There can be a number of reasons for this…
- The most obvious is that the resin is spent, which means new resin, available by the 7 litre bag. If you’re seeing water spots, check the output with a TDS Meter (we sell them) in a surgically clean vessel such as a new plastic or paper drinks cup, or a new glass wiped out with Isopropanyl Alcohol. And check spots do appear on say a house window with a quick splash – we hear of a number of incorrect TDS readings where its actually dust accumulating in beads of water on the car, and not spots of minerals.
- Bacteria has grown on the resin beads…hot weather creates the perfect growing environment in the vessel, and bacteria coat the resin beads, rendering them ineffective. But all is not lost – take off the vessels head, add a few capfuls of domestic bleach into the water and put the head back on. Then reconnect the filter to the Mains, but the incorrect way around – mains water into the OUT side of the head. Turn mains pressure to low and let the water come though. Once it stops smelling of bleach, its job is done. Use the filter as normal. *
- If you think you’ve only washed a few cars, think about how long the filter has run. Typically a 7L unit in hard water areas will run for 40-50 minutes – when you only need to rinse off, that’s 50 rinses. But using it for the entire wash, or running down your drive will quickly use the resin up.
- Check no-one else has used your filter, for car washing, windows, watering the garden or filling the Koi pond (yes, that happened).
- Check the downpipe isn’t cracked and sits snugly in the head unit.
*To prevent this, keep the vessel out of direct sunlight, and in winter, safe from frost which can split the vessel if frozen solid. During the warmer weather its recommended to run 2-3 litres of water through the vessel every 7-10 days to prevent bacterial growth.