Anyone familiar with "Clorox Germicidal Bleach"?

[Nubo]

Needed more bleach and thought I might pick it up at Home Depot. Found 2 different types; one was "Clorox outdoor bleach" which didn't list ingredients at all but I imagine it has some detergents mixed in. The other was "Clorox Germicidal Bleach", which I can't even find at Clorox.com?? Some commercial grade I guess. Active ingredient was sodium hypoclorite -- well and fine but I just want to make sure that the 94% of "other ingredients" are pool-friendly. For now it's back to the grocery store for "regular"

 

[chem geek]

Welcome to TFP!

Clorox Outdoor Bleach described here has thickeners and corrosion inhibitors. It should not be used in the pool.

Ultra Clorox Germicidal Bleach described here and here appears to be a 5.25% strength bleach based on dilution instructions though the MSDS says it's 6.15%. It seems to be OK to use in pools.

Richard

 

[Nubo]

Thanks very much!

I also see there that bleach contains some sodium hydroxide, which explains why the pH goes up. I'd been curious about that.

 

[chem geek]

All bleach and chlorinating liquid contains a small amount of "excess" sodium hydroxide or lye. However, the Clorox Regular and Germicidal bleaches have a pH of 11.5 which means the amount of excess lye is very, very low -- essentially negligible as far as long-term pH of the pool is concerned.

If your pH is rising on average, it isn't due to the bleach. Though the pH will rise when you add bleach, it will drop back down as the chlorine gets used up (broken down in sunlight or oxidizing organics) since the consumption of chlorine is acidic. A persistent pH rise means your Total Alkalinity (TA) is too high or your pH is too low or you have too much aeration of the water (or some combination of all three). The solution is generally to lower the TA level and/or reduce sources of aeration (waterfall, fountain, spillover, frequent splashing, returns turned up, etc.). If you use a pool cover, you can virtually eliminate the pH rise.

Richard

 

[PoolOwnerNumber9]

I found this information here: http://www.cloroxprofessional.com/bsb.pdf (Page 19 of 44)

"Commercial Solutions® Ultra Clorox® Germicidal Bleach I is a 6.15% sodium hypochlorite solution, containing approximately 5.84% available chlorine by weight. The purity of its ingredients and the carefully supervised process of its manufacture make Commercial Solutions® Ultra Clorox® Germicidal Bleach I a quality source of chlorine for water treatment in swimming and wading pools.

Commercial Solutions® Ultra Clorox® Germicidal Bleach is especially suitable for use in chlorinators as it is a liquid and has no insoluble particles. Commercial Solutions® Ultra Clorox® Germicidal Bleach I is widely used as a source of chlorine for swimming pool sanitation and does not have any adverse effects on materials used in pool construction including swimming pool liners."

The reason that 6.15% sodium hypochlorite is equal to 5.84% "available chlorine" by weight is that the NaOCl has to be converted to a "chlorine gas equivalent". Cl2(g) is 70.9 grams per mole and NaOCl is 74.45 grams per mole.
(70.9/74.45) 6.15% = 5.85%.

You can also call Clorox at (800) 292-2200 if you want to talk to them directly.

 

[chem geek]

Thanks for the additional link. The useful number for bleach and chlorinating liquid is neither the weight percent of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) nor the % Available Chlorine which is the weight percent of chlorine gas (Cl₂) equivalent, but rather the Trade percent which is the volume percent of chlorine gas equivalent. This is dependent on the density of the product.

Trade % = (Weight % NaOCl) * (Specific Gravity) * (Cl₂ g/mole) / (NaOCl g/mole) = 6.15% * 1.1 * 70.906 / 74.4422 = 6.44%

However, according to their dilution table here, the implied ppm of full-strength is 2500 / (6/128) = 53,333 or 200 / ((2.5/6)/128) = 61440 or 200 / (0.5/128) = 51,200. A 6.44% Trade would be 64,400 full strength so there is an inconsistency here. Using the Trade %, one gets the very simple rule that one gallon in 10,000 gallons raises the FC ppm by the same amount as the Trade % value so in this case that would be 6.44 ppm FC. By comparison, 6% bleach is 6.17% Trade (using 1.08 density).

The best thing to do if one uses this product is to just measure the result in the pool.

By the way, chlorinating liquid is usually measured in Trade % which makes the calculations direct and straightforward, though the error is not large in any event.

Richard

 

[seachap]

chem geek your response helped me to understand some of this bleach confusion, however my jandy aquapure 1400 states it makes 1.25 lbs of chlorine per 24 hrs of run time @100 %. How do I or can I convert that to liquid such as regular chlorine @10%. I guess what I'm trying to ask is what is this type of chlorine.

 

[chem geek]

SWG systems quote chlorine production as weight of chlorine gas, Cl₂. Since that is also the measurement standard used for Free Chlorine (FC), it's 100% Available Chlorine by weight. 1 pound of chlorine gas is the same as 31 [EDIT] cups [END-EDIT] (almost 2 gallons) of 6% bleach (which is 5.7% available chlorine and 6.17 ppm FC for one gallon of bleach per 10,000 gallons).

1.25 pounds of chlorine gas is the same as 24 [EDIT] cups [END-EDIT] of 10% chlorinating liquid (assuming the 10% is Trade %). These both add 15 ppm FC in 10,000 gallons.

 

[seachap]

SWG systems quote chlorine production as weight of chlorine gas, Cl₂. Since that is also the measurement standard used for Free Chlorine (FC), it's 100% Available Chlorine by weight. 1 pound of chlorine gas is the same as 31 [EDIT] cups [END-EDIT] (almost 2 gallons) of 6% bleach (which is 5.7% available chlorine and 6.17 ppm FC for one gallon of bleach per 10,000 gallons).

1.25 pounds of chlorine gas is the same as 24 [EDIT] cups [END-EDIT] of 10% chlorinating liquid (assuming the 10% is Trade %). These both add 15 ppm FC in 10,000 gallons.

Thank you, from this I think I can figure out my run time, and fill the void of information that the mfg. booklet doesn't address. Maybe they feel we don't need to know how it works just do it.

 

[brian7270]

So far I have found that pretty much any brand that has "Germicidal" in the name is plane old bleach.

Brian