Re: Buying KNO3 -- Stump Removers

[Chuck H <grendel at usit_net>]

Jerry wrote:

>I'm a little leery of Greenlight Stump Remover as a source of KNO3. I
>started out with a 500g bottle of ACS grade KNO3 from the local
>university's chemical stockroom. The laboratory KNO3 was pretty much
>white like rock salt. When dissolved in water, the solution was
>completely clear with no precipitate. Greenlight Stump Remover is not
>white, and when dissolved in water it is very cloudy with this
>gelatinous stuff floating around. What's all that extra junk?


ACS grade chems are excellent.  The Green Light stump remover isn't nearly 
so pure.  I haven't the faintest idea what the extra junk might be, but the 
GL stuff I have is white, opaque, and granular with only a rare speck of 
dark material here and there.  It's dry and crunchy to the touch, and it 
doesn't clump.  I agree that it doesn't stay in solution particularly well 
and is cloudy, but I haven't noticed any gelatinous material.  Perhaps 
Green Light has changed for the worse since I bought mine.  It has been a 
while.

After reading James' post and the info at the rocketry site (thanks, 
James), I am curious about the question of lye in stump removers.  While 
I've not noticed any distinct problems, I'm now a little paranoid.  I don't 
like the idea of adding lye to my tanks.  I fired off an email to Green 
Light and will report what they have to say.

Something else...the guy at the rocketry site mentions Dragon Stump Remover 
and the fact that its MSDS reports it contains 99.5% KNO3 which seems quite 
high for this sort of product.  Someone posted about Dragon some time ago, 
and I was trying hard to remember it when I posted for Giancarlo.  Perhaps 
it would be a better option that Green Light.  I had meant to check it out 
myself but forgot.
--
Chuck Huffine
Knoxville, Tennessee