2022 Bleach Prices - Yikes!

[AndyTN]

I doesn't appear anyone has started a thread like this in a couple years. My local Lowes just got in their first pallets of the Pool Essentials 10% bleach and the price is a whopping $5.98 per gallon. Yikes!!! Lowes was a little higher than HD or WM for bleach but still this is basically a 100% increase in 2 years. I am listing the thread from 2019 as quick reference to "the good ole days".

2019 Bleach Prices

Anyone have any industry knowledge about whether the price is just inflated still from the tri-chlor shortage starting last year or are we in our "new normal"? I normally use tri-chlor as supplemental but didn't at all last year due to prices. I was able to find a 37.5 lb bucket of tri-chlor at Costco for $140. Doing some rough math with the Pool Math app, I am calculating that tri-chlor to yield FC at $0.89 per FC but the bleach at $6 per gallon yields $1.55 per FC. (I don't need anyone pointing out the effects of improper tri-chlor use)

 

[Newdude]

(I don't need anyone pointing out the effects of improper tri-chlor use)

Fair enough

So I will instead point out that at the current system price of $1500 with controller, a Pentair IC60 is producing with a cost of about $.052 per FC.

Even at the price gouging website price of $1800 for the system it would be $.063 per FC.

 

[Newdude]

^^^^^that was with my 35k gallons. For your 26k per pool math it would be $0.39-$0.46 per FC depending on how jacked the price was today.

 

[trivetman]

My home depot supply of LC last year had a sticker price up at least 20%-30% from pre covid AND I couldn’t find it anywhere at the jacked up price. I got through the summer by scouting anyplace within 30 min and always trying to have 3-4 weeks supply stored away in the cool basement.

Who knows if this is the new normal but i was worried enough about not being able to find at any price that i pulled the trigger on an swg in January.

 

[Mdragger88]

I am wondering how my old faithful bulk lc source - smith pools will fare in this comparison. I am not quite ready to refill my bottles yet but i will be in about a month. Fyi - Walmart app currently shows $4.60/gal for 10% pool essentials.

 

[AndyTN]

So I will instead point out that at the current system price of $1500 with controller, a Pentair IC60 is producing with a cost of about $.052 per FC.

Who do you think you are bringing actual logic to this ranting? The wife is against a SWCG because she thinks her pool is going to start tasting like the ocean. I will have to put together some taste test experiments to show her that the minimum salt level for a SWCG is going to be barely noticeable. Feel free to share your math on the $0.052 per FC since you have sparked my interest.

I also just spent $1500 on a new laser projector to mount on our covered porch for back yard and pool-side TV so I don't think the wife will let me spend the same on a contraption which puts a mini lightning bolt into the water in the pipes.

 

[AndyTN]

Fyi - Walmart app currently shows $4.60/gal for 10% pool essentials.

Looks like Home Depot is finally listing the pool bleach online and it is $18 for a 4-gallon pack which comes to $4.50 a gallon. It doesn't show specific inventory yet and says "visit your local store" but at least that price is a lot more reasonable compared to Lowes. That $4.50 per gallon would yield $1.16 per FC for my 26,000 gallons.

 

[mknauss]

A circupool RJ 60 will add 6000 ppm FC to your pool over its average life. At approximately $1600, including tax and parts to install, not labor, comes out to under 30 cents per FC. In your pool volume.

 

[Newdude]

Feel free to share your math on the $0.052 per FC since you have sparked my interest.

Lets do your pool. An IC60 will produce 2 lbs per day of Chlorine gas. In 26k gallons that equals 9.2 FC per 24 hours (Per pool math which also has all the other models to experiment with) the cell is expected to produce for 10k hours or 416.66 days.

416 days X 9.2 FC = 3827.2 FCs lifetime.

$1500 (shop around deal proce) ÷
3827 FCs is $0.39 per FC

$1800 (higher /gouge-y price) ÷
3827 FCs is $0.47 per FC.


*Plus applicable install costs as Marty said above. In the case of any device with a seperate controller like the pentair, the replacement cell is $500 cheaper when it dies and the controller is still good

 

[mknauss]

A circupool RJ 60 will add 6000 ppm FC to your pool over its average life. At approximately $1600, including tax and parts to install, not labor,

will have to put together some taste test experiments to show her that the minimum salt level for a SWCG is going to be barely noticeable.

put 3 grams of table salt in one liter of distilled water.

 

[Newdude]

Pull out all the stops and use the secret weapon. Go right for the throat. Her HAIR!!!! Waaaaaaaay less knots and need for special shampoos after long swims. It will come out silkier and easier to brush.

A salt pool tastes like adding a ever so light sprinkle to a skinless chicken breast

The ocean tastes like Cambells chicken noodle soup if you swig right from the can without adding the full can of water.

 

[Mdragger88]

A circupool RJ 60 will add 6000 ppm FC to your pool over its average life. At approximately $1600, including tax and parts to install, not labor,

put 3 grams of table salt in one liter of distilled water.

@AndyTN I drink homemade ketoade all day long - i have never tasted the salt it is approximately the same recipe as listed above

 

[Mdragger88]

Ok - all this talk made me bring my swg/bleach breakdown up to date….
I’m gonna have to get financially creative so i can just pull the trigger already..

 

[winnw]

I just got back from Ocean State Job lot here in CT, my go to place for 12.5% Bleach, was stunned to see the price was up to $20 a for a case of 4, It wasn't too long ago that number was around 12 or 13 bucks a case. Sheesh, guess I should be glad I found some very fresh stuff though.

 

[RonsPlc]

My 55gal barrel 12.5% went up from $150 last year to $215 this year (After tax)
But it was 3 days old when I bought it.

 

[jimim]

Amateur prices. Leslie’s for 12.5 in my area 10 a gallon! And outdated by almost a year. I sent my dad. He didn’t know how to check dates. Didn’t think I would have to when the girl said it was a new pallet. And it did come off a new pallet my dad saw it but it was only new for that store.

Clowns. Complete clowns.

 

[iadams]

What % bleach are you calculating based upon? Is installation cost included for the SWG? How about still needing to buy and add bleach even with the SWG?

I’m on the fence but have not gotten the math to work anywhere near where your calculator is.

 

[Saturn94]

What % bleach are you calculating based upon? Is installation cost included for the SWG? How about still needing to buy and add bleach even with the SWG?

I’m on the fence but have not gotten the math to work anywhere near where your calculator is.

Sized properly and FC maintained properly you shouldn’t need much bleach. I SLAM at opening and closing, and during the season I may have to bump FC a little with bleach a few times at most. I probably go through about 6-8 gallons of 10% total for the season (May - Oct).

 

[Pool_Medic]

Ask anyone in the trucking industry about the added fuel charges, it’s only going to get worse for the foreseeable future.

 

[bertschb]

How about still needing to buy and add bleach even with the SWG?

In the four months we've been in our house, we haven't added any bleach. No reason to if you monitor your FC and adjust the SWCG accordingly.