RO Soap Help

[Dennis H.]

I need a little help.
I just found out that RO soap is considered a hazardous substance and is a little tough to ship.

I called Leader to order both the soap and citric acid and was told that they could ship the citric acid but due to the RO soap being classified as a hazardous substance they could not ship that.

I have no dealer close by. Don Russell is about 3 1/2 hr drive north of me, Richard Patterson and the CDL store is about 2 1/2 hours north of me and Henry Brenneman is about 2 1/2 hr west of me. There is no one close by.

Does anyone know how to get the RO soap without driving great distances? Is there any dealer who ships the RO Soap?
Do I "need" the RO soap on hand right now?

I might just have to suck it up and go for a drive, I hope not though.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I think Ray Gingerich will ship it to you.

[bowhunter]

Dennis, You can use food grade lye (Red Devil) at 0.1 wt% in water. For example that would be 15 grams (or 1/2 ounce) of lye in 4 gallons of water. You might be able to find food grade lye locally. It is also hazardous, but is sold by retailers other than maple suppliers. I used it last year on a NF 90 membrane and it worked fine. This should yield a pH of 12 maximum. The maximum washing temperature is 35 Deg C or 95 Deg F with 12 pH.

[Dennis H.]

Thanks for the info guys.

[Dennis H.]

Am I correct that the RO soap is really Sodium Hydroxide?

I did some digging and found the Dow Flimtec spec sheet on cleaning and it list NaOH as a cleaning solution which is Sodium Hydroxide.
Bowhunter when you said lye I was a little confused, when I think of lye it is for other uses.
Did a search and yes they are one and the same and Duda out of Alabama sells the Red devil food grade lye.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

[QUOTE=
I have no dealer close by. Don Russell is about 3 1/2 hr drive north of me, Richard Patterson and the CDL store is about 2 1/2 hours north of me and Henry Brenneman is about 2 1/2 hr west of me. There is no one close by.[/Quote

Sounds like you have an opportunity to become a dealer.....

[Marvel26]

Would Aqua Chemical Supply in Millersburg be close to you? They have NaOH (Caustic Soda) http://aquachemicalsupply.com/products.html

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You can buy 2 to 3 lbs of food grade sodium hydroxide on eBay for around $13 which should last for several years. . What PH are most of you cleaning at? I have XLE 440 also and Dow technical sheet shows 12. I was shooting to be somewhere around 11 or just over.

[Russell Lampron]

RO soap is sodium hydroxide. When I was using the NF 90 and XLE membranes I was washing at ph 11. I now use the NF 270 and wash that at ph 9. Depending on the acidity of the sap residue in the membrane the amount you use will vary with each wash. I generally have to use more soap at the end of the season.