salt test with sea salt

[fizguy]

Any issues with using sea salt for the salt test (hygrometer calibration)? My guess is no, but I just wanted to throw it out to see if anyone has experience with this.

[Gabe]

Originally Posted by fizguy

Any issues with using sea salt for the salt test (hygrometer calibration)? My guess is no, but I just wanted to throw it out to see if anyone has experience with this.

just curious, any reason for using sea salt?

[VoteKinky06]

Originally Posted by Gabe

just curious, any reason for using sea salt?

It's way cooler than land salt

[BigCat]

The reason that the salt test works is because of the way that the water interacts with the salt. If you change the properties of the salt, which you would be doing by using sea salt, I imagine it could effect the way the test is performed. Just an uneducated guess though.

[chip]

Salt is salt....no worries.
I use sea salt, only type I have in the house.

[BigCat]

From wikipedia:

"Because sea salt generally lacks high concentrations of iodine,[5] an element essential for human health,[6] it is not necessarily a healthful substitute for regular iodized table salt,[7] which is usually supplemented with the element, unless another source of dietary iodine is available (such as dairy products or regular processed foods).[8] Iodized forms of sea salt are now marketed to address this concern. However, unrefined sea salt contains many minerals that regular iodized table salt does not contain, such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfate, and traces of others (including heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium, as well as strontium)[citation needed]."

There are some differences. Whether it affects a salt test is another matter.

[chip]

Most digital hygrometers are accurate to + or - 3 to 5%.
The trace amount of elements other than NaCl in sea salt won't make a difference in your ability to "calibrate" your hygrometer to 75.5%.
Some people say not to use a salt test on digital hygrometers.
Most people worry too much about RH.

I use sea salt to "calibrate" my digital hygrometers. I also use HeartFelt beads, and really don't pay too much attention to the meters anymore.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by BigCat

The reason that the salt test works is because of the way that the water interacts with the salt. If you change the properties of the salt, which you would be doing by using sea salt, I imagine it could effect the way the test is performed. Just an uneducated guess though.

Please cite your sources. Though there may be slight amounts of trace elements in table salt as mentioned above. The test does not rely on those elements. Sea salt and table salt are essentially the same thing, Sodium Chloride. I have never seen a reference to "Iodized table salt" in any salt test thread or article.

[fizguy]

Originally Posted by Gabe

just curious, any reason for using sea salt?

It's all I gots.

An update: my digital hygrometer measured 75% spot on using the sea salt. But, as someone already mentioned, it is accurate to within +/- 5%.

My conclusion...sea salt is fine.

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by bobarian

Please cite your sources. Though there may be slight amounts of trace elements in table salt as mentioned above. The test does not rely on those elements. Sea salt and table salt are essentially the same thing, Sodium Chloride. I have never seen a reference to "Iodized table salt" in any salt test thread or article.

It's intuitive. The reason we do the salt test is because salt with the right amount of water produces a 75% rh. It is the water interacting with the salt that produces the specific rh. I don't think a source is necessary to say that. However, it was only a theory of mine that the trace elements in sea salt could affect a salt test. I'll defer to those with superior scientific knowledge on that one.

[Prospector]

Below is a reference to a semi-scientific article concerning salt testing. In it the author says you should use pure NaCl (ie: no additives). He does not, however, address the consequences of using NaCl with additives (ie: iodized salt) or non-pure NaCl (ie: sea salt) so in that regard, although it is an interesting article, it is non-conclusive.

My own thoughts would be that the accuracy of the test is a function of the purity of the salt being used, and in that regard I would conclude that, for our purposes, sea salt and iodized salt are just fine being as the major coponent is NaCl. But that is just my own opinion based on admitted limited knowledge.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Prevent-Mold!-Hygrometer-Calibration--Tips-from-a-Bellingham-WA-Home-Inspector&id=602308

[fizguy]

My guess is that the vapopr pressure of the saturated solution is a colligative property of the salt, that is, it is based on the number of dissolved particles. Sodium Chloride is NaCl but Magnesium Chloride is MgCl2 and so has 50% more particles per mole of solute and a lower vapor pressure. Those were the lines I was thinking along when I first posed the question...I guess the real question is, how many and how much other salts are in sea salt (other than NaCl).

[beedoggz]

I am a newbie, but for what it's worth, I tried the salt test with sea salt numerous times and never got to 75. Always around 72 or so. I went and bought regular table salt and back to back test with the same hygrometer used with sea salt showed a reading of 75.

[uvacom]

I wonder if perhaps the coarser and more irregular nature of sea salt could affect the water content of the slurry (since there will be more space between particles), and thus, the accuracy of the test.

[Wharf Rat]

Originally Posted by uvacom

I wonder if perhaps the coarser and more irregular nature of sea salt could affect the water content of the slurry (since there will be more space between particles), and thus, the accuracy of the test.

The 75 F calibration point is based on pure sodium chloride. So, any impurity potentially changes it a bit. How much? I don't know. Perhaps the testing above will help.

See this thread for more tests on this.

Bob

http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthread.php?t=204696