Bleach: how old is too old?

[djdonte]

All I am finding in my area is 18 350. The 10 percent at Lowe’s is stored outside so it’s out of the question. Walmart has some with 18 350 as well but it’s stored indoors. What do you think?

 

[Brett S]

I think the answer is the newer the better, but its probably not worth driving yourself crazy if you can’t easily find something newer. As the bleach gets older it will slowly decrease in strength, so you might need a little more of that four month old bleach than you would one month old bleach, but it’s not going to hurt anything to use it.

 

[djdonte]

Yeah the H-E-B stuff was less than 60 days old but now it’s weak. I’m near work now but I’m going to try Walmart or HD closer to the house this week.

 

[Texas Splash]

You might want to see this thread: Breakdown of bleach over time by storage temperature

 

[pooldv]

He stuff from Lowes and HD stored outside is much less of an issue in the winter. It is high temps that degrades chlorine. It degrades 3 times faster at 90°f as it does at 75°f.

 

[djdonte]

Went to a Walmart closer to my home and same Julian dates pretty much. Also reminded me how much I hate Walmart. I got a gallon to see how potent it is. Also gonna try HD but I wouldn’t buy there long as it’s warming up in Houston. I am using pucks right not to get my CYA up a bit for now so I’m not desperate. If all else fails I will have to use pinch a penny liquid chlorine.

 

[djdonte]

Well the 18 350 Walmart bleach was 10% as promised. I found some 19 060 at HD sugar land, 3 packs of 1 gal 10% . Stored outside, but it actually was a touch over 10%. They do a slight discount for buying bulk so I think it will pick up 3 or 4 boxes before it gets hot outside.

 

[moore887]

Makes me wonder about the pool cleaners going around with multiple jugs or a large tank of bleach and how the Florida sun is treating the bleach. How come they don't use a transit van and have the containers out of the sun? Fumes?

 

[djdonte]

I don’t see to many pool guys with liquid bleach... or else I might hire one lol. They all just have 5 gal buckets of hypo shock and tabs. Brush, throw chemicals in and walk away for 150 a month.

 

[moore887]

There's a few around here and I see the yellow liquid bleach containers on their trucks. Splash and dash pool cleaners here typically charge $80/ month!

 

[HeyEng]

There's a few around here and I see the yellow liquid bleach containers on their trucks. Splash and dash pool cleaners here typically charge $80/ month!

It amazes me how much folks will spend for convenience. We have a fairly large yard with fescue grass and it takes quite a bit of time to manage it. We called in a couple of estimates for a fertilizer service and that would cost us about $180 *per* treatment!!! No way, No how!! Nonetheless, almost all of our neighbors use this service!