Shock vs Bleach

[Shiney69rr]

Hey all,

Noob question. Must I use shock from a pool store or can I simply use bleach from the supermarket and save $$$?
Thanks

Shiney

 

[257WbyMag]

Buy bleach. It's cheaper and doesn't add any extra stuff to your water.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

It varies greatly depending on region - around here the 12.5% pool store stuff is actually a tiny bit less for me than the Wal-mart brand.

 

[JasonLion]

"Shock" is a misleading term. All chlorine is the same once it gets into the water. Before it gets into the water, it may be more or less difficult to handle and may include other ingredients that you don't want to add to the water. All that is important, but the chlorine, which does the real work, is the same in all cases. Being labeled "shock" doesn't mean that it is any more or less appropriate for use when shocking. I have seen every kind of chlorine labeled as shock at one time or another. It is just a marketing term that pool stores use.

 

[Nadrek]

AFAIK, to "Shock" your pool primary refers to bringing your Free Chlorine up to a level at which it quickly breaks down Combined Chlorine and other contaminants (algae, etc.).

Note that "quickly" can mean days, depending on how much Crud you have and how much more is added while you're at shock level.

Because shock refers to a level of FC, it's really not relevant what product you use to bring your FC up as far as pure "shocking" goes. Different types have different side effects; trichlor also increases CyA, etc. Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) has the least side effects of the economical options. Sometimes your pool needs one or another side effect, at which point another option makes more sense.