Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > General Cycling Discussion
Reload this Page >

Washing Bikes using Softener Salt Water

Notices
General Cycling Discussion Have a cycling related question or comment that doesn't fit in one of the other specialty forums? Drop on in and post in here! When possible, please select the forum above that most fits your post!

Washing Bikes using Softener Salt Water

Old 10-31-20, 11:29 PM
  #1  
SpeedRanger
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 71
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Liked 52 Times in 18 Posts
Washing Bikes using Softener Salt Water

For about six months I've been washing my bikes using water generated from a pellet salt softener. I was wondering if this will harm the bikes in the long term as the frames and wheels are aluminum with a mix of carbon or aluminum stems and seat post. Groupsets are all mid range Shimano.
Should I switch over to using city supplied water or stick with the salt water?
SpeedRanger is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 04:42 AM
  #2  
nomadmax 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 2,409
Mentioned: 93 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1103 Post(s)
Liked 1,823 Times in 878 Posts
I don't think I'd use water with salt content in it to wash anything metal. (apart from silverware and other things I don't care about)
__________________
nomadmax is offline  
Likes For nomadmax:
Old 11-01-20, 04:51 AM
  #3  
billyymc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,365
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 286 Post(s)
Liked 125 Times in 58 Posts
Originally Posted by SpeedRanger
For about six months I've been washing my bikes using water generated from a pellet salt softener. I was wondering if this will harm the bikes in the long term as the frames and wheels are aluminum with a mix of carbon or aluminum stems and seat post. Groupsets are all mid range Shimano.
Should I switch over to using city supplied water or stick with the salt water?
If this information is even remotely correct I don't think I'd worry about it: https://www.h2oequipment.com/how-to/...rinking-water/
billyymc is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 05:27 AM
  #4  
BobsPoprad
Full Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: NW Minnesota
Posts: 209

Bikes: Lemond Poprad, Cervelo Soloist, Cannondale F4, RANS Velocity Squared

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Liked 64 Times in 45 Posts
Interesting information. And not just for bike washing. Thanks for the link!
BobsPoprad is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 08:15 AM
  #5  
Gary in NJ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Hilly NJ
Posts: 76

Bikes: 2020 Fuji Gran Fondo 1.3, 2015 Trek FrankenMarlin Gravel Thing

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 29 Post(s)
Liked 60 Times in 31 Posts
Your water softener doesn’t “add” salt to the water. The salt is used to cause a reaction with the ionized pellets in the system that extracts the calcium from the deposits from the limestone in the ground.

Your tap water is perfect for cleaning a bike.
Gary in NJ is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 08:32 AM
  #6  
Mulberry20
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 733
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 440 Post(s)
Liked 199 Times in 136 Posts
Copper is very sensitive to salt. So if there was any salt in your water you would have known by now.

A water conditioner that is backwashing and rinsing properly should produce water with zero salt in it.
Mulberry20 is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 09:07 AM
  #7  
cyccommute 
Mad bike riding scientist
 
cyccommute's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 27,274

Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones

Mentioned: 150 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6147 Post(s)
Liked 4,092 Times in 2,325 Posts
Originally Posted by SpeedRanger
For about six months I've been washing my bikes using water generated from a pellet salt softener. I was wondering if this will harm the bikes in the long term as the frames and wheels are aluminum with a mix of carbon or aluminum stems and seat post. Groupsets are all mid range Shimano.
Should I switch over to using city supplied water or stick with the salt water?
Technically, hard water is “salt water”. It just doesn’t happen to be sodium chloride water. A “salt” is any inorganic chemical that results from the combination of negatively charged ion and a positively charged ion. In chemical nomenclature, the positively charged ion is first in the name while the negatively charged ion is the second part. “Sodium chloride”, for example has positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions in equal proportion. In solid form they are in a crystal lattice and in solution they are loosely combined with each other in the liquid matrix. In hard water, the common “salt” is calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate...often both.

Magnesium and calcium are the problem. They interfere with detergents often causing the surfactant to crash out of solution which makes it ineffective as a cleaner. Ion exchange resins “exchange” two sodium for each magnesium or calcium in the carbonate resulting in a sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is “softer” because it doesn’t interfere with the surfactant. There isn’t any chloride present because the only thing exchanged was the sodium.

Chloride is what does the damage to metal parts. It can react with iron and aluminum to make both iron and aluminum chloride. Both of those are less stable then the oxide of aluminum and iron which results in exchange of the chloride for oxygen and release of the chloride. The chloride is free to go back and pluck out more of the metal.

Bottom line: It’s okay to wash your bike with softened water.

If you want even more nerdy information, we humans can’t drink water with a lot of sodium chloride in it because it draws water out of our tissues and causes dehydration. (Cats can drink salt water because their kidneys filter out the salt.) We can tolerate a higher load of other kinds of salts like carbonates.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!



cyccommute is offline  
Likes For cyccommute:
Old 11-01-20, 09:47 AM
  #8  
RGMN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 565
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 241 Post(s)
Liked 231 Times in 152 Posts
Originally Posted by SpeedRanger
For about six months I've been washing my bikes using water generated from a pellet salt softener. I was wondering if this will harm the bikes in the long term as the frames and wheels are aluminum with a mix of carbon or aluminum stems and seat post. Groupsets are all mid range Shimano.
Should I switch over to using city supplied water or stick with the salt water?
If you're using the brine regen waste water then I would stop using it, but if you're using what comes out of the faucet your bike should be fine, other than galvanic corrosion that can occur between the aluminum and the carbon fiber from the DHMO that is in it. But that will be in the city supplied water as well, so use some caution around it /s.
RGMN is offline  
Old 11-01-20, 10:58 AM
  #9  
Gresp15C
Senior Member
 
Gresp15C's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,893
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1062 Post(s)
Liked 665 Times in 421 Posts
I live in a hard water region -- Wisconsin is basically a layer cake of sandstone and limestone, and west of the continental divide we use well water. The house I live in was built in the early 60's and has 3 water supplies: Hard, soft, and hot. Soft water feeds the hot water heater, wash machine, and a few other things. Cold tap water is hard. The outside faucets are hard water. The idea is that softened water isn't harmful, but watering your lawn with it is wasteful. Because the house was modified since it was built, you actually have to follow the pipes to figure out which is which.

Hard water has two main effects. When heated, it comes out of solution, which means it will build up in your hot water heater over time. You'll also see it in the bottom of your tea kettle. It also reacts with soap to form soap scum. Having gotten sick of scrubbing the shower and bath tub, I banned soap in my house, and we use liquid body wash, which doesn't contain soap.
Gresp15C is offline  
Old 11-02-20, 12:52 PM
  #10  
SpeedRanger
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 71
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Liked 52 Times in 18 Posts
Thanks for the replies, I'll stick with using the softner water. Now the wife is mad at me for being more concerned about washing the bikes than drinking the stuff.
SpeedRanger is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.