Re: UK problems

[Joe Anderson Wales, UK]

Well, where to begin....

Sulfuric and hydrochloric acids can be found in hardware stores as drain cleaners and "Spirits of Salt" respectively, as well as aqueous ammonia. Some solvents are also carried, such as methylated spirits (needs distilling to remove the dye) and crude benzyl alcohol and THF.

Many garden centres have items like potassium carbonate, sodium nitrate, aluminium salts, iron salts and more. Sulfur powder is often also sold here.

Sodium hydroxide, magnesium sulfate, denatured ethanol and potassium permanganate can be found in Boots.

Distilled water is carried by Tesco, ASDA, and other large shops, as well as other chemicals such as sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium sesquicarbonate (water limescale remover).

Acetone and ethyl acetate are carried cheaply in HomeBargains as nail polish removers, along with aspirin and paracetamol.

Home-brewing shops (actually a part of my hardware store:) ) carry nice ranges of organic acids, sodium metabisulfite, and more.

However, my biggest source has to be eBay: there is a huge range of chemicals and equipment available, and I've never had any problems. I've even ordered some of the more fear-mongering chemicals, such as 15.6M nitric acid and potassium dichromate, with no problems. Also note that the list I've given above is only a tiny fraction of what I buy from local stores, there are many more OTC chemicals which I forget ATM.

If you want to know about a specific chemical and my source for it, please do not hesitate to email me at; 

joe-and...@hotmail.co.uk

On Saturday, January 5, 2013 12:07:34 PM UTC, Tom Hinton wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm loving 'The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments' but everything costs so much more in the UK and lots of the household products like Root Kill (Copper (II) Sulphate) aren't available here.

Anyone got any suggestions for better suppliers and places to buy cheap, commercially available chemicals?

 

Cheers

Tom

[Tom Hinton]

Thanks for replying,

 

Found the sulfuric acid and HCl at B&Q, but can't find ammonia.

Not sure which garden centre to look in?

Found NaOH and MgSO4 but ethanol and potassium permanganate seem to be prescription items.

Which hardware store has a home brewing section. That would be useful!

Just out of interest I searched for all the chemicals listed as needed in 'The Illustrated Guide To Home Chemistry Experiments' and the only two I couldn't find on ebay was gasoline and a stick of celery!

Anyway, thanks for replying

Tom

[The Home Scientist]

On Monday, January 7, 2013 5:36:32 AM UTC-5, Tom Hinton wrote:

Thanks for replying,

 

Found the sulfuric acid and HCl at B&Q, but can't find ammonia.

Not sure which garden centre to look in?

Found NaOH and MgSO4 but ethanol and potassium permanganate seem to be prescription items.

Which hardware store has a home brewing section. That would be useful!

Just out of interest I searched for all the chemicals listed as needed in 'The Illustrated Guide To Home Chemistry Experiments' and the only two I couldn't find on ebay was gasoline and a stick of celery!

Anyway, thanks for replying

Tom

 

http://www.hyperdeath.co.uk/chemicals/
 

[Joe Anderson]

10% ammonia is sold in Homebase.

I'm not sure, I think most garden centres have a section for this kind of thing.

Ethanol (denatured) is sold freely on the shelf in my local Boots as surgical spirits.

It's a local hardware store near me, only a few local branches.

As I said previously, don't forget to check eBay. A huge range of chemicals are available, often to a good price, and I've never had any issues ordering anything.

What area of the UK are you in? I'm in Anglesey, north Wales.

Regards

Joe

[Joe Anderson]

On Tuesday, January 8, 2013 10:37:23 AM UTC, j yeardly wrote:

Many of the chemcal supply firms used by school might be able to help try Timstar or scientific and chemical or Re Agent (web store)
some things obviously they will ask a few questions but a sale is a sale as a rep told me

Timstar Scientific I believe sell equipment to individuals, but not chemicals, as do "Rapid"  (brilliant prices!).

What's wrong with simply buying things on eBay, guys?