pool store chlorine vs. common laundry bleach

avidone1 · May 31, 2014

Regular 'not fancy' laundry bleach has about 5% chlorine, the pool store guy says the chlorine level of the bleach he sells is around 13%.
I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it does seem stronger. Is there a standard strength for pool store bleach?
Is it worth the extra money over regular laundry bleach?

woodyp · May 31, 2014

Since last year, most bleach has now risen to 8.25% Just beware of anything that does NOT have that % listed on the label. Bleach is available up to 12.5% mostly from pool stores. Can also be called liquid shock.

JVTrain · May 31, 2014

If it's freshly manufactured, it does save bottles to lug around. Check the price per hypochlorite. $ cost/ounces/% hypochlorite. Compare that to store bleach. Also, higher % of hypochlorite will decay faster. So buy 12.5% stuff fresh and use it within a month or so if you go that route.

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Richard320 · May 31, 2014

Clorox and some store brands are 8.25% But they can drop dramatically. I saw some for sale once that was 1.75%.

Pool chlorine is commonly 10% or 12.5%.

If you crunch some numbers, you can figure out which way is cheaper per percentage/ounce. Here's just one of many threads discussing cost comparisons. Post 3 is probably the one you want.

Isaac-1 · May 31, 2014

As others have said, be aware of old stock, particularly this time of year with Spring sales, that 12% may be left over from last year and really now no stronger than the fresh bleach on the shelves at the grocery store

avidone1 · May 31, 2014

Thanks, my pool is fairly small so the savings would be neglible. I didn't know that Chlorine lost potency so quickly. Being from Florida where year round use of pools is common, I doubt that the pool store stocks are very old. I side with the convenience of using the "jug" from the pool store and trusting the readings of my Taylor test kit. Thanks for the input.

timerguy · May 31, 2014

The only place I'd trust for fresh bleach is a big box that gets bleach in two or three times a week. When I buy bleach it's at Wal-Mart where I know it's always fresh. I've seen the same stock of bleach at home depot that was there last year, and then it was 6 mos old!