Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: keyser soze on March 24, 2012, 05:10:18 pm

Title: can you recharge resin
Post by: keyser soze on March 24, 2012, 05:10:18 pm
i wondered what to do with old resin. can it be reused ??? , would you be able to recharge it like you can lwith the resin in a water softener.
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: GDwindowcleaning on March 24, 2012, 05:55:28 pm
I think richywilts has looked into it, I think it can be done....
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Ian101 on March 24, 2012, 06:00:07 pm
need acid and a lot of other bad chemicals and prob lots of heat ?
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: stuart mc on March 24, 2012, 06:04:16 pm
yes you can, you need acid and costic soda
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: jouk45 on March 24, 2012, 08:46:34 pm
try this out, looks easy enough to do
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/nftt/index.php
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Pete10 on March 24, 2012, 10:05:25 pm
I am gonna give this a go, just need a chemistry set, caustic soda and some hydrochloric acid. From a cost perspective the key ingredient is the hydrochloric acid......if anyones done this or knows where you can get hydrochloric acid on the cheap would be good to know....
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: rosskesava on March 24, 2012, 11:43:56 pm
Some patio/stone/masonry cleaners are hydrochloric acid.

Which ones are and which ones aren't... dunno?
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: keyser soze on March 25, 2012, 10:02:31 am
masonry acid is hydrochloric acid but not full strengh stuff , i dont know if that mattters
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: andyM on March 25, 2012, 10:18:19 am
I think my resin costs work out at only £1 - £1.50 per week, and its tax deductable.
Can't really see the point of trying to re-generate it.  ???
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Pete10 on March 25, 2012, 02:16:42 pm
....yes i think thats true, cementone is only 10% so you're paying for 90% water. Probably not high strength enough to re-charge the anions. You can buy Hydrochloric on ebay thats 36% proof....that will do it.

Agree it does seem a faff especially if you're only paying £1.50/week, my resin costs are a bit more than that, besides I think if you can crack a recharge why not scale it up so you're recharging other peoples aswelll....then it's a business that generates it's own revenue stream....
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: www.com on March 25, 2012, 03:07:11 pm
Also you will probably get arrested trying to get hold of all those chemical, suspect Al qaeda member!
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: carl stanton on March 25, 2012, 03:21:50 pm
Try a place that sells swimming pool supplies
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: davids3511 on March 25, 2012, 04:05:48 pm
The problem is disposing of these chemicals. It isn't nice stuff to put down the drain. I have tried regenerating and you need alot of caustic soda to seperate the resin in the first place. I mean you need a tub of the stuff for the equivelent of a bag of resin. 500grams from bnq won't do it.

It is nasty stuff to work with, I lost a layer of skin off my hands the last time I tried it. I was using gloves but it is very hard to stop the stuff coming in contact with your skin.

Ideally you should split the resins once and put each type into a seperate DI vessel. That way the next time you need to recharge you only need to fill the di vessel with either sodium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid depending on whether it is cation or anion.

Don't get it in your eyes - http://img.medscape.com/pi/features/slideshow-slide/acute-ocular-emergencies/fig21.jpg
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: stuart mc on March 25, 2012, 04:11:21 pm
yes that is how it was explained to me david, peter fogwell used to do it, but surely you wouldn't need to dispose as you would use it over and over again
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Pete10 on March 25, 2012, 04:32:57 pm
definitely would be fully suited up....no point if you're gonna get burned...way i see it if your average housewife in the states can make crystal meth we must be able to re-charge d/i resin. Thanks for the feedback on the caustic soda.....maybe there's another way to seperate the charges initially...not sure but interested in investigating.... ;D
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: jouk45 on March 25, 2012, 04:35:34 pm
in the link, the guy says when you are finished, place both liquids in to one container, they naturaly neutralize  themselfs, am sure thats what he said
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: davids3511 on March 25, 2012, 04:37:11 pm
yes that is how it was explained to me david, peter fogwell used to do it, but surely you wouldn't need to dispose as you would use it over and over again
The caustic soda is only good for a few recharges then it needs to be binned.
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: davids3511 on March 25, 2012, 04:41:40 pm
in the link, the guy says when you are finished, place both liquids in to one container, they naturaly neutralize  themselfs, am sure thats what he said
Yeah but you need to make sure of that. Would 5 ltrs of caustic neutralise 5 ltrs of HCL? We are not working with known quantities. The HCL could be 10%, 36% or more. How much caustic soda will neutralise this?
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: richywilts on March 25, 2012, 05:02:37 pm
wonder if you could make it work if you collected other window cleaners old resin etc and you did it on a large scale and then resold it as reconditioined resin
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Dan3 on March 25, 2012, 08:01:10 pm
really not worth the hassle mate, and its not cost effective £40 to do 25litres took me about 4 hours to do!


if you still want to give it a try check out apcpure based in manchester thats where i got the chems from, and get your self some nitrile gloves (screw fix sell them) safety glasses and a BA set, i didnt use a BA set and throat swelled up from the hydrochloric acid.

all the best

P.S dont forget your mobile so you can dial 999
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: keyser soze on March 25, 2012, 09:54:12 pm
really not worth the hassle mate, and its not cost effective £40 to do 25litres took me about 4 hours to do!


if you still want to give it a try check out apcpure based in manchester thats where i got the chems from, and get your self some nitrile gloves (screw fix sell them) safety glasses and a BA set, i didnt use a BA set and throat swelled up from the hydrochloric acid.

all the best

P.S dont forget your mobile so you can dial 999


i think im gonna try it and see how it goes , i produce large amounts of water so might b worth doing on a sat morning
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: Smudgeoff Cleaning Services on March 26, 2012, 06:39:42 am
What you save on resin you'd shell out in insurance...
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: dazmond on March 26, 2012, 08:18:06 am
your braver than me mate!messing about with very dangerous chemicals on a saturday morning?rather you than me!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

by the way are you DI only in a hard water area?or RO?
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: keyser soze on March 26, 2012, 06:45:38 pm
your braver than me mate!messing about with very dangerous chemicals on a saturday morning?rather you than me!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

by the way are you DI only in a hard water area?or RO?
hard water and i use a ro . i have used these chems before and doesn't faze me if you use the right gear . and insurance wont be affected. cause im not telling them . im really not into this health and safety brigade.... when i was young i climbed trees grazed my knees and fell of my bike......this might shock some but i  go up ladders as well
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: keyser soze on March 26, 2012, 06:54:01 pm
i will let you all know how it goes ,success or disaster..... gonna get the chems this week
Title: Re: can you recharge resin
Post by: davids3511 on September 16, 2012, 12:56:10 pm
Any update on this? Interested to see how it went.