Carwash at Home with Soft Water

Do you like washing your own vehicles? What if we told you that you can enhance your washing experience by 200%, save time and money, would you be willing to hear it out? We’ve tasked one of our staff members to take home a Pro+Aqua Travel Series 16,000 Portable Water Softener and use it with his pressure washer to wash some vehicles in his household. 

The Travel Series was connected to the garden hose, then to a 1500psi pressure washer with a foam cannon. The first step to washing the cars and a motorcycle was to rinse it first to make sure any type of dust, debris is completely removed. Then some Meguiar's Gold Care Soap was added to the cannon and then sprayed. 

 

The use of soft water with this process allows for a full-bodied foam to form. This is especially important when washing vehicles since it helps to lift any contaminants from the paint so it can be easily scrubbed and washed off. Though it is possible to achieve a level of foam with regular tap water, what makes soft water different is the fact it does not have the dissolved solids like calcium and magnesium that is floating around. These minerals prevent soaps from working properly because they in effect block the ability to create lather. What ends up happening is, people start putting in more soap to generate more lather to get things clean. However, doing so only creates soap scum as well as using too much of it, which is a waste of money. 

The soft water flowing through the Travel Series and into the pressure washer performed better than expected. The foam in generated was very thick and was the envy of several neighbors since a few had come up to our staffer asking if they could bring their cars and motorcycles over to be washed. 

What you’re seeing in the image is the full effect of soft water interacting with the soap. Using soft water while washing vehicles is a must since cars and motorcycles are pretty filthy. They collect all sorts of environmental fallout that include air pollution (acid rain), dirt, dust, decaying insects, bird droppings, pollen, soot, road grime, and tree sap. When all those things are laying on top of a vehicle’s finish, it is imperative to remove it through washing. If not, it could create divots, and scratches on the clear and base coat.

Once the foam was scrubbed with a microfiber mitt, it was then rinsed off using the softened water. The motorcycle was then treated to a final rinse of reverse osmosis water to prevent any water spots and left to air dry. 

The cars below received a similar treatment as the motorcycle and our staffer found that washing a vehicle with a pressure washer and foam cannon is so much easier and faster than using a garden hose and a bucket. Doing so literally cuts the task time in half and end up with better results since the pressurized water blasts contaminants off the surface effortlessly. It was so easy that our staffer ended up washing a total of 5 cars (one being his neighbor’s car) and 1 motorcycle that day. 

As mentioned earlier, washing vehicles at home can save time and money. A basic car wash costs anywhere from $15-$30, plus you have to factor in a tip of at least $5 plus the time it takes to get it done on a Saturday morning. The whole event can take as much as 2 hours of just waiting due to the number of people who are also getting their car washed.

Most people will take their car to get washed at least 2 times per month, if we do some basic math we can calculate what savings it would be to do this at home.

 

DIY car wash at home with the Pro+Aqua Portable Water Softener

$300 Travel Series

  $70 Pressure Washer

  $23 Foam Cannon 

  $20 Car soap

$413 Total 

 

Local car wash

$30 wash + $5 Tip @ 2 times per month in a year= $840

 

Clearly, you can see that taking a vehicle to the local car wash adds up in a year’s time. That overall cost would actually be higher if a professional auto detailer was hired. Their rates typically start at $50 + tip for a basic wash and vacuum. Furthermore, not having to wait at the car wash would be at least 24 hours of savings in time that you’d get back if you just did this at home with the right equipment. 

Our staffer enjoyed washing the different vehicles with the Pro+Aqua Travel series. So much that he is convinced that he needs one to continue washing cars at home. If we just went with the money savings, the clear winner would be to wash cars at home. But adding the 24 hour time savings tips the scales to favor it as well. That’s a whole day you’d save...a whole day! That alone is priceless, there’s no way you could even put a price tag on time. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about the contents of your vehicle such as your designer sunglasses or money disappearing because there was a stranger in the car vacuuming and wiping things down. 

In conclusion, getting set up with the tools to be able to wash your vehicles at home is financially beneficial, saves time, and provides the user a level of satisfaction that they would not normally experience if they had taken it to the car wash.