, it’ll drop to about 1.5.
Still a great test/video because the more flow the tank itself can output the better (to ensure it’s not causing a restriction), but just wanted to ask in case someone’s takeaway was they need crazy high gpm
All depends on what you plan to do I always run tests at what the products states or at least 2gpm minimum. Griots stated their numbers were at 4gpm. I myself like some others use unrestricted garden hoses with high flow nozzles for the final rinse so I want a higher GPM. Some also like to use gas pressure washers and those mostly range in the 2.5 to 3.5 range. Your flow will always be reduced down to whatever the nozzle is so you would be correct that a Ryobi would pull much less. Some pressure washer companies always give a minimum input flow they would like to have and some they say they need basically double their output not sure why though. 2gpm pressure washer asking for 4gpm minimum input. Can’t remember which one it was though.
as always, many thanks.
You’re welcome
I like the “Spotless” deionizer but it doesn’t have a shut-off valve bypass system. I think the Griots or the “WaterDrop” as the best options for the Weekend Warrior.
Agreed,but the top part of the Griots can be bought separate and would fit the smaller tanks as well just extra work though. You could also build your own, but this one is nice and easy to use.
Where’s the food funnel link? :)
Forgot to put it in the description. Here it is amzn.to/3Tjhwki
Nice video as always. There is another DI systems that I think it’s 2x the size of this one. Rvmods sells the di pro 100 and a few other companies sell what I believe is the same system rebranded. They claim 4000 gallons @ 1.8gm.
Yeah, they are all the same just like pressure washers lots of companies selling different ones, but only a few actual manufacturers of the pumps. Most of these are made by Clack. When you search around you for sure will see they are all the same head and tank just different sizes and colors. Obviously each company could be using different blends of resin to get the costs where they want. Serv A Pure has their 100 system as does Clean Garage. On the Go has theirs as well. It’s basically a one cubic foot tank which is twice a the size as this Griots one. 4k gallons is one heck of a claim when the other ones are saying half that. All depends on the water, flow rate and quality of resin. They could be running a 60/40 high grade blend of resin to get higher numbers as well. Some might be using regenerated resin to keep costs down. Griots says to run their at 4gpm which obviously mean the resin will wear out sooner. If you lower the flow you would extend the life. 1.8gpm to me is just too low a flow for a system of that size. I would rather run higher flow and change resin more often. Obviously if my water was much harder I would have to sacrifice flow to extend resin life and filter time as resin isn’t cheap.
In your experience how much water is used on a typical car wash?
In my experience it's between 5 and 10 all variables considered. You learn to be conservative once you realize the limited amount of spot free water and obviously dependent on source water. In my area it's off the charts
Depends how frugal you are if you are like me you tend to use way more water than most just rinsing over and over. 🤣 I probably use 20 gallons, but you could do it with 10 gallons if you are efficient. I only use spotless on the final rinse so maybe 5 gallons. The rest I use just the two water.
Does anyone make a garden hose treaded TDS meter like the flow meter? I would like to put one between my DI system and the pressure washer and not hard plumb anything.
I would love one as well only thing I know is to create one using some adapters. Just never got around to figuring that all out as ai only ever measure tds at my DI system and CR spotless has it built in.
I had a CR spotless and used the conversion tube from that RV British guy. It exploded my tank and I’ve done without it now.
Tempted to go DI again but instead my final rinse is with the foam cannon filled with ONR. It softens the water and allows me to leaf blow most the water off and then finish drying with bead maker and a MF drying towel. I honestly think this way is just fine and I don’t have to dick around with resin anymore
So many way to do it there is no wrong way just the way that makes it most enjoyable for you. I tried the rv mods as well it didn’t blow up, but it was sending resin through my nozzles and clogging them up so went back to the cartridges.
@@CarsWithKeavthat’s why mine blew up. Resin got packed in the CR spotless top and water couldn’t pass. So one of the blue tubes exploded. The dude said it’s never happened etc. As soon as I bought those shity tubes I asked to return them and he declined. They have a crap O ring that doesn’t seal.
@@CarsWithKeavI wasn’t clear what your 500 gallon bladder was for. When you first said it I figured it was in a mobile detail setup but it’s in your backyard. What’s the use for it how you are doing?
@@whitey4311 yeah, several in my video I made on going back to the cartridges said they had resin getting through as well. Jamie the cleaner said his did it as well. Now these tank style is the same type of method, but they seal way better as they were designed for that purpose. I have seen no resin get through any that I have tried. At one point the shower setting on my garden hose sprayer would barely run because the holes are smaller than the resin. Was a pain to clean out.
@@whitey4311 I use it to do all types of stuff mix chemicals for the yard, occasional grass watering, golf cart battery fills and I will pump it back to my pressure washer and use it to wash cars. It mainly to not waste good expensive DI water when doing these tests. DI water not the best for watering grass all the time as it has no nutrients, but in a pinch it will help out.
As an absolute noob to this stuff, what exactly does this device do?
Removes (decreases) minerals from water that typically cause water spots.
Exactly
Mineral removal much like distilled water just a different way to use ion exchange resin to pull the minerals out of the water. You can use this water to mix with coolant, use in batteries, wash cars spot free, chemical dilutions, works real well for clear ice too.
Would you recommend this or the WaterDrop system
I think it all depends on your water quality, if you want wall mounted, you need lots of water flow, etc. so many variables in deciding on a DI system. Griots is great out the box. Waterdrop takes a little work to switch to bulk resin containers to get better resin life.
My water is 440ppm. Sucks. I bought a small unit and it couldn't get it under 10.
Same for me. Either this or using a blower is my choice
Have you tried a carbon filter as a pre filter for the DI?
@@CandanCamgoz no. Does it work?
@DaveFogel It will definitely help get you to 0, it is a bit pricey because you have the carbon filters to think about and replace at different intervals too.
@@CandanCamgoz it's a hassle. You have to use at least weekly and could be contamination in the tank. Blower better deal
Doesn't running it initially for 5 minutes straight waste a lot the the resin?
20 gallons or so depending on your flow rate. It is recommended by manufacturers to run for a few minutes to make sure everything is flushed out correctly. Since this was at 4gpm maybe 2 or 3 minutes would be a better suggestion. I had always done 5 minutes, but that was mainly 2gpm flow rate so only 10 gallons. Most DI system instructions say 5 to 10 gallons for the first initial run to flush out manufacture debris and get the resin fully submerged and filtering.
@@CarsWithKeav thanks! I currently rent a big DI tank from Culligan for home use, but would love one of these portable ones for mobile detailing.
@@orthodox1717 The Culligan rental really is the best value option I think. Plus you can do lots of flow. I think some can do up to 8 or even 10gpm.
@@CarsWithKeav just read a review on Griots site. One guys water was just below 400ppm. The Griots unit got it down to 97ppm. That's esentially worthless. Does this make sense? Thanks.
@@orthodox1717 I don’t read much into reviews unless they state flow rate and others contributing factors to resin not having enough time to clean. Maybe they got the inlet on the wrong side who knows. 🤣 all these tanks are the same and the resin is pretty close as well. If it didn’t work with the Griots probably wouldn’t work with any other except the others are usually filled all the way. If the Griots was at full capacity it would clean that just fine if it was in the 2gpm range. If they had 400ppm water and it was heavy in Chlorine that could be problematic as well if only 12lbs of resin in there.
Damn I wish I could afford this. I HATE my water hardness
Hard water sucks and not just the system isn’t cheap the resin to replace and refill gets very expensive as well.
First!!
This isnt grade school
@@johnnyhernandez2790 😜😜😜another one that arrives late
My man you saved me I had my inlet exit reversed fk 😣
If you see the bloopers at the end I did the same thing when I first hooked it up. 🤣
@@CarsWithKeav yeah I seen that lol didn’t feel so bad after I saw you do it but thankful I made the correction only after 1 wash. Had my own DI tank made with 40lbs of resin.. 👌 love it.. great content man.. keep it coming )
@@eastcoastlife3547 Nice, I have looked at the big systems, but always wondered to myself would I be better off running two of these 1/2 cubic foot units and running separated resin instead of mixed bed.
@@CarsWithKeav buying two separate resins two separate set ups, is it worth the cost for the amount of extra rinses you get ?who knows.. )
@@eastcoastlife3547 I guess it depends on how much you save and how quickly you deplete resin for there to be an ROI. You could improve resin refill times by 10% even up to 20% depending on your type of water. Changing out your cation more often as the anion will most likely last longer. When running mixed bed you have to change when the cation is depleted even though the anion is still good. That’s the reason there are 60/40 blends to combat that, but they are usually more expensive and not worth the price increase. Two Griots units for example is the same cubic foot as the big $600 On the Go cubic foot ones so equipment wise about the same money. I will probably run mixed bed most of the time, but if I ever get into regenerating my own resin I’ll probably run a 3 stage system. Separated resin in the first two and mixed bed in the third. Aquarium guys have tested that is the cleanest water possible and that final mixed bed almost never needs to be changed.
I’ve been eying this I got a griots gift card but I decided to spend it on other things. I just don’t think it’s worth it for me. I’d burn through the resin sucks ):
I’ll be putting in my lab coat soon and coming up with a whole easy to use system to regenerate resin and save us money. Going to take me awhile and many fails I’m sure, but I’ll figure it out. Resin is so expensive to refill all the time when you have hard water.
SECOND
We found the first loser. 🤣 JK
Off by 23%? That’s what happens when you buy that Amazon Junk. -Matt
Funny thing Matt hasn’t found an accurate enough one yet either even the $400 ones seem to be off. That’s why we still use the bucket method to measure GPM. 🤣
@@CarsWithKeav hasn’t found an accurate what?
@@1thechosenjuan1 He was joking about the Amazon flow meter being off by 23%.
@@CarsWithKeav gotcha. Btw just watched the long video with you, og and Josh. Boy does Matt sure love to talk. Thought the whole point of having guests on your podcast was to ask them questions and gain their insight. Lol. I almost 🤯 too as I thought he was about to try and say he was the first person in detailing to use kranzle and mosmatic. Lol. Must have forgotten about detailers domain and how they were selling kranzle long long before he ever used one. So much for him honoring the source
@@1thechosenjuan1 He talked about detailers domain and was working with him for awhile to
help sell products. Matt made them popular for home enthusiasts through his RUclips and website. Way more reach than a forum. I think he meant he was the first to really show and use them on youtube to a large audience. He loves to talk that is his biggest skill the ability to talk clearly about a subject for an hour. 🤣
So I can add 1/2 cubic feet of material?
It will hold about 1/2 cubic foot, but they only put less than a 1/3 cubic foot in there. It will hold 20 lbs or so, but they only put 12 lbs in there so easily will hold 8 more.