I am on the market for a RO/DI Cart.
I do not plan to clean over 3 1/2 stories. I have read some threads on here that wash it pro does not work at 3 stories with out a pump.
What are my other options for a RO/DI system with a pump besides IPC Hydro Cart?
thanks much
One option is to buy a booster pump (like a Wayne pump) to put in front of the Wash-iT Pro in places where the pressure is not enough to do 3 story work.
Another option that’s starting to become more popular is to produce your pure water at home and bring it to the job site. Then use a flow controlled on-demand pump (like a Shurflo or Flojet) to get it out of the buffer tank into your pole. You can bring the Wash-iT or Hydro-Cart (sans pump) on-site to produce more water on the fly to refill the tank as necessary, too.
I’ve had no problems w/my Wash-it up to the heights my reach it goes, guessing about 40 ft. I have gone down to just 2 jets when i needed a better stream of water
Same here. Ro at 4 stories no problem if pressure is good. Large dia hose from tap to ro helps improve performance.
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what kind of pressure do you think you had? can you use 5/16 hose straight from the unit or do you need to go 3/8 to your pole?
Do you know what your psi roughly was?
5/16" od hose is fine…and is pretty much the norm. The Wash-iT also is supplied with a 50’ lead hose to go from the unit, to your work area and then connect the pole hose to that.
The Wash-iT slogan is RO for low and DI for high. In other words it has low pressure solutions built in. You can always take the RO out of the mix for high windows or if you have poor tap pressure. On jobs where I’ve had no issues getting to 3+ stories I’ve had about 60 PSI assuming my gauge was accurate.
Tap pressure will never be consistent through any region due to elevation differences, distance to water tower, water temperature etc.
I am completely opposed to using a Booster Pump with Wash-iT PRO except for three conditions : the first is the servicing of homes with well water !
The proper system, designed for, and with a Booster Pump is the IPC HYDROCART.
Sure, you can add a Booster Pump to a Wash-iT PRO however, in all but one case, it really means you don’t get the design !
Let me send you an article to read that will determine that 60-80% of the windows you clean are 2nd floor and below.
Once that is determined, I should design and you should invest in a system that meets 80% your sites, yet have a solution for the ‘exceptions’ I.e 3,4,5,6 & 7 storeys.
Wash-iT PRO will actually clean up to 40ft with RO-DI under most conditions, but (Phong Clause) there are such a variety of factors that face us (see Mark Stranges comment above) that we do not quote a height - we simply say ‘Low’ and ‘High’ …
So - in any situation that your RO does not deliver the velocity and volume of water you need to get an effective rinse, the first thing you should do is modify your jet arrangement - switching from 4 to 2 jets may do it, or switching from 1/12" to 1/20" jet orifices may do it.
If that does not work, switch to DI ONLY mode. The hourly running cost is TDS/100, so if your TDS is 400, it will be $4 per hour - ONLY ON THE WINDOWS that the RO MODE cannot produce the velocity and flow I require ! As soon as the upper levels are clean, we return to ‘free water’ from RO MODE.
Now, if, and only if, the cost of running DI ONLY in your business is excessive, then I would support using a Booster Pump - for example, hard water, arid areas like Arizona with businesses cleaning a lot of high buildings … Albeit, the desert areas naturally get higher flow from their RO MODE due to the warmer temperature of their ground water.
The third condition is where the operator requires their Wash-iT PRO to perform in very cold conditions.
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Thanks for the clarification, Perry. It’s very helpful.
So basically you reinforced the principle of RO for low, DI for high for the Wash-iT, and jet change. And the exceptions are: well water, very hard water makes DI too expensive, and cold conditions.
But what if it’s not well water but the pressure is still too low for the height required, even after jet change and with DI only? I know you already suggested the IPC Hydrocart with a pump for this situation. But the OP was asking about [B]other options[/B] beside this.
Maybe he thinks the pumpless Wash-iT will work for him 80% of the time as designed, but he wants to be able to cover the other 20% when he needs more pressure without having to buy the IPC Hydrocart with pump. In this situation, it’s probably better to get a Wash-iT than a Hydrocart with pump (since no pump is needed for 80% of the time), and use a booster pump ONLY for the 20% of the time as necessary.
I think that’s why a lot of Wash-iT owners on this forum shared that they buy a booster pump, too, but only use it if necessary. Even WCR starts selling the Wayne booster pump online recently because of this.
i use a di-only system and have never, ever come across a situation where there wasn’t enough water pressure to operate it. so i believe the likelihood of needing a booster pump to operate in di-only mode is virtually zero.
I hear you. But this whole thing is a hypothetical discussion in the first place, right?
The OP was trying to decide on which system he wanted to buy, and he was asking which OTHER RO/DI options with a pump there are beside the Hydrocart with pump. I was simply responding to his question about ANOTHER OPTION by suggesting that he can add a booster pump to the Wash-iT if he wants in the event that he needs it. It doesn’t mean that I’m telling him to ALWAYS use the booster pump in all situations.
You may never encountered the situation where DI only wasn’t good enough for you, but what if there’s a small chance somebody has to do a 5 or 6 story job once in a while only, and let’s say even with 2 poles, and DI only is not good enough for you? That’s where the booster pump would come into play. And I wouldn’t try the booster pump in DI only mode right away like you said. I’d try the booster pump in RO-DI mode first.
I think this is where the misunderstanding is. Maybe Perry assumed that I’m telling the OP to always use the booster pump regardless of the situation. But I’m not. And I bet you that other folks on this forum who bought a booster pump use it ONLY when they have to as well.
Now, back to the hypothetical discussion here, Perry did allow 3 exceptions: well water, very hard water, and very cold water. But there’s another exception he didn’t entertain: when DI only is still not good enough with on-site pressure. You’re saying that it’s not a possible exception in your case. OK, I accept it. But it can be a hypothetically possible situation in someone else’s case.
Having said that, WCR wouldn’t be stocking supplies of the Wayne booster pump for RO/DI systems if there’s no demand for it at all. So for someone somewhere sometimes in some situation, they must have needed a booster pump because their RO/DI system doesn’t have one.
But I still appreciate Perry clarifying that one should never use a booster pump with the Wash-iT unless it was a last resort. That is worth pointing out to make sure that people don’t assume correctly that the Wash-iT will always need a booster pump. So his point (and yours, too) is well made that the Wash-iT should rarely ever need a booster pump.
FWIW, I never need a booster pump for my Wash-iT either.
