We have found that very hard water, some high heat machines and Flex Ice do not play well together in about a dozen or so instances. We have also found that the best powdered rinses (the best ingredients soften water) are used up softening water when used with very hard water and some high heat machines. In lab (not field) testing we have done using Salt Lake's very hard tap water (14 GPP) at 1 to 640 dilution, we have had up to 80% of some formulas used up softening the water and not available for cleaning. The dynamics of high heat truckmounts, hard water, and powdered rinses are quite complex and not subject to current lab testing procedures. Switching to using soft water is the one step that does not impact cleaning. Switching to liquid rinses or no rinse impacts cleaning by itself and there is still some cleaning loss with hard water but not at the same percentages as with powders. You can boost your pre-spray with a rinse like Clean Free eliminating a rinse with hard water and still get some rinse benefit. A simple acid rinse like Fab Set is not impacted by hard water and can be used without any negative impact with hard water, even though the hard water itself builds scale in machines. Lowering the heat is another option, but that is the reason you purchased your truckmount. I have spent the last year doing extensive testing in this area and offered a cliff note summary. As always most research leads to the need for further research.
Most likely, were all guilty of NOT keeping up with Google..
