Poorly Treated Bleach

[scdaren]

I decided to start bringing some bleach home from work to use in my pool. We buy 330 gal. totes of 12.5% bleach, but prior to visiting this site I was not really aware that sodium hypochlorite degrades in heat. Our storage practices have been... not great. Going to at least need to start storing this in a covered area.

This tote of bleach was delivered June 15, and since then it has sat outside, in the sun, triple digit temperatures almost every day since then. How far do you think this has degraded, maybe 50%? Or more?

There is no lot number or "born on" date on this tote, but I'm assuming (er, hoping) it was fairly fresh considering how we buy it. One thing on the label that did make me laugh, in bold "Do not reenter pool with a chlorine residual above at 4 ppm due to risk of bodily harm." With a CYA of 60, my pool is pretty much always kept dangerous then lol.

Going to try this stuff out tonight. The pool math app is usually pretty dead-on accurate on telling me how much to add for a given target, so I'll tell it to give me another 2 or 3 ppm, set it at 12.5%, and see what happens.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Daren,

My guess is 50%... I would assume it is now 6% and dose your pool and see what the result is..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Poolzzz]

This tote of bleach was delivered June 15, and since then it has sat outside, in the sun, triple digit temperatures almost every day since then. How far do you think this has degraded, maybe 50%? Or more?

2 full months at triple digit temps and full sun stored in a transparent container. I'm guessing it'll be in the "or more" category. Closer to 4 than 6. Dose away and let us know!

 

[scdaren]

Just tested my water:

FC 5.5
CC 0
pH 7.6
TA 60
CH 425
CYA 60

Setting a target FC of 8 ppm, Pool Math says to add 78 oz of 6% chlorine, or 38 oz of 12.5%.

Assuming this has degraded around 50%, I did the 6% recommendation of 78 oz. Going to let the pump run for a bit, and see where we are at.

The chlorine did not smell like anything, I had to practically stick my nose in it to get a whiff of it. So I'm thinking I'll be lucky to hit 8 ppm.

 

[scdaren]

Results are in... Only got up to 6.5 ppm.

So it has degraded from 12.5% sodium hypochlorite down to around 2.5%.

So there you go, keep your chlorine cool and out of the sun.

 

[woodyp]

Thank God that wasn't BEER!

 

[Jannylee53]

I buy from pool store because they say it’s not old. And I store inside because my garage is super hot. Not sure how safe it is but so far so good.
I think I’ll test mine too.

 

[Oly]

The more you know. Keeping a pool clean really is a moving target. Nice test, thanks.

 

[scdaren]

I think it may even be less than 2.5%. I've tried to use it again, and chlorine is not coming up much at all. I brought home a 5 gal. pail of it, and went through it in a couple days.

I just ordered a fresh tote of the 12.5%, so we'll see how much better that works!

 

[Oly]

You don't work at a pool supply store do you?

 

[scdaren]

You don't work at a pool supply store do you?

Haha, no, an organic fertilizer plant. We use bleach for sanitation of equipment, and buy it in bulk.

 

[an1vrsy]

Not to be a negative nelly here but are you permitted by management to obtain chlorine and take it home? None of us would want said management to have a view of the security cameras and think you are being nefarious.

 

[scdaren]

I am the management

 

[tim5055]

Thank God that wasn't BEER!

Or a Margarita!!