How To Prepare Lye Crystals For Drain Cleaning
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Roebic lye, also known as Heavy Duty Crystal Drain Opener is labelled as 100 percent lye. It's manufactured past Roebic Laboratories. If you're wondering if it's condom to utilize Roebic lye for soap making, the short answer is yeah. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is an essential ingredient when making bootleg soap from scratch using either cold procedure or hot process methods. As long as y'all double-cheque the label to ensure information technology contains only sodium hydroxide, yous're good to go.
Permit'south take a closer look at what you need to know about lye and lather making.
What exactly is Roebic lye used for?
Roebic lye, likewise known as Roebic Professional Forcefulness Crystal Drain Opener, is an industrial-force drain cleaner marketed for commercial use¹.
Labelled as 100 percent lye (also known equally sodium hydroxide, caustic sod, or NaOH), this product should eat away at chock-full drains and blackball grease.
If you're familiar with lye, you know that this stuff is powerful! If you lot're looking for an effective solution for drain cleaning, this is the product to use. Utilise with circumspection as it tin eat away at vesture, cause skin burns or irritation, and harm your eyes.
Roebic Laboratories also industry several other products, including handling for wastewater systems (such as septic tanks and cesspools), products for cleaning RVs, and root killers. They also developed products with unique bacterial cultures designed to consume away at fat, oil, and grease—the primary causes of clogged drains.
Notation: While Roebic Heavy Duty Crystal Bleed Opener is marketed as a bleed cleaner, does this hateful y'all can use whatever blazon of drain cleaner to make soap? No. Most other drain cleaners at your local hardware shop probable land sodium hydroxide every bit one ingredient, simply they oftentimes contain a chemical cocktail that's not safe for soap making. (After all, nobody wants to rub caustic chemicals onto their skin, correct?)
Y'all might like
Roebic Lye Professional Strength Crystal Drain Opener
- Contains 100% sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). Not for use in toilets, garbage disposals or with aluminum, lead, zinc or galvanized pipes.
- Melts and destroys grease, other kitchen clogs and will keep drains clear.
- 2-lbs.
Found on Amazon
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Those in Canada and the UK should be taken to the production listing in your region.
Lye safety precautions
If you're new to soap making, brand sure you lot read upwardly on lye safety first as it's a highly corrosive compound that can harm your skin, eyes, and cause severe burns if not used safely.
Hither are a few things to keep in listen:
- Avert using any aluminum pots, bowls, or utensils when making soap. Lye reacts strongly with aluminum.
- E'er wear protective equipment when handling lye. This includes gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, and condom goggles.
- Piece of work in a well-ventilated room.
- Always add together lye to water when making soap (and not the other way around).
- Shop lye in a dry, cool place in an airtight and clearly labelled container. Ensure it'due south in a safe location that'southward out of reach of children and pets.
What'due south in Roebic lye: a closer look
Curious nearly what's actually in Roebic lye, I took a closer look at the material safe information canvas (MSDS)².
As you lot can see, information technology contains 96–100 percent sodium hydroxide (lye). It also contains between 0 and ii per centum sodium chloride; and between 0 and 2 percent sodium carbonate.
Don't let this alert you lot, still.
Sodium chloride (NaCl) is substantially table common salt.
Sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) is as well called soda ash or washing soda. It'southward a common salt of carbonic acid. Co-ordinate to PubChem³, "Sodium carbonate is an organic sodium salt and a carbonate salt." When sodium carbonate is dissolved in h2o, it makes sodium hydroxide and carbonic acid.
Notation: Essential Depot, a popular online supplier of lather making supplies and lye, carries lye (sodium hydroxide) products with a minimum strength of 96 percent⁴.
What kind of lye do you need for soap making?
In a nutshell, you lot need pure sodium hydroxide to brand a batch of handmade soap. The purer, the meliorate some would argue.
In that location'southward much debate in the soap making community most whether you should use a technical-grade product like Roebic lye vs. a food-grade lye.
The difference is in the purity level of the lye. Food-form lyes which are used to process foods such as pretzels and bagels are held to a college standard equally it comes in contact with food (although nonetheless non safe to ingest).
Most nutrient-grade lyes are nearly 99 percent pure. Technical-class lyes may bear slightly more impurities.
Do you lot need to employ food-form lye for making homemade soap?
No, you aren't required to use food-course lye to make a batch of homemade soap. Food-course lye costs slightly more than technical-form lye. However, many people prefer it from a soapmaker's perspective—information technology provides extra peace of mind, and some argue that it makes for a better bar of lather.
On the flip side, many people say there really is no divergence in the finished production. To exist honest, I would say to apply whatever is bachelor to y'all (so long as information technology contains only sodium hydroxide).
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The Boyer Corporation Red Crown Lye two Lbs (Pack of 2)
- 2 pack of Red Crown 2 lbs lye – a total of 4 lbs.
- High test lye for making handcrafted soaps.
- Made in the USA.
Plant on Amazon
Check Electric current Price
Those in Canada and the UK should be taken to the product listing in your region.
Why you might not want to employ Roebic lye for making soap
In essence, Roebic Crystal drain cleaner is not cheap. For those of y'all who live in rural areas and don't have access to many local stores that sell lye (or don't desire to pay for the shipping costs of buying online), this may exist 1 of your only options if you want to make a batch of homemade soap.
Otherwise, sourcing lye in bulk from a soap making supplier, online retailer, or a local supplier (if you have ane) is the best, most cost-constructive way to buy lye. (Of course, ownership bulk lye only makes sense if you're planning on making many batches of soap.)
Another reason you may non desire to use Roebic lye is from a soap purist's indicate of view. If you lot prefer to utilise simply food-grade lye in your homemade batch, that's a personal preference.
Is soap fabricated with lye good for your skin?
It sounds crazy that a caustic chemic like lye is a primal ingredient in soap, a product that we rub on our faces and body.
Through a wonderful scientific transformation known every bit the saponification process, lye when combined with h2o and fats, makes soap. The lye is the magic ingredient that binds h2o and fats/oils together. Without lye, you would just have a gooey mess.
One time your batch of soap has completely saponified (later on you've advisedly followed all instructions, measured your ingredients, and allowed the soap to cure), yous'll have bars of wonderful handmade soap that are safe to apply.
Where do you purchase lye for soap making?
You can find food-grade lyes in some local arts and crafts and baking stores (such as Michaels), and they're readily available online through lather suppliers.
We find technical-grade lyes in nearly hardware stores, soap making stores, and also online.
And of course, you tin can discover lye for soap making on Amazon.
Check out our article on Where to Purchase Sodium Hydroxide for Soapmaking.
Related questions
Tin can you use sodium carbonate instead of sodium hydroxide for soap?
No, you can't use sodium carbonate (also known every bit soda ash) in place of sodium hydroxide (lye/caustic soda). While the two chemicals have similarities (both are caustic alkalis), sodium hydroxide is much more alkaline.
Sodium hydroxide has an approximate pH between 13 and xiv, while sodium carbonate has a pH of 11–12. On the pH scale, each unit increase represents a change in hydrogen atoms by a gene of ten. A ii unit increase would mean a change in hydrogen atoms by a factor of 100⁵.
You could non safely or reliably substitute the two ingredients in a soap recipe without having disastrous results.
What's the deviation between sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide?
Confusingly, both potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are referred to equally lye. While both are used to make soap, potassium hydroxide is commonly used to make liquid lather or soft soaps. If y'all're looking to make homemade cold process lather (or hot procedure), you'll be using sodium hydroxide lye.
Read more about the differences between sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.
References
- Roebic Laboratories, Almost Usa, https://www.roebic.com/about-the states.shtml. Accessed October 2022.
- Roebic Laboratories, Professional Strength Crystal Drain Opener, Textile Rubber Data Sail, https://www.roebic.com/heavy-duty-crystal-drain-opener.shtml. Accessed October 2022.
- PubChem (National Library of Medicine), Sodium carbonate, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Sodium-carbonate. Accessed October 2022.
- Essential Depot, Lye NaOH – KOH, https://www.essentialdepot.com/category/sodium-hydroxide-components.html?. Accessed October 2022.
- Lumen, The pH Scale, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-nmbiology1/affiliate/the-ph-calibration/. Accessed Oct 2022.
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