Is Your Water Softener Sending Money Down the Drain?
New High-Efficiency Technology Saves Salt, Water and Money
Today’s high efficiency softeners are changing the economics of water softening in the car wash industry. Traditionally, the savings have been based largely on reducing chemical and detergent costs. While those savings are still significant, new commercial softening technology using multi-tank systems (MTS) also offers significant water and salt savings.
Did you know? MTS systems with Responsive Flow Technology use 40-50% less regeneration water and salt compared to conventional softening systems.
It Starts With a Great Wash
Water conditioning is an important part of modern car wash facilities. Spot-free rinses and luxurious foam washes have quickly become basic customer expectations.
canature watergroup 95MTS system
Water softeners improve the volume and staying power of foam while at the same time reducing the amount of detergent required. Softeners also allow you to offer a high quality wash at a lower water temperature (saving energy costs) and protect your water-using equipment from poor performance and premature failure. Clogged spray wands, scale build-up in water heaters, and RO membranes that are exhausting too quickly are all signs that your softener may no longer be doing its job.
Commercial reverse osmosis (R.O) systems remove unwanted impurities in water, giving vehicles a shiny appearance; free from white spots.
How Much Detergent Can A Softener Save?
Detergent and Chemical Costs Per Wash
Basic Car Wash: $0.45/car
Deluxe Car Wash: $1.20/car
Average Wash Cost: $0.64/car*
*Source: Car Wash Magazine
Estimated Detergent/Chemical Costs
$0.64 x 55 washes/day* = $35.20 (estimated daily cost)
$35.20 x 365 = $12,848.00 (estimated annual cost)
*Source: statisticbrain.com
Potential Annual Detergent and Chemical Savings
$12,848.00 x 0.5* = $6,424.00 (est. annual savings in a market with hard water)
*According to the Water Quality Research Foundation’s Softened Water Benefits Study, soft water can reduce detergent use by as much as 50 percent.
A properly functioning softener can reduce that cost by up to 50% a year.
Commercial Softeners:
High Efficiency vs Conventional Technology
At Canature WaterGroup, we’ve improved the efficiency of our commercial softeners by re-thinking both the design and programming.
Instead of large, single tank or dual-alternating tank systems, we use a series of smaller tanks (called Multi-Tank Systems) to respond to the real-time water flow of the building (Responsive Flow Technology).
This responsive design allows MTS systems to use up to 50% less salt and 38% less regeneration water than conventional single-tank or twin alternating systems. It also gives you consistent soft water: no hard water slippage or channeling.
On the left, we see that only one of the four tanks are needed to soften water because the car wash isn’t busy. On the right, we see that more tanks have come on-line as the wash bays have filled up.
The Savings Advantage of MTS Softeners
According to statisticbrain.com, car washes use an average of 38 gallons of water per wash and process an average of 55 washes per day. This equates to 2,090 gallons of water per day and 762,850 gallons of water per year.
CAPITAL SAVINGS
Large Two Tank System: ~ $13,000
MTS System: ~ $10,000
Capital Savings: $3,000 (30%)
WATER SAVINGS
A traditional commercial softener will send 35,600 gallons of regeneration water to the drain in a 20gpg market.
In comparison, an MTS system in a 20gpg market will send 22,250 gallons of regeneration water to the drain.
That’s means 38% less water going to the drain. At $0.01/gallon, you’ll save $133.00/year on water.
SALT SAVINGS
A traditional commercial softener removes 2,000 grains of hardness per pound of salt. An MTS system with Responsive Flow design removes 4,000 grains of hardness per pound of salt. Let’s apply these savings to a car wash in a 20gpg hardness market.
Traditional softener: 7,629 lbs of salt required ($1,144.00*)
MTS softener: 3,814 lbs of salt required ($572.14*)
Salt Savings: $572.00/year
*based on $6.00/40lb bag of salt
Total Savings over a ten-year period:
$3,000.00 (capital savings)
+ $5,720.00 (salt savings)
+ $1,330.00 (water savings)
$10,050.00 (approx. cost of a triplex MTS unit)
Resources
Carwash Case Study
Find out how our MTS systems can offer your customers a superior wash while saving you $350 - $1764 per year in salt and water costs.
Multi-Tank Systems
View Canature WaterGroup’s complete line of MTS systems with Responsive Flow Technology.