A cautionary tale …

[JoyfulNoise]

Sadly, these stories happen every year -

5 sent to hospital after receiving burns from chlorine being mixed for pool

Five people including two children were sent to the hospital after Chlorine that was being mixed in the home for an outdoor pool produced a gas cloud that burned the victims Thursday night.

www.cleveland19.com

Pool chemicals, no matter what they are, should NEVER be mixed inside a house. Hopefully the family recovers.

 

[PoolGate]

Wow what did they do mix it with Muriatic acid?

 

[JamesW]

 

[JamesW]

Dichlor plus calcium hypochlorite.

It creates nitrogen trichloride, which can spontaneously explode.

Nitrogen trichloride is what you smell when you have high CCs from ammonia type contaminants in the pool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The article says the grandfather was mixing up a tank of “shock” … dichlor and cal hypo are both often labeled as “shock” but, as @JamesW pointed out, if you mix them the reaction is extremely exothermic and creates toxic gas. The resulting explosive reaction can easily injure a person, cause fires, etc.

It is often frustrating to see pool chemicals in a store that look almost exactly alike (labeled as “shock”) but shouldn’t even be stored on the same shelf. The industry can do a lot better at product labeling and safety.

 

[ajw22]

Chemical Storage and Safety - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JamesW]

I would estimate the primary reaction as below.

3Ca(OCl)₂ + C₃Cl₃N₃O₃ --> 3NCl₃ + 3CaCO₃

Calcium hypochlorite + trichlor (Or dichlor) --> nitrogen trichloride (aka trichloramine) + calcium carbonate.

The explosion happens when the chlorine oxidizes the nitrogen, which releases a lot of energy.

The explosion reaction produces nitrogen gas and chlorine gas.

2NCl₃ --> N₂ + 3Cl₂

Chlorinator cap exploded

Hi there. Tonight after putting in chlorine, the cap to our Chlorinator (pentair) blew off. Sounded like a bomb went off, and just blew the cap apart. The top flew up and over into the next door neighbor’s backyard. We bled the line as we always do when we turned it back on. Any thoughts on...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I would estimate the primary reaction as below.

3Ca(OCl)₂ + C₃Cl₃N₃O₃ --> 3NCl₃ + 3CaCO₃

Calcium hypochlorite + trichlor (Or dichlor) --> nitrogen trichloride (aka trichloramine) + calcium carbonate.

The explosion happens when the chlorine oxidizes the nitrogen, which releases a lot of energy.

The explosion reaction produces nitrogen gas and chlorine gas.

2NCl₃ --> N₂ + 3Cl₂

Chlorinator cap exploded

Hi there. Tonight after putting in chlorine, the cap to our Chlorinator (pentair) blew off. Sounded like a bomb went off, and just blew the cap apart. The top flew up and over into the next door neighbor’s backyard. We bled the line as we always do when we turned it back on. Any thoughts on...

www.troublefreepool.com

I agree.

It is also important to realize that high concentration cal hypo shock actually emits chlorine vapor. It has been documented that cal-hypo in transit can catch fire if the air has organic vapors present. Cal hypo can also react with container materials that are not compatible with strong oxidizers. In that one video that @JamesW posted earlier, the women is seems dumping cal hypo in a children’s garbage can (Paw Patrol garbage can … I actually had one of those when my kids were little). It is highly unlikely that the plastic it is made from is compatible with strong oxidizers.

Again, chemical handling and storage is so important. Concentrated dry chemicals like cal hypo are very hazardous under certain circumstances. Just like one always assumes a gun is loaded and treats it with care, so too should people treat any chemical they come across with great care.

 

[JamesW]

 

[wayner]

Another reason to have a salt water chlorine generating system!

 

[AUSpool]

Fantastic, go to a pool store to ask what’s gone wrong when mixing products bought at the pool store. Evolution in the process.

 

[phonedave]

The article says the grandfather was mixing up a tank of “shock” … dichlor and cal hypo are both often labeled as “shock” but, as @JamesW pointed out, if you mix them the reaction is extremely exothermic and creates toxic gas. The resulting explosive reaction can easily injure a person, cause fires, etc.

It is often frustrating to see pool chemicals in a store that look almost exactly alike (labeled as “shock”) but shouldn’t even be stored on the same shelf. The industry can do a lot better at product labeling and safety.

Yeah, if you watch the second video that is what happened. The couple had some "shock" from one company and some "shock" from an other company. They were like "shock is shock, let's use up the shock" and then - for some reason - decided to mix them together in their kitchen sink.

 

[Sunnydaze]

Reminds me of the thread here a couple years ago where the guy mixed muriatic acid in his liquid chlorine to lower the PH. At least his wasn't an explosion.