Cost of urea and nitrate salts?

[CR2008]

Hello again all, I wanted to know what is considered a reasonable price for good quality Urea and sodium or potasium nitrate salt, $/lb?

I been looking mostly on ebay... thinking of getting it through a place that also sells to home hobby chemists if I can get good deals. I don't want to buy something then find out later I payed more than what is considered average.

 

[chefjosh77]

dudadiesel on ebay for Sodium Nitrate is good. It comes in pellet form and are shipped in nice thick plastic bags. you can grind them up with a coffee grinder if you want fine powder form, but the pellets seem to work fine for me.

Potassium nitrate should be around 6-8 bucks a pound. That is available locally if you know what to look for. Some stump killer is almost pure potassium nitrate, but I prefer the sodium due to the higher concentration of the nitrate. I'm no expert though, It just seems better for me.

I think I remember lazersteve recommending skylighter for some stuff. They do occasionally have a sale on stuff, especially close to fireworks season, but I tend to stay with dudadiesel because of shipping rates.

Urea is cheap enough too if you can find it pure and local. Ebay people want 3-6 bucks a pound, and shipping varies. It may be worth just buying it pure from ebay just to save the trouble of cleaning up the fertilizer stuff from the farm and feed store.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lou]

I've paid $0.50/lb for potassium nitrate at Home Depot when it was on clearance. Bought 15 lbs for $8.


Lou

 

[chefjosh77]

Lou,
Do you remember what form it came in (eg. Stump remover, etc) or was it labled pottasium nitrate. Many times if you ask for something by chemical name, people look at you either dumbfounded or like you are some crazy person making drugs or bombs.

I went to ACE hard ware and they copied my ID for a small purchase of LYE (sodium hydroxide) that i use for Soap making and Silver. Apparently drug people use it in their manufacturing process.

 

[Lou]

It was stump remover--it was late autumn a few years back and I was walking in to buy some potting materials for keeping some plants indoors when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

As far as lye goes, it's my understanding that Red Devil Lye went out of business due to druggies using it.
If they copy your I.D., then they're certainly reporting it. I imagine it will become a problem if you buy six bottles of it at a time, or at multiple stores.
It's probably easier just to tell them that you're using it for soap making and disagree with their asking you for ID and question it. These things happen because people are overly tolerant--what authority does the cashier at Ace the "helpful place" have over you? Go elsewhere and let them lose your business. I always try to go to Mom & Pop hardware stores for tools and such mainly because I hate annoying corporate policies designed to cover their bum.


Lou