How to determine %age of Bleach?

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E

Easto

0
Jun 27, 2010
171
I checked the bottle of bleach that I have at home, but no where on the container can I find what % it is.

I was at the grocery store and I checked the label on a bottle of Clorox bleach and couldn't see it on there either. I thought maybe I was going nuts so I came back home and had my wife look, but she couldn't find it either.

Is there a standard concentration for household bleach?

The one I would like to use is "No Name" from No Frills, but I can't find the specifics online. I have checked on the Pool Calculator and there are options for 5.25%, 6%, 10%, 12.5% . I don't want to assume it's 6%, but most posts I see from people refer to bleach @ 6%.
 
Not all bleach is labeled for the percentage, but Clorox always is. On Clorox brand bottles it has some small text to the left of the big logo saying something like:
Active Ingredients
Sodium Hypochlorite 6%
Other Ingredients 94%
Click to expand...
That means it is 6% bleach. Some other brands list it as 6% Sodium Hypochlorite by weight.

These days a lot of the bleach is 6%, but occasionally you will run into 8%, or 5.25%, or 3%, or even 2.625%. When it really isn't labeled for a percentage it is usually 3%, but of course you can never be sure in that case.

Liquid chlorine (which is the same thing as bleach) is sold by pool stores in many states and is often 10%, or 12.5%, or once in a while 15%.
 
Also remember bleach looses concentration with time (sort of like a soda going flat), so always buy as fresh of bottle as possible, those you find in pool stores this time of year may very well be last years stock. I was in Home Depot last weekend with my wife looking through the garden center and saw they had at least 2 pallets of liquid pool chlorine still shrink wrapped that had obviously been sitting outside for a LONG TIME. I would guess since at least last summer, if not longer as the labels were faded and cardboard spacers well on their way to deteriorating.

Ike

p.s. fresh bleach is often stronger than labelled, we buy some at work by the pallet labeled as 5.25% that often turns out to be close to double that when fresh, of course the plant that produces it is only about 150 miles away, so I suspect the distributor we buy it from has fairly fresh product on hand, etc..
 
If you have a clean 5 gallon bucket you could do this test. Fill bucket with tap water, test the current FC, and record the result. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon (measuring spoon only) of 6% bleach. Test FC again. According to the pool calculator, this will raise the FC by 8. If it does then you have 6% bleach. 5.25% bleach will raise FC by 7.

1/2 teaspoon = 0.085 ounces. You can set the size of the pool to 5 gallons and go to the "effects of adding chemicals" section and play around with different concentrations of bleach from the drop down list to get a basic idea how strong your current batch is if it has been around a while or is not marked.
 
An easy way to roughly guess the % concentration you are dealing with is that 6% bleach will raise FC by 6ppm in 10k gals of water.

3% bleach will raise FC by 3ppm in 10k gals of water.
10% bleach will raise FC by 10ppm in 10k gals of water....etc

or what Zea said :goodjob:
 
Clorox Regular bleach will also say "5.7% Available Chlorine" in addition to the ingredients list that Jason showed because it is EPA-registered for use in pools. I suspect you are looking at specialized Clorox bleaches such as scented or outdoor or something like that which you should not use in your pool. Off-brand regular bleaches usually do not list a percentage, but the off-brand Ultra bleaches sometimes do and are usually 6%.
 
chem geek said:
Clorox Regular bleach will also say "5.7% Available Chlorine" in addition to the ingredients list that Jason showed because it is EPA-registered for use in pools. I suspect you are looking at specialized Clorox bleaches such as scented or outdoor or something like that which you should not use in your pool. Off-brand regular bleaches usually do not list a percentage, but the off-brand Ultra bleaches sometimes do and are usually 6%.
Click to expand...

I Emailed the company to see if they can tell me. My pool isn't opened yet, so I figure I have some time before I really NEED to know.
 

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Glen Chemicals in Ontario carries liquid chlorine. If you can't buy directly from them, you could contact them to inquire about distributors.

Clorox is available as Ultra Javex Professional Bleach at 6 % or Clorox Commercial Solutions Javex 12 at 10.8 %.
For information regarding local availability of Ultra Javex® Professional Bleach by Clorox, please call 905-595-8211.

For information regarding local availability of Javex® 12 Sodium Hypochlorite 5 L jug orders, please call 905-595-8211.

If you are in Ontario, please contact FloChem Ltd., Quality Chemical Management R.R. #7
Guelph, Ontario, CANADA N1H 6J4
Phone (519) 763-5441
Fax (519) 763-9691
E-mail [email protected]
Website http://www.flochem.com
Click to expand...
Aqua Bay in Ontario carries liquid chlorine.

Discounter's Pool and Spa Wharehouse carries liquid chlorine and has 7 stores in Ontario.

The ACE Hardware at 500 Wellington St W Sault Ste Marie, ON P6C3T5 CA or Highway 28 S Apsley, ON K0L1A0 CA might carry HTH brand liquid chlorine.

Bluewater Pools at 2541 Dougall Avenue Windsor, ON Canada, N8X 1T5 probably carries liquid chlorine, or they can tell you who does.
 
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