EnglishAndy
Well-Known Member
PBW (and Starsan) are no longer available in the EU. This situation may be resolved by the importer but existing stocks are running very low at the usual online stockists. I am personally getting close to the bottom of my tub of PBW and may have to mix my own from ingredients I can get on ebay. Here's what the PBW label says:
Sodium metasilicate 20-35%
Oxygen bleach 15-30%
EDTA and salts thereof: <5%
Phosphates <5%
Anionic surfactants <5%
The only parts I'm struggling to pin chemical names on are the last two: phosphates and anionic surfactants. Anyone got any educated guesses as to what these two are? I'm also a bit surprised that the ingredient percentages don't even get close to 100% if you add them up. What's the rest? Inert filler?
And before anyone says 'just use oxy' - for me the answer is NO. My water is very hard and pure Oxy causes heavy calcium deposits therefore I think I need the chellating agent and the surfactant.
Sodium metasilicate 20-35%
Oxygen bleach 15-30%
EDTA and salts thereof: <5%
Phosphates <5%
Anionic surfactants <5%
The only parts I'm struggling to pin chemical names on are the last two: phosphates and anionic surfactants. Anyone got any educated guesses as to what these two are? I'm also a bit surprised that the ingredient percentages don't even get close to 100% if you add them up. What's the rest? Inert filler?
And before anyone says 'just use oxy' - for me the answer is NO. My water is very hard and pure Oxy causes heavy calcium deposits therefore I think I need the chellating agent and the surfactant.
