What does deionized mean and is it safe to clean windows with?
Is it some sort of new fad that’s going around?
Deionized water is pure water or reverse osmosis water. You may have heard about reverse osmosis water from health enthusiasts.
But when window cleaners tell you they’re going to clean your windows with it, it can get a little confusing.
Deionized water is pure water.
When we say pure water, we mean it has nothing but H2O. All chemicals, metals, and debris are filtered out.
Because the water is so pure, it will never leave streaks on your windows. What you will end up with are streak-free windows.
It’s the perfect way to clean your windows.
Let’s go deeper and see how it all works.
How Pure Water Is Made To Clean Your Windows
Here in Texas, the water can be heavy in contaminants and metals.
To remove these contaminants and metals we need to filter them out completely!
What are the containment and metals we need to remove and what are the most common ones?
There are hundreds of particles floating in the tap water from your home. An article from Free Drinking Water explains that
” The most common drinking water contaminants are microorganisms, nitrate, and arsenic. Water quality monitoring has improved over the past five years. Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa (such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium) are drinking water contaminants that can rapidly cause widespread and serious illnesses.”
What we find includes the:
- Radioactive particles
- Heavy metals like mercury
- Calcium
- Zinc
- Nitrates
- Chlorine (Bleach)
- Salts
- Much more
With so many particles and contaminants. How in the world do you filter it all out?
Introducing the three-stage water filtration system. In window cleaning, we call this the water-fed system. It helps us make the purest water that makes windows sparkle like new!
Before We Go Through The Multi Stage System We Need To Know How To Measure It
How do you know if you have pure water?
How do you know if the system is working?
Before we can even discuss the filtration system we need to accurately measure the water.
The measurement is in PPM or Parts Per Million. This indicates just how many particles or various particles are in the water.
The higher the PPM the more particles in the water.
The less the PPM the fewer particles are in the water
More PPM means we need to use a multi-stage system to filter out the water.
The lower the PPM the less work and less system we need to get pure water.
Luckily, in the modern day, we have electronics to help us. We will be using a small handy device called the TDS meter. It will accurately measure up the water and let us know quickly.
With the TDS meter, we can now go through our clean water for window cleaning!
The Three Stage Water Filtration System (Water Fed System)
Let’s run you through completely how this system helps us make the right kind of water to clean your windows.
When we get to your house and begin cleaning windows, we first prep the system.
By using a 3/4 garden hose, we connect your spigot water to the water-fed system. The spigot water is then turned on at max levels. We want to create enough pressure in the system to filter everything out.
1.) The first component is the Carbon Sediment Filter
The carbon filter’s job is to filter out the chlorine, radioactive, and large debris in the water.
The removal of these contaminants will make it easy for the 2nd filter to purify the water. The carbon filter also helps protect the 2nd filter from damage.
Once the first filter is through, what is the 2nd filter?
2.) The 2nd Filter Also Known As The Reverse Osmosis (RO) Filter
As the water passes from the 1st filter it goes into a Reverse Osmosis chamber. In this chamber, it houses a sensitive membrane. The membrane absorbs the water and separates bad water and good water.
You can test the bad water and it will usually be very acidic.
While testing the good water, you will get close to pure water.
Depending on how heavy the contaminants are in your house water, the RO filter is all that’s needed. What we mean is, if there aren’t many contaminants, the RO filter will produce perfectly pure water. This pure water will be enough to clean your windows without any streaks or spots.
But this isn’t usually the case here in Texas. The water is quite heavy and this is when the third filter is introduced.
This third filter is the Deionized Filter or DI filter.
3.) The Final Stage, To Deionze The Water To Absolute Zero!
Once the water passes through the RO filter, it now goes to its final stage. The water is at this point quite pure but still has some contaminants and particles left over.
The final stage uses electrically charged resin beads to strip everything. The water passes through while the contaminants get held back.
The water at this point becomes 100% pure.
How do we know this?
We use a TDS metering system to measure the Parts Per Million PPM in the water.
The reading should say 0.00 PPMs.
To clean windows we need that water to be absolute zero for the best results.
How We Clean Window With The Deionized Water
The entire water-fed system was designed not just to make pure water, but also to deliver it to the windows.
The system releases water into the water-fed hose and out of our water-fed pole and brush.
With the brush, we are able to agitate and scrub the entire window unit. This agitates and removes trapped dirt and debris on the windows.
Once we are done with the agitates, we rinse the window down the pure water.
The windows may look wet, but as they dry up they will be the cleanest windows you’ve ever had.
Conclusion
Now you know what deionized water is and how it can be used to clean your windows.
Deionized water is the safest to clean your windows with as it is pure.
We would argue that deionized water is much safer to clean windows with than water from your house.
If you often spray down your windows with your garden hose, the water is unpure and can cause stains. These stains can be permanent if left unclean.
The chemicals and minerals in tap water are chlorine and calcium. Over time they will cause hard water stains to form on your windows.
It is always best to clean windows with deionized water with proper agitation.
We hope this article helps you make the best-informed decision when looking for help.
With better and more informed decisions you avoid more troubles and get the best services.
Until next time!
