Pool store says Sodium Hydrogen is 3X stronger than Sodium Bicarbonate.

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B

bfrazier

0
Aug 25, 2013
19
Tucson AZ
Howdy friends!

I get backup test results from the local pool store, Patio pools & Spa's of Tucson AZ. Maybe I shouldn't!

They are recommending I use their product, Biogard "Balance pack 100" to raise my Total Alkalinity, but I use Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. The representative said "Oh this is much more powerful than Baking Soda, if you used baking soda you would have to use 3 times as much." The Biogard bag says "Sodium Hydrogen 100%" on the bag.

These are the same people that said "Oh please do NOT use household bleach in lieu of pool chlorine, it could make swimmers sick!"

I'm calling BS on them ((again)), but I just wanted to double check with the experts here.

So what do you say?
 
You most certainly shouldn't. What test kit do you have?

Of course they are recommending their overpriced product ... they have kids to feed :mrgreen:

Looks like they changed the name to make you think it is different. Read the first sentence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

Please add your location (City, State or City, Country) to your profile as described HERE as it will help us help you in the future.
 
More than likely they are selling Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate. That is the same thing as Sodium Bicarbonate, or baking soda. They don't know what they are talking about.

From the Bioguard MSDS for Balance Pack 100:

2. COMPOSITION / INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Chemical Name CAS# Wt.%
Sodium hydrogen carbonate 144-55-8 100%
Click to expand...

And from Arm & Hammer baking soda's MSDS:

3. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Chemical Ingredient (% by Weight) CAS Number
Sodium Bicarbonate 100% 144-55-8
Click to expand...

Note they have the exact same CAS number, which is assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to every chemical.

It is exactly the same thing.
 

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JVTrain said:
Also:

Bioguard Balance Pack 100 MSDS: http://www.thepoolteamstore.com/subpages/pdfs/BioGuard Balance Pak 100.pdf
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda MSDS: http://www.ahprofessional.com/_downloads/msds/MSDS-960-SODIUM BICARBONATE.pdf

Both 100% of the same chemical, but A&H bothers to use a more proper, more often used name rather than an obscure, confusing name for the active ingredient.
Click to expand...

That was beautiful... resorting to the Material Safety Data Sheets, my hat is off to you!


Now, I wonder if someone could debunk a whole lot of other products using this method. What exactly is "Maintenance Oxidizer" or "Burnout 73" or "Scale Inhibitor" or "Natural Clarifier" or "Algae All 60"? This might be a fun new thread if someone cares to.
 
bfrazier said:
That was beautiful... resorting to the Material Safety Data Sheets, my hat is off to you!


Now, I wonder if someone could debunk a whole lot of other products using this method. What exactly is "Maintenance Oxidizer" or "Burnout 73" or "Scale Inhibitor" or "Natural Clarifier" or "Algae All 60"? This might be a fun new thread if someone cares to.
Click to expand...
Here's a list of Bioguard MSDS's to get you started.
http://www.hydropool.com/downloads/MSDS/bioguard/
 
That's the beauty of Material Safety Data Sheets. No matter what the uninformed pool store employee tells you, they can't argue with the MSDS because they are required to be accurate and required to be publicly available for non-proprietary consumer product chemical formulations. You can even get a good idea of what's in something, without exact concentrations/percentages in some proprietary chemicals.

The general rule with TFP is don't buy any chemicals from a pool store other than liquid bleach if it's a good bargain or equivalent cost with convenience of concentration or container size. Perhaps if you need calcium hardness increaser... but there are other options. The rest (baking soda, borax, even cyanuric acid, etc.) can be bought from a grocery store or big box retailer for much less cost and you don't have to listen to a pool store employee trained more in sales and scare tactics than in pool chemistry.

I know I may come off as a pool store basher... and I am. But my local experience has been DREADFUL and I've heard a lot of the same here and from people in my community. There's a few good ones out there, but they are the exception, not the rule.

/RANT OFF
 
I suggest that you read this page so you have a complete set of chemicals and where to buy. I only go to the pool store for CH increaser (if not found at my local wal-mart) and stabilizer (if not found at my local wal-mart). I get muriatic acid at Home Depot, bleach from wal-mart or Costco, borax and baking soda from Wal-Mart.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/139-recommended-pool-chemicals
 
Great answers from lifetime members, moderators and TFP Experts... it is sort of amazing here. In my 54 years nowhere have I found such consistently awful advice from any business sector and such a great web site full of experts to refute the snake-oil sales.

Thanks to all here at troublefreepool, I am comfortable heading up the learning curve with a little help from you friends.

Bob
 

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