Can Soda ash be used instead of washing soda?
I think it is the same and can get it at pool stores.
Sodium Carbonate is available in two distinct forms and to differentiate one is known as Soda Ash and the other as Washing Soda. The first is anhydrous (contains no combined water), it normally looks like a white granular powder and has been dried out at quite a high temperature. The other has 10 molecules of water combined with each molecule of sodium carbonate, and is made from a solution in water, it is in the form of large glassy crystals. The main difference is that it needs about 5 times the weight of the latter to give the same amount of sodium in the solution. This form is the type of sodium carbonate which is normally bought in the shops - as washing soda. Professionally it is worth (ie cheaper for the amount of the working chemical purchased) getting the anhydrous form (Soda Ash), but for the occasional use then washing soda is more easily obtained.
