Chlorine Inhalation

[ny2nc]

Had a great scare this morning. We just had our pool installed in March and things have been going really well, until this morning. We have a Chlorine tablet feeder. This morning I turned off the pump and opened the feeder to check the tablets. It was nearly empty so I went to open our sealed, brand new bucket of tablets. Somehow, despite being sealed and brand new with individually wrapped tablets, moisture got inside and created 50lbs of chlorine mixed with moisture which emitted a massive amount of chlorine gas.

I have never coughed, and had so much respiratory distress in my life. After a phone call to poison control (yes, it was that bad) I followed their directions and I think I will be able to avoid a trip to the emergency room. Thank God! I do not think I will be using chlorine tablets in the future, this was absolutely terrifying. So advice on doing this with straight liquid bleach (or other alternatives) are welcome!

Two last thoughts:

1. If you ever do this - Get a glass of ice water, go to the smallest bathroom with a shower in your house and close the door. Turn on the hottest water you can and sit in there for 45 minutes. While in there breath the steam in and drink sips of ice water. After 45 minutes you are to go outside to the highest ground possible and breath for 10 minutes. Repeat again if you still feel it difficult to breath or coughing is still an issue. If you are improved, stick with ice water for a few more hours and move on. If you get worse or do not improve call poison control back or call 911 directly. Poison control # is (800) 222-1222. Thankfully I had it saved in my phone and on my fridge because of my kids.

2. Now how in the world do I dispose of this death trap full of chlorine gas???

 

[JoyfulNoise]

You'll be ok! Chlorine gas has a very low odor threshold and your body reacted as it should - lots of coughing. I would not be worried about any long term effects as you were outdoors and your exposure was fairly limited. Chlorine gas, while a significant irritant, actually makes a very lousy poisonous gas (think chemical warfare) because it is too easily dispersed by wind and can't be concentrated enough to be effective. This is why it was never actually used in warfare (despite all the bogus claims to the contrary) because the scientists that tried to develop it could never get it to work well enough.

So, bottom line, you'll be ok and thanks for the sharing the suggested method of relief. I would agree that a very humid shower will help to relieve the irritated mucous membranes and bronchiole tubes.

As for what to do with the tabs - open the bucket up in some area outside your home and far away from anything that can get exposed to it and let them dry out. Let the gas inside dissipate. If you can, it would be good to put the tablets (leave them wrapped) out on a tarp and let them dry in the sun. Do this ONLY IF IT IS NOT GOING TO RAIN. Once they are dried, they can be safely placed back into the bucket. In my local area, you can dispose of hazardous household waste at the local landfill once per month; unused chlorine tablets qualify for disposal. Check with your local municipal landfill and/or trash service to see if that is available.

What probably happened in one of those packages opened up and moisture got into the bucket. When trichlor gets wet, it becomes acidic and acid + chlorinated cyanurates equals chlorine gas. The buckets will trap and concentrate the gas and that becomes a danger. I too once got a whiff of chlorine from a bucket of tablets when I opened it up and it was definitely unpleasant to say the least.

Switch to bleach and you'll be fine.