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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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pH meters
I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil...7222580&sr=8-3 I thought I could also use it on liquids ... but I have serious doubt it is reading acidity correctly. Is there a simple way of testing ? In water it read 7 .. (so OK there) ... I tried in in a bottle of white vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6 Is there a simple home way of testing calibration ? |
#2
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pH meters
On Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:32:26 +0100, Rick Hughes
wrote: Is there a simple home way of testing calibration ? google diy buffer solutions. |
#3
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pH meters
On 09/09/2012 21:32, Rick Hughes wrote:
I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil...7222580&sr=8-3 I thought I could also use it on liquids ... but I have serious doubt it is reading acidity correctly. Is there a simple way of testing ? In water it read 7 .. You are very lucky to get that result it was pure chance. Rainwater usually has enough CO2 dissolved to be slightly acidic pH 5 and tapwater is buffered towards alkaline to avoid dissolving the pipes. (so OK there) ... I tried in in a bottle of white vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6 Vinegar is a fairly dilute solution of a weak acid but it should be about pH 3 or so. You can buy indicator solution or strips of paper for next to nothing that cover the 0-14 range (or selected ranges). eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ph+test+paper Is there a simple home way of testing calibration ? Of the things you can likely find on the kitchen/garage shelf. Sodium bicarbonate, carbonate, ammonia and sodium hydroxide (careful) as bases in rough order and acetic acid, citric acid (lemon juice), sulphuric, hydrochloric acid as a strong acids. Take care with any strong alkali or acid they can be unforgiving. -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#4
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pH meters
vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6
On 09/09/2012 21:47, Martin Brown wrote: On 09/09/2012 21:32, Rick Hughes wrote: I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... Of the things you can likely find on the kitchen/garage shelf. Sodium bicarbonate, carbonate, ammonia and sodium hydroxide (careful) as bases in rough order and acetic acid, citric acid (lemon juice), sulphuric, hydrochloric acid as a strong acids. Take care with any strong alkali or acid they can be unforgiving. But how would I know what pH reading I should get from them ? i.e is lemon juice pH 1,2,3,4 ? |
#5
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pH meters
On 09/09/2012 22:12, Rick Hughes wrote:
vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6 On 09/09/2012 21:47, Martin Brown wrote: On 09/09/2012 21:32, Rick Hughes wrote: I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... Of the things you can likely find on the kitchen/garage shelf. Sodium bicarbonate, carbonate, ammonia and sodium hydroxide (careful) as bases in rough order and acetic acid, citric acid (lemon juice), sulphuric, hydrochloric acid as a strong acids. Take care with any strong alkali or acid they can be unforgiving. But how would I know what pH reading I should get from them ? i.e is lemon juice pH 1,2,3,4 ? Use the cheap paper test strips from eBay instead. Are you incapable of using Google or something? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph_scale -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#6
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pH meters
On 09/09/2012 22:25, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , **** me. Orange juice is 3 lemon juice is 2 according to a simple check in Wikipedia. And you mean e.g. not i.e. Sorry that I have upset you so much .... please feel free to ignore any future emails from me. |
#7
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pH meters
On 11/09/2012 22:47, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Rick Hughes wrote: On 09/09/2012 22:25, Tim Streater wrote: In article , **** me. Orange juice is 3 lemon juice is 2 according to a simple check in Wikipedia. And you mean e.g. not i.e. Sorry that I have upset you so much .... please feel free to ignore any future emails from me. You haven't *upset* me dear boy, just astonished me that you were unable to discover that for yourself on WinkyPedia or elsewhere. Took me all of 4.27 secs. Hmmm, must be modern education systems. It took you that long because you knew what to search for. If you know nothing about something, you sometimes don't know where to start. |
#8
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pH meters
On 12/09/2012 09:07, stuart noble wrote:
On 11/09/2012 22:47, Tim Streater wrote: In article , Rick Hughes wrote: On 09/09/2012 22:25, Tim Streater wrote: In article , **** me. Orange juice is 3 lemon juice is 2 according to a simple check in Wikipedia. And you mean e.g. not i.e. Sorry that I have upset you so much .... please feel free to ignore any future emails from me. You haven't *upset* me dear boy, just astonished me that you were unable to discover that for yourself on WinkyPedia or elsewhere. Took me all of 4.27 secs. Hmmm, must be modern education systems. It took you that long because you knew what to search for. If you know nothing about something, you sometimes don't know where to start. When asking about "pH" that seems like a reasonable search term. Wiki comes about 4th or 5th after "buy pH sponsored adverts" on Bling. I particularly liked the first ad hit YMMV Ads Ph Urine at Amazon.co.uk www.amazon.co.uk/Ph Urine Low Prices on Ph Urine. Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders Reminds me of a problem we once had importing some elephant urine for pregnancy tests (got impounded at customs). Delay was so great that the elephants were obviously pregnant so no-one bothered to follow up. Eight months later we were notified that if we did not go and pay up to collect our goods it would be auctioned off the the highest bidder! He would have been much better off with paper test strips off eBay. (or a bottle of pH indicator solution) The "soil" pH meter is junk and cannot be relied upon. -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#9
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pH meters
In message , Rick Hughes
writes I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil...001P3XAEE/ref= sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347222580&sr=8-3 I thought I could also use it on liquids ... but I have serious doubt it is reading acidity correctly. Is there a simple way of testing ? In water it read 7 .. (so OK there) ... I tried in in a bottle of white vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6 Is there a simple home way of testing calibration ? You can get buffer solutions of (IIRC) pH 4.7 and 11 which are the standards used for calibration -- geoff |
#10
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pH meters
On 10/09/2012 20:44, geoff wrote:
In message , Rick Hughes writes I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil...001P3XAEE/ref= sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347222580&sr=8-3 I thought I could also use it on liquids ... but I have serious doubt it is reading acidity correctly. Is there a simple way of testing ? In water it read 7 .. (so OK there) ... I tried in in a bottle of white vinegar with is rated at 5% acidity it reads pH 6 Is there a simple home way of testing calibration ? You can get buffer solutions of (IIRC) pH 4.7 and 11 which are the standards used for calibration Thnx .... found some on ebay |
#11
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pH meters
Rick Hughes wrote:
I bought a pH meter which is aimed at gardeners ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil...1P3XAEE/ref=sr _1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347222580&sr=8-3 I thought I could also use it on liquids ... but I have serious doubt it is reading acidity correctly. Is there a simple way of testing ? I think it's RTFM time. I had one of those some years ago. They are not very good. As I recall the instructions state that they will not work with solutions they will only work when rammed into the soil. They are not proper pH meters which have a porous glass electrode, they work on the voltage generated by the bimetallic tip when in contact with soil and apparently that will not work properly in a liquid. At the time I had access to a lab with a proper pH meter and the Gardman types produced very odd results when used with pH reference buffer solutions. Short summary, the Gardman and similar "pH meters" are about as much use as if they had been made from chocolate. |
#12
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pH meters
On 10/09/2012 23:33, Steve Firth wrote:
I think it's RTFM time. I had one of those some years ago. They are not very good. As I recall the instructions state that they will not work with solutions they will only work when rammed into the soil. .. Short summary, the Gardman and similar "pH meters" are about as much use as if they had been made from chocolate. The instructions on mine didn't say anything about 'no liquids" about all it says ... ... "clear away top soil, add water, mix with soil, insert probe, wait 1 minute take reading." You may be right that it will not be much good. I wonder if I can get a pH probe to use with a MultiMeter ? |
#13
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pH meters
On 10/09/2012 10:30, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:32:26 +0100, Rick Hughes wrote: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/food-ph-d_403.html http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbases/a/phtable.htm Exactly what I was after .... Thank you |
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