Bad news for liquid chlorine users in the Houston area

[BowserB]

Leslies has been my liquid chlorine source, as their 12.5% product, after adjusting for chlorine content, has been a better value than Walmart, Home Depot or Lowes. In February, the price of a box of four 1-gallon jugs was $15.99, or $4 a gallon. First of March it jumped to $16.99, still better than the others when comparing chlorine content. Now, however, it seems Leslies has decided to make liquid chlorine a profit center for their stores. Yesterday I paid $19.99 for four gallons. That's a 25% increase in seven months. Not worth an additional stop at Walmart, or I'd have walked out. Now, though, Walmart's 3.64 a gallon of 10% chlorine ($4.55 adjusted to 12.5%) beats Leslies' $5 a gallon. I'll just be glad when Walmart opens up the garden center entrance to the store.

Yes, I know. As my wife says, "that's little money." Ask Ben Franklin about little money.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Demand for chlorine is high. There’s only a few chemical manufacturers that make chlorine so when demand spikes, supply can’t keep. That means prices go up. My guess is that LPS probably still makes roughly the same profit on the LC, it’s just that they are paying more for it so you are too.

Have you tried looking into refillable containers to cut down on waste? My local pool shop sells both chlorine and acid in refillable containers for less than the packaged products. Farm supply stores typically carry liquid chlorine in bulk and available in larger containers sizes.

 

[mknauss]

Napco Chemical in Spring. You have to get your own refillable containers and check with them on what they require.

Last reported it was less than $2 a gallon for 12.5%.

 

[BowserB]

Demand for chlorine is high. There’s only a few chemical manufacturers that make chlorine so when demand spikes, supply can’t keep. That means prices go up. My guess is that LPS probably still makes roughly the same profit on the LC, it’s just that they are paying more for it so you are too.

Have you tried looking into refillable containers to cut down on waste? My local pool shop sells both chlorine and acid in refillable containers for less than the packaged products. Farm supply stores typically carry liquid chlorine in bulk and available in larger containers sizes.

Thanks, guys. Good point on costs, although, Walmart and HD seem to be holding, and Leslies supplier is in Texas. Pinch-a-Penny sells refills, but you have to buy their 2.5 gallon container first. I'm on the far west side of the Houston metro area, not far from a town with a local feed store. Napco could be an option, although I'd have to be going to that area already for it to be cost effective (43 miles from home almost all tollway or 47 miles and 1/2 tollway. It's kindof one of those places we used to describe as "you can't get there from here.")

 

[jeffbrig]

I can't recommend a SWG enough, and that's despite the fact I can usually buy 5 gal of 10.5% for under $10. The SWG saves you from lugging heavy jugs of chlorine, making frequent trips to the pool store, etc. Cost is higher up front, but I expect it to be a wash over the long haul.

 

[red-beard]

Home Depot sells a 3 pack of 10% Liquid Chlorine as "Shock". If you buy 4 packages, they reduce the price by a dollar to $8.99, or about $3/gallon. Watch for the dates on the bottles. And they typically store the pool chemicals in the outdoor covered area in the garden center. I live a lot closer to Spring than you do, and NAPCO is still tough. You can only go there Mon-Wed-Fri 8AM to Noon. But if you buy it in too much bulk, it also will lose strength.

To me, the alternative to liquid bleach is Zappit 73 Cal Hypo. Price just dropped $10 to $139 for 50 lbs. I know it can lead to high Calcium levels and you have to watch that. One advantage for the Cal Hypo powder is it doesn't lose strength quickly like Liquid Chlorine. I needed to raise my CH this year anyway and I've been using my 50 lb bucket and Liquid Chlorine all summer.

And hopefully sometime this week, I'll have my SWCG installed.

 

[BowserB]

I"m back and forth on SWCG. Almost ready to go, I got quotes that seemed way too high. I don't object to a reasonable profit, but I prefer to not personally fund the company owner's retirement fund. Also got a contact from a company in Sugar Land that recommended sticking with liquid chlorine. I sent pictures of my equipment layout to those who quoted. The one who declined to quote was a company with really high ratings on Yelp and Google, plus enough reviews to be meaningful. He said my plumbing layout was problematic and also cautioned that my stone coping would need to be sealed annually. He is a Pentair authorized dealer. Then, I can't look at "What's new" here without reading someone's SWCG problem.

I've thought about cal hypo for the same reasons as James. My calcium hardness has a way of dropping--from rain or from the autofill which uses softened water (because of my home plumbing layout, it isn't practical to have my autofill or even a water hose connected to non-softened water. It's truly a mystery to me why liquid chlorine is so expensive here compared to other parts of the country--especially the northeast where it seems everything is more expensive EXCEPT liquid chlorine! Our gasoline is cheaper, but lately I think I'm using more chlorine than gasoline!

 

[HermanTX]

In Houston area - go to Pinch A Penny - they are the cheapest yet however they are a exchange service. I think it is 3.15 a gallon but you have to buy 2.5gals at a time. So the first one costs more because you are buying the 2.5gal jug. But the good news is after 10 refills you get 1 free so you breakeven after 10 refills. It is 10.5%. chlorine.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I don't know about your Wal-Marts but the ones in Tucson more or less stop carrying Liquid Chlorine in the winter... that used to be October but it seems at my local one it's now middle of August. I have been scatterbrained and didn't even think of the winter when the SWCG shuts down. I suppose I will never be able to completely give up the 40 mile round trips to E-Konomy here in Tucson for HASA -- I still have a lot left from before the SWCG but I can tell it's turning to salt water. I'll have to learn to manage it better in the winter.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I don't know about your Wal-Marts but the ones in Tucson more or less stop carrying Liquid Chlorine in the winter... that used to be October but it seems at my local one it's now middle of August. I have been scatterbrained and didn't even think of the winter when the SWCG shuts down. I suppose I will never be able to completely give up the 40 mile round trips to E-Konomy here in Tucson for HASA -- I still have a lot left from before the SWCG but I can tell it's turning to salt water. I'll have to learn to manage it better in the winter.

Costco has been selling 3-packs of non-Clorox brand “disinfecting bleach” (6%). It’s straight sodium hypochlorite and water, no additives. It will work just fine for winter sanitation as your pool will stop using up chlorine once the water temperature drops below 60F. I think I’ve added around 1-1/2 gallons of bleach during the winter months with the SWG off. FC consumptions drops to less than 0.1ppm per day.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I think I used two gallons last winter...so you are correct... good to know about Costco. One of these days I will attempt to go there on an "off Friday". I went last Saturday and the place is such a zoo on weekends I didn't really look at everything. I hit my limit (and my wife hit it before me!) at one point and left, not buying everything I had on my list (and it still was $350). I hadn't been there since March.

I have 4 gallons of 7-8 month old Hasa. I imagine I can figure out what strength is left and just use that stuff up first though. Even if it ends up at 3-4% -- you are right.... it's probably will be enough. I do need to return E-Konomy's 8 empty bottles at some point though. They are pleasant enough but I don't miss it especially when a lid flew off around a curve and I had to pull over at Speedway and Houghton to clean the car up. It was one of the old cars thankfully and I got lucky where the bleach landed and how much landed. That is actually what made me finally decide to pull the trigger on the SWCG....

 

[red-beard]

I have 4 gallons of 7-8 month old Hasa. I imagine I can figure out what strength is left and just use that stuff up first though. Even if it ends up at 3-4% -- you are right.... it's probably will be enough. I do need to return E-Konomy's 8 empty bottles at some point though. They are pleasant enough but I don't miss it especially when a lid flew off around a curve and I had to pull over at Speedway and Houghton to clean the car up. It was one of the old cars thankfully and I got lucky where the bleach landed and how much landed. That is actually what made me finally decide to pull the trigger on the SWCG....

Use some water of known FC (tested pool water). Put 1 drop of the chlorine into 500 ml of water. Test for FC. Subtract the original level and you have your percent chlorine.

 

[trivetman]

If it makes you feel better, your newly inflated Texas price is still less than my every day east coast price

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Use some water of known FC (tested pool water). Put 1 drop of the chlorine into 500 ml of water. Test for FC. Subtract the original level and you have your percent chlorine.

I have a RO system (you need them here) so I was going to do exactly that but start with Zero from the RO system as a baseline. I can verify it's working first with my TDS meter. (<20-30 PPM.. last time it read 11) But yup that's a valid way of doing it too. But that one drop in 500 ml water sounds a little easier than what I was going to do, actually. Thanks.