Boric Acid In Bulk Online

[mmirav]

Looking for sales on boric acid today and came across this boric acid from farmer boy

Granular Boric Acid, 50 lb Bag

Granulated boric acid can be used to help control insects without harming livestock. Order bulk boric acid in 50lbs bags from Farmer Boy.

farmerboyag.com

the price seems great but I am wondering if this is safe for the pool as it doesnt say food grade. I have purchases from duda diesel and bulk apothecary before and the specs seem about the same but this site stats for use as a pesticide.

 

[Mdragger88]

U might wanna check the shipping rates - if i recall I stumbled upon the same “great deal” until it came down to actually checking out - shipping was nearly as much $$ as the product.
I’ve found duda the way to go - bulk apothecary generally only carries powdered boric acid ( i made that $$ saving mistake before as well) it was a gloppy nightmare that drug on & on.

 

[setsailsoon]

I would not use this unless you can figure out positively what else beside boric acid is in it. The website says it's only 56% boric acid and doesn't say anything about the rest except it's less than "x %" sulfates and a few other items. Even if you do and the other ingredients are OK for pool you'll still need to figure out if it's really a better buy when you'll need twice and much and have to ship twice as much. I bought mine from Duda Diesel also and it's 99+% pure. I think it's good practice to know what you're putting in your pool.

I hope this helps.

Chris

 

[mmirav]

U might wanna check the shipping rates - if i recall I stumbled upon the same “great deal” until it came down to actually checking out - shipping was nearly as much $$ as the product.
I’ve found duda the way to go - bulk apothecary generally only carries powdered boric acid ( i made that $$ saving mistake before as well) it was a gloppy nightmare that drug on & on.

Thanks I didn’t think about the shipping.

 

[mmirav]

I would not use this unless you can figure out positively what else beside boric acid is in it. The website says it's only 56% boric acid and doesn't say anything about the rest except it's less than "x %" sulfates and a few other items. Even if you do and the other ingredients are OK for pool you'll still need to figure out if it's really a better buy when you'll need twice and much and have to ship twice as much. I bought mine from Duda Diesel also and it's 99+% pure. I think it's good practice to know what you're putting in your pool.

I hope this helps.

Chris

It’s the same breakdown as duda diesel boric acid. Im not a chemist but I don’t think it means its only 56 percent.

 

[Bperry]

It’s the same breakdown as duda diesel boric acid. Im not a chemist but I don’t think it means its only 56 percent.

The website says it’s only 56%. You want the 100% stuff for your pool. I just ordered 100% from amazon.

Boric acid is also used as a pesticide. TFP recommends only adding things to the pool that you can identify what they are and what they do. Since the listing doesn’t say what the other 44% is, it’s not something you should put in the pool.

 

[JamesW]

It should be 100% boric acid.

The Boric oxide percentage is an “equivalent” amount, which is confusing.

It should be fine to use.

Confirm with American Borate to be sure.

http://www.americanborate.com/media/19198/2019-safety-data-sheet-boric-acid-fg.pdf

Boric Acid | AMERICAN BORATE COMPANY

American Borate offers a variety of boric acid, including EPA registered material, (10043-35-3) as one of our boron products in standard & specialty packaging.

www.americanborate.com

http://www.americanborate.com/media/19207/2019-boric-acid-fg-granular-specification.pdf

 

[setsailsoon]

Looking up the links in James' thread I think he's right... chalk this one up to convoluted chemistry logic. I bet it makes sense to @JoyfulNoise.

Chris

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The reason why they state it as a percentage of boric oxide is because that is the industrial test method used to determine purity in borate minerals. When you heat up boric acid over a certain temperature it converts to boric oxide. It’s a high enough temperature to burn off most organic impurities but not most inorganic impurities. So if you weigh a sample before, during and after heating (thermogravimetric analysis), the you can get a quick determination of its purity.

 

[JamesW]

The labeling is similar to a product like dichlor, which is Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione Dihydrate, which might be labeled 100% pure dichlor but the percentage of “Available Chlorine” is only 56%.

The available chlorine is in units of chlorine gas.

So, the Boric acid is 100% boric acid but it provides 56% “Available Boron” in standard units of boric oxide.

They could have also used other standard units like simply “Available Boron” in units of boron.

 

[JamesW]

Boric acid is basically hydrated boric oxide.

It's similar to calcium chloride dihydrate vs. calcium chloride anhydrous.

The calcium chloride dihydrate might be labeled as 100% pure, but 77 to 80% calcium chloride.

B2O3 boron oxide.

2 boron to 3 O

2B(OH)3 boric acid.

2 boron to 6 H and 6 O

The difference is 6 H and 3 O or 3 H2O.

The difference is just water.

 

[setsailsoon]

uh-oh... here they go!

 

[mmirav]

U might wanna check the shipping rates - if i recall I stumbled upon the same “great deal” until it came down to actually checking out - shipping was nearly as much $$ as the product.
I’ve found duda the way to go - bulk apothecary generally only carries powdered boric acid ( i made that $$ saving mistake before as well) it was a gloppy nightmare that drug on & on.

Just got an email that they are offering free shipping today for cyber monday. Figured Id let you know.

 

[Chuckiechan]

Looking for sales on boric acid today and came across this boric acid from farmer boy

Granular Boric Acid, 50 lb Bag

Granulated boric acid can be used to help control insects without harming livestock. Order bulk boric acid in 50lbs bags from Farmer Boy.

farmerboyag.com

the price seems great but I am wondering if this is safe for the pool as it doesnt say food grade. I have purchases from duda diesel and bulk apothecary before and the specs seem about the same but this site stats for use as a pesticide.

For a few bucks either way, I suggest going with what TFP knows: Duda diesel works, 20 Mule team works, and a couple others.
A pool us an unusual chemistry set, subject to permanent staining.

 

[JamesW]

For a few bucks either way, I suggest going with what TFP knows: Duda diesel works, 20 Mule team works, and a couple others.
A pool us an unusual chemistry set, subject to permanent staining.

Call or email if you are unsure.

[email protected]

800-486-1072

 

[5tan]

Best bulk deal I could find in Canada is CAD$10/kg, I got a 9 kg pail of Bioguard Optimizer Plus on Amazon for $90. The "Plus" formulation has been 100% boric acid in every year's MSDS sheets going back to at least 2016 through 2021, and is considered pH-neutral. Not to be confused with Bioguard Optimizer without the Plus in the name, which is tetraborate pentahydrate and not pH-neutral.

20 Mule Team borax is cheap and available everywhere, but adds a lot of pH (that needs to be neutralized with acid). I keep some 20 Mule Team on hand for the rare times I overshoot my acid dosage and end up with a sub-7.2 pH. A little scoop of 20 Mule Team will raise pH quickly while topping up borates lost from splashout.