I’ve been searching for the best price for sodium metasilicate pentahydrate. Found Level7 as a supplier, never used them, anybody else?
They have the best price, 50lb bag for $150 (includes a $98 shipping charge). That’s $3/pound, I typically use 8-16oz on a deck so its $1.50-$3.00 in chem per deck which is great imo. I can’t find a better source but I’m all ears if you have one!
I’ve heard of Level7 but haven’t ordered from them myself. Make sure you look into the purity of whatever you are buying though as it impacts the price.
For example, the Pentahydrate version you’re looking at for $45, is only about 58% sodium metasilicate. If you go with the Anhydrous version for $80, you’re getting 100% sodium metasilicate… more expensive overall, but you’re also getting more of the active ingredient you want without paying for water.
Good point
I’ve had trouble mixing the anhydrous strong enough where I like it (sometimes up to 1 pound/gallon) on site with cold water. It ends up with a bunch of grit in solution and it messes with my pump up sprayer tip. I contemplated buying a little on demand water heater and rigging it up but it seems like a pain in the ■■■ just to get warm water on my truck (have to carry around propane tank etc). One time I even asked a client of mine to use their sink to snag a couple gallons of hot water but it makes me feel like a moron to ask them that…
I feel like the pentahydrate could solve my issues and would mix easier in cold water but yeah that’s quite a hit in potency aiyyyyy…
most of my decks I’m just doing SH with a little NaOH then oxalic but I’ve had a few this year where I didn’t need any SH and in fact it would be a negative to the process (increase risk of furring) when just pure metasilicate was enough to get it clean (think never stained deck that is ~ 1 year old and no real organic growth present).
If you’re only using cold water, you’ll most likely keep running into the same issues regardless of which you choose. I believe around 100 degrees is what I’ve seen recommended to get everything fully dissolved. Might be better to invest in a small kettle and an inverter or battery pack for your truck so you can heat up on the go.
oh that’s an awesome idea haha I never even thought about using an electric kettle…not sure what the power demands would be for an electric kettle running on an inverter/12v but you always have access to outdoor receptacles so I could potentially just use a 120v model and run off an extension cord.
I have a 60oz one… just bring it to a boil and then mix it 50/50 with cold water (figure 212 degrees to boil cut in half gets me around 100 degrees) add in the chems and mix… once it’s all dissolved I just add in more cold water the bring the ratio into the correct range. Works a lot better then filling a 5 gallon bucket and waiting for the sun to heat it up.
that’s awesome! I’m going to try that! So you’re saying you use sodium metasilicate anhydrous then?
I have only ever bought 99% pure or higher… typically from diychems
thanks…you got me going down a rabbit hole now thinking about the best way to produce hot water to mix with cold for chem mixing. I love this job sometimes 
Why not mix up an extra strong batch in a 5 gal bucket to keep with you then you can mix easily on site?
I thought about that because that’s right down my alley, I’m a planner and methodical about my jobs but the metasilicate gels up after awhile and what I’ve found that works best for me is to have my entire arsenal of chemicals available dry and make the decision during prep what I need. I may do like 1/2 gallon SH, 1 pound metasilicate, 2 gallons water or I may drop the SH and sub in percarbonate instead or I may not even do metasilicate and just do the regular SH/surf–>oxalic thing or whatever. I also don’t really use metasilicate very often (probably like literally once a month) so premixing a bunch, it would almost surely go bad before I could use it.
I think after some thought yesterday about electric kettles and mini tank heaters and such I’m back to wanting to test the pentahydrate out. Its just weaker ounce for ounce compared to the anhydrous, the pentahydrate has water molecules attached to it that increases the molecular weight but once mixed in water we’re talking about the same molecule, we could call it aqueous sodium metasilicate. if you just increase the amount per gallon of the penta to account for the “waste” water molecules you’re adding then you’ll achieve the same cleaning effectiveness and if I can get away without any warm water shenanigans even if its a bit more expensive compared to anhydrous, then it won’t really matter to me given that we’re talking about the $3-$5 range for chemicals for the deck and the deck prep/stain jobs are almost always +$2,000.
The pentahydrate also has the added benefit of being less caustic in powder form, there’s less chance of it getting in the air while working with it and in your lungs (not that you shouldn’t be wearing a respirator at all times when handling these types of chems but the point is still worth making that a less caustic chem is a better chem all things else equal)
I’ve used them. They’re legit.
thank you!
