BBB Supplies - Canada

[DMS]

Hi Everyone,

This site is awesome!

I was wondering if any Canadians out there have found good places to buy the staples for BBB. I tried my local Costco but had no luck funding bleach, and baking soda is sold in small A&H boxes.
Should I try the local Walmart?

From Ottawa,
Darryl

 

[smileddog]

I would try Walmart. if you have Walmarts you should also have the big box stores like Sam's Club. there you would get a bigger quantity and the price would be even less because they are more of a buy in bulk store and save. Sams Clubs, BJ's, Walmarts, Aldi's, stuff like that should have what your looking for. I live in NY not to far from Canada, We have Price Choppers, P&C, Wegmans (but im almost 100% Sure none of those in Canada). hope that helps. Maybe even a Home Depot or Lowes. Ive never checked their cleaning sections or anything to see if they have Bleach or Baking Soda.

 

[reebok]

I can't believe costco doesn't have bleach...weird.

 

[derekm]

On PEI, Wal-Mart is the place to go for bleach, with two sizes of store-brand bleach at great prices, although they are often out, so if I see it, I buy it. I don't remember seeing any at the Costcos in Moncton and Halifax, but I wasn't looking specifically for it, as it takes up too much room to bring back. If I can't find any at Wal-Mart, I buy the house brand at either Canadian Tire or Sobeys. It's slightly more, but much less than the Clorox Javex brand. I get 2 kg boxes of A&H baking soda at Sobeys, and also A&H Super Washing Soda and/or 20 Mule Team borax there for ph increaser. SuperStore (Loblaws) would also have them. Also, I have seen outdoor garden centres around Toronto that sell full strength liquid chlorine in bulk for reasonable prices. There may be some in Ottawa (we don't have any).

 

[CaOCl2]

Wal-Mart carries the 20 Mule Team borax (in 2 kg boxes) with the Tide and other detergents. You may find baking soda cheaper at the pool store, especially if you buy it in 25 kg bags. Been there done that. Couldn't find any big boxes other than 2 kg also. Don't know about the bleach this year, but last year cal-hypo was way cheaper. (Don't buy cal-hypo from Costco or Wal-Mart).

If you're going the "50 ppm borates" route, you may also find that Optimizer in 8 kg pail is cheaper than the borax+muriatic acid combo.

They're quite different markets!

 

[cschnurr]

I found local pool stores sell liquid chlorine quite inexpensively. They also sell refillable containers so all those bottles don't go the landfill.

Canadian Tire sells 'Purox' at reasonable prices.

Make sure you take note of the %concentration when comparing alternatives.

 

[Kinguni]

Wal-Mart for bleach for sure. No Name bleach can be priced good too (Real Canadian Superstore here - probably Loblaws out your way?). I'm actually going to shop for the best price on a 30kg pail of cal-hypo this weekend. That will last the whole summer so no running off to find bleach (yep, the Wal-Mart shelves are often bare). Almost picked one up at Canadian Tire last weekend until I realized it was 47%, which would be fine but not at their price.

 

[CaOCl2]

until I realized it was 47%, which would be fine but not at their price.

That stuff raises CH so quickly it's almost unbelievable. Do not use! Try to get the 70 or 75% stuff (Club Piscine has the 75%).

 

[Kinguni]

That stuff raises CH so quickly it's almost unbelievable. Do not use! Try to get the 70 or 75% stuff (Club Piscine has the 75%).

Thanks. I didn't think about the CH increase.

 

[chem geek]

That stuff raises CH so quickly it's almost unbelievable. Do not use! Try to get the 70 or 75% stuff (Club Piscine has the 75%).

This really depends on the brand of Cal-Hypo. ALL Cal-Hypo will raise Calcium Hardness and the minimum is that for every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) it will raise the CH by 7 ppm. As to whether the lower percentage Cal-Hypo raises CH more, that depends on whether the filler is regular salt, sodium chloride, or is calcium chloride. Most that I have seen are mostly regular salt filler so wouldn't raise the CH by much more than the 7 ppm for every 10 ppm FC. If you can find an Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or full ingredients list, then that will tell you for sure.