The day before the local demo was taking place, I received a text from Ionics, that the roadshow would be in my direct area the next day. I didn't actually realize there was one just 5 minutes from me. I had some time to go over there and have a look at their new Zero system and pole range.
Putting aside the 0ppb marketing debacle for a second, I thought it would be very interesting to see how the Zero system is put together. There is always something to learn. Also I wanted to try their poles first hand.
Ionic seems to get slated on here a lot, but I think it's good to keep an open mind, and reserve judgement until you have a well informed opinion. I will list the good things, and also the things that need improving on.
As always, there are things you remember you forgot to ask, but managed to get some good info on their system along with some good pictures.
I was quite looking forward to this display, because if there would be any marketing talk, I can/could see right through it, and wasn't afraid to ask questions about the system.
I've actually been really impressed by Ionic, their system and poles and their people. There are a few things that are great, and one or two things that can be improved on.
Upon arriving at the local Premier Inn, the Ionic stand was all the way in the back of the car park. Poles out and one van that had the Zero system. Some hose reels and their portable Quattro system. Like we know, they like putting the brushes up against the wall. Not best practice, but oh well. At this point I used two poles, see if you can spot them.
They had two guys there. One of them is in their pole comparison video. Both very friendly and professional. One was more of a traditional sale person type, the high pitched mieeeeh before starting any sentence, found it amusing, but would have liked to have more of a listening ear. The other was more relaxed and seem to let the customer talk a bit more and listen. But, they made a good impression on me, and they knew what they were talking about. I made it clear from the beginning I already had recently (July 2012) purchased a GrippaMax system (just cage and tank) and was there mainly to meet the company in person and to get an impression of their offerings.
To begin with, their poles have come a long long way. I tried several poles, and I must say I've been impressed. They are not as rigid as lets say an SL-X or Xtreme, but their plus range are really good poles. Their Glyder pole is quite decent, albeit somewhat removed from an SL-X. Sadly I think I missed their Glyder Plus, as that is of a higher rigidity. I would say their Swift Plus pole is not that far away from an Xtreme, which is very good indeed. But as always, it can be difficult to get an exact figure since the brushes are much heavier. But they performed admirably even with those residential brick brushes.
I considered it bad taste and disrespectful to get my Xtreme and SL-X out, but would have like to have done so. (
)
Considering they've got a full line up out, from glass fiber to high spec carbon can only good for the customer. The finish seems to be hard wearing. The clamps are of the lateral type, and are a huge improvement over the old type vertical (or any vertical for that matter) clamp.
Their pole hose seems to resemble kitchen sink RO hose, it's really not very nice stuff, very very rigid when cold. For some strange reason they seem to be using a hose lock style tail and female connector but still use their RX micro/minibore hose. At least it should wear well with more heavy handed users.
Their brushes are sadly still the same. They aren't bad brushes per se, I actually started out with a residential brush, but really are dinosaurs compared to the Gardiner brushes. They are horribly stiff, with a heavy stock. I did mention to them that their next lot of R&D should really go to their brushes, which they agreed with. The brush adaptors are still the same screw type, and their juliet balcony swivel head seems quite flimsy.
Here we have their professional type hose reel, and their Quattro system, which has got the full filtration equipment on there along with booster pump. Whilst there are similar on demand trolleys out in the market, this one is of very high quality. Something that seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout their setups.
On to the actual van and system.
This is the 240v in for the UV filter and Booster pump. All nicely installed with water proof camping style socket, fused and RCD. Speedliner for waterproofing. Rock hard.
It also supplies power to an on board battery charger, which during filling charges the battery. During the working day it charges the battery via a split relay charger.
On the other side of the van, we've got their fill ports and hose reel connectors. Again of high quality, although I would rather not have holes like that in the sides of my van.
Internally, we've got the John Guest connectors, with ball valves on the delivery side. Starting to look good.
The Ionic Systems Zero.
This is by far the most beautifully engineered filtration system out there at the moment. It excels in it's simplicity, as the whole system is fully automated, one press of a button is all that is needed. The filter housings themselves are an immense improvement over the old canister style filters. Simply taking the John Guest elbow out of the top, the whole canister swivels forward. This can then be opened, and a new filter insert can be purchased, rather then a completely new module. This really is very nice indeed.
With so many systems on the market at the moment, you need something to stand out, a USP. And with this system that is exactly what they've done. Whether you believe in the 0ppb system cleaning better or not, or how much you hate their marketing, one thing is for certain. It's the only 0ppb window cleaning system for sale out there at the moment, and it produces the most pure water there is. That's a simple fact. You have to give it to them, they've created something special, both in looks and functionality. From an end user perspective, it's near perfect on that front.
This particular system has the Webasto hot system, booster pump and dual delivery pumps. Apart from that, the filtration equipment is superb. Of course you've got the water softener with extra canister for regeneration salt. Then we've got a UV filter at the back, Ozone treatment (which I entirely forgot to ask about sadly) and nuclear grade resin on a seperate polishing recirc. cycle. More on this in a minute.
The UV filter at the back of the filtration unit.
The front panel. Going from left to right you've got the heater control. Only winter and summer setting, which looks like there is no accurate way to control temperature.
Next to that you've got the Dual TDS meter. I inquired about a meter that can measure parts per billion. They calculated the cost, and the meter itself is around £300, which they didn't want to add to the cost of the system.
Next to that the Battery Volts meter, Hours meter, Water temp and Water Pressure gauges.
On the far right side you've got the fuse box, which is again easy for the end user to monitor and change.
So how does the filtration system work? Since it's all automated, you just need to press start and the system starts the process. From the picture it's a bit hard to see, but the steps in the control panel are :
System Flushing : This flushes the RO membrane for 5 minutes before each fill
System Purging : This activates a solenoid on the production side of the RO, since the RO in the first minute(s) or so has a high product TDS, this is carried down the drain. After a little while, the solenoid shuts, and purified water goes to the DI stage.
Tank Filling : From the membrane it goes into the DI, then 000ppm water goes into the tank.
Polish in Progress : This is the intriqueing bit. It uses what looks like a solar heating pump, and circulates the 000ppm through the nuclear resin to polish it to 000
ppb, then back to the tank. This to of course maximize the life of the nuclear resin. This takes about 6 hours before the full 650l is polished to 0 parts per billion. I'm not entirely sure when it can tell the process is finished, as there is no ppb meter?
System Regenerating : This sends the regeneration salt through the softener. The salts can be replenished in the first see through canister.
When the tank is full, the system is reset. As you can see, very easy from an end user perspective.
The back of the control panel, all looks very well designed and installed by people who know what they are doing.
The booster pump, to maintain high pressure even in low pressure areas. Maximum efficiency of the membrane.
The solenoids used to direct flow in the fully automated system.
The pump used to recirculate the 000ppm through the nuclear resin, to achieve 000ppb. Not a high capacity pump, but obviously used to maximize resin longevity.
Here are the dual delivery pumps, the second just out of sight. Very high standard of wiring and plumbing. Apparently the assembly line works so that every man working on the system works on a different stage, to maximize productivity, a bit like a production line.
Because there are quite a lot of fitting centers around the country now, each center is trained in the new system by the engineers from the main office.
The webasto heater, diesel powered. This can be plumbed in to either your main vehicle fuel tank, or a seperate tank. Two pipes go through the floor, one for the air intake, the other for the exhaust pipe.
In my opinion a gas heater is more efficient, easier to install, cheaper to purchase and cheaper to maintain and or repair. But that doesn't take away the fact that the webasto heater does the job of heating the water. Again, from an end user perspective, easier to maintain and fill. As said before, the heater control seems to be limited to a summer and winter setting.
We come now to the actual construction of tank and cage, and mounting of cage. This is the one point I think lacks the engineering prowess of the (previously Gardiners SuperZero now Grippatank's) GrippaMax system.
As you can see from above, it uses a traditional cage around a tank. First the cage.
The cage was designed so that it would give a little in an accident, I was told that this is the reason why it's not up against the bulkhead, in fact, even with this 650L tank, I was surprised to see how much space is between the bulkhead and tank.
To be told that a tank gives a little did not make me feel very convinced in the actual effectiveness of the tank cage. Especially since the GrippaMax was designed to move as little as possible, as you can see when you look at the crash test video. Okay, seat belts, crumple zones all work with an amount of give to slow down the forces released in an accident, but it doesn't seem anywhere near capable of attaining higher then 31Mph impacts, which in reality, speeds most of us exceed regularly.
How the GrippaMax is designed is a much safer, much more effective method of securing the tank. I would trust the GrippaMax with my life. The Ionic Zero system, I'm not actually that sure about when it comes to high speed crashes.
The steel used in the cage doesn't seem that thick either.
Also from a weight loading point of view it does not look not ideal. I'm sure the rear axle isn't anywhere being overloaded, but from just looking at it, it would make more sense to have it further to the front to achieve a perfect 50/50 weight distribution when full. Without corner weighing the van, I can't be 100% certain though.
I was told the tank is baffled, but externally there are no signs of any physical lateral baffles, like you can see in other tanks. I'll take their word for it.
From a centre of gravity point of view, the tank and system as a whole seems far from ideal. If you've ever seen a GrippaMax system in the flesh, next to a Zero system, you can very clearly see that the GrippaMax is as flat as can be for a 650l. This results in fantastic handling, and almost no body roll. Okay, the GrippaMax doesn't have anywhere near the high level of filtration, but then again, it produces perfectly fine 000ppm water.
How is it secured? The first thing I did was drop to the floor and look under the van!
Hmmm. I've spoke to multiple engineers in the past, and they all agree on one thing. The chassis should never been compromised in fitting a system. I'm not sure if that applies to holes already drilled in the chassis rails, but I'm sure it does. I put this toward one of the guys there, and to be honest with you, 1 second after he fired off his lines, I couldn't even remember what he said, way too quick, and way too much spin. I didn't feel like inquiring further as it seemed he couldn't comment accurately on the engineering side of it. He did say Ionic has reports of about 40+ accidents, all with no problems. Very friendly guy, but more of a traditional young guy type of salesman. No hard feelings, but would be interested to speak to one of their system designers/engineers.
But the actual plate is tiny. It's got two plates at the front, and 4 at the back. I could not see the 4 plates at the back, but if they were indeed this size, it's not that great.
Have a look below at the plate used in my GrippaMax (total of 4 for the 650L).
Now they are some proper plates. Bolted, and chemically bonded to simulate a weld. I think I would trust these a lot more to distribute the forces occuring in an accident.
The pole rack that they have fitted looks very good. It can be custom made since most vehicles vary quite a lot in where bolts can be placed. They can also manufacture internal ladder racks, of half ladder, half pole rack. Looks good.
So like I said in the beginning, there are some things going for Ionic Systems with the new Zero range, and some things that need improving on in different areas of the products.
The filtration side is just about as good as it will ever get, the actual engineering side of the cage and tank could, in my humble opinion be improved. Nevertheless, it's a huge leap over DIY installed systems, and gives some peace of mind.
Do I think it's worth that much money? It's hard to say. I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves, each one has to make that decision for himself.
Overall it was a very pleasant experience, with very friendly and knowledgeable staff there. I think as a whole they represented Ionics very well, and the company looks like they know what they are doing, having been in the business since 1995 (I believe, as OTT)
If they are in your area, I would encourage you to go and have a look at their poles and systems, if not to purchase, perhaps to have a chat, and let Ionic set the record straight. Find out for yourself, rather then let the loudest people on here tell you otherwise.