Coming chlorine shortage? - It is Here!

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I was at a walmart today and they had a ton of the single 1 gallon 10% liquid chlorine (~$3.60), AND the 2 gallon 10% liquid chlorine (~$7.60) and they were all inside. So much for a chlorine shortage.
 
I was at Costco the other day and saw a person load at least 15,000 trichlor tabs onto their flat cart. It was a little strange, but I didn't think too much about it. This morning I was at Home Depot and there was a person loading a flat cart with at least 200 gallons of liquid chlorine. Suddenly I realized why local stores have no bleach or chlorine.

What is going on, and why are retailers so slow to respond to hoarding? Is there something going on in the chlorine business I don't know about? Did we run out of salt to make chlorine?
 
SBC, the answer is simple. People. People are ignorant, panicky, and greedy. I think Pink Floyd's "Money" says it all. It's what caused the toilet paper and disinfectant shortages. These same attributes of people are what makes economic downturns deeper and inflation worse. I don't normally quote Democrats, but FDR was right when he said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (although I still like comedian Pat Paulson's version of that advice where he added "...and the boogeyman.") Nonetheless, the unpredictability of chlorine availability (plus the predictability of people's behavior) pushed me over the line to SWCG. I'm still tweaking to find the right combination of settings and runtime, but I haven't had to use any of my 4 gallons of 10% Walmart chlorine. I'll probably start diluting it to use for laundry, A/C drains, etc. So good news to liquid chlorine users in the greater Houston area: one less pool owner taking chlorine off the shelves.
 
BowserB said:
These same attributes of people are what makes economic downturns deeper and inflation worse.
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99.9% of people who buy assets like stocks or real estate have no idea how to accurately value the asset and they really don't care what the real value is.

They buy or sell strictly on a gut feeling of whether they feel like it will go up or down.

This create unrealistic enthusiasm when the market is going up and unrealistic panic when it is going down.

In the short term, the market is never rational.

In the long term, the markets fluctuations tend to average out to a somewhat rational equilibrium.
 
JamesW said:
???

Tabs or buckets or pounds or what?
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He had a flat cart piled as tall as him with boxes of 3-inch pucks. It was so heavy he couldn't push it without leaning into it about 45°. There are 80 pucks to a container and their dimensions suggest his cart had somewhere around 200 boxes. Conservatively it was around 15,000 3-inch pucks.

I didn't even know there was a chlorine shortage since I haven't had any trouble at the local pool shop getting cases of Hasa chlorine. I did notice that for the past two months it's been about half the usual strength without any change in the labeling, but I thought they were just ripping people off the way businesses often do.

I know why people panic buy. What I can't understand is why retailers allow this behavior. They know they're having trouble stocking something and they still allow hoarding. To their credit Walmart limits purchases of chlorine products to two items per customer per day.
 
sbcpool said:
He had a flat cart piled as tall as him with boxes of 3-inch pucks. It was so heavy he couldn't push it without leaning into it about 45°. There are 80 pucks to a container and their dimensions suggest his cart had somewhere around 200 boxes. Conservatively it was around 15,000 3-inch pucks.

I didn't even know there was a chlorine shortage since I haven't had any trouble at the local pool shop getting cases of Hasa chlorine. I did notice that for the past two months it's been about half the usual strength without any change in the labeling, but I thought they were just ripping people off the way businesses often do.

I know why people panic buy. What I can't understand is why retailers allow this behavior. They know they're having trouble stocking something and they still allow hoarding. To their credit Walmart limits purchases of chlorine products to two items per customer per day.
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Perhaps it was a guy that either had a pool service business or works for one. Maybe their wholesale supplier failed them and they had to buy local at retail prices (which is just dumb). Either way, stores should limit the sales to avoid panic buying.
 
The closest Rural King to me was out of liquid, so I took a trip to the next closest (technically only about a mile further, but in a less convenient direction). Took a flat cart and headed towards the seasonal section worried about how much they would have.

Got back there and saw 5 FULL pallets of 10% for $9.99 a case. Saw a paper on each pallet and was worried I'd be limited. Nope, limits of 1 bucket of chlorine tablets or 4 1-lb bags of cal-hypo. No limit on LC. Load up 8 cases of liquid chlorine which will last me in to September. As I get up to the register I see they have another half pallet of chlorine there too and I joke with the cashier about not needing to walk all the way back there.

I have no doubts others are having trouble finding the stuff, but wow I'm glad I'm not. I have tablets, apparently hundreds of dollars worth judging by what others are paying (perhaps I should start locking my pool house) but looks like except for vacation I won't need to touch it.
 
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Donldson said:
The closest Rural King to me was out of liquid, so I took a trip to the next closest (technically only about a mile further, but in a less convenient direction). Took a flat cart and headed towards the seasonal section worried about how much they would have.

Got back there and saw 5 FULL pallets of 10% for $9.99 a case. Saw a paper on each pallet and was worried I'd be limited. Nope, limits of 1 bucket of chlorine tablets or 4 1-lb bags of cal-hypo. No limit on LC. Load up 8 cases of liquid chlorine which will last me in to September. As I get up to the register I see they have another half pallet of chlorine there too and I joke with the cashier about not needing to walk all the way back there.

I have no doubts others are having trouble finding the stuff, but wow I'm glad I'm not. I have tablets, apparently hundreds of dollars worth judging by what others are paying (perhaps I should start locking my pool house) but looks like except for vacation I won't need to touch it.
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You should get a trench coat and dark sunglasses and stand outside the local pool store. When worried pool owners pass by you can whisper to them -

“Psst, psst… over here … wanna buy some pucks??”

Then flash open your coat and show them your pucks. It’ll be warm, so just wear a Speedo under the coat. I’m sure you’ll attract lots of interest … 😂
 
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BowserB said:
It's what caused the toilet paper and disinfectant shortages.
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People were told at the onset of the pandemic to minimize the airborne spreading of germs and sneeze into their elbows. The herd knew better and raced out to hoard TP.

This proved once and for all that people don't know their arse from their elbows.
 
Donldson said:
I have no doubts others are having trouble finding the stuff, but wow I'm glad I'm not. I have tablets, apparently hundreds of dollars worth judging by what others are paying (perhaps I should start locking my pool house) but looks like except for vacation I won't need to touch it.
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I suspect it's mostly a function of how many pools are in the area. It will be an interesting summer for health authorities in the southern parts of the US if the shortages get to the point that people are unable to sanitize their pools. Mosquito-borne illnesses, viral and bacterial illnesses from people swimming in unsanitary water, potential water supply issues if significant numbers of people take to draining/filling pools.

It's a bit alarming how the events of the past year have pulled the curtain back on just how delicate we've allowed our supply chains to get. Apparently in many sectors we've been teetering on the brink of disaster, and one relatively small event is enough to set off a cascade of events that results in total system failure. I wish I could say I had hope that we'd learn some lessons from the experience.
 
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Today I went to a national pool supply store in my area and they were completely out of Chlorine of any type. The only had Shock which was very expensive compared to chlorine. We ordered some on line from another supplier that offered us August 22 delivery. It appears there is a real shortage.
 
Katodude said:
Dont confuse one store being out of chlorine with an actual shortage. There are plenty of other places to buy LC.
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Around here it's Walmart, Home Depot, Target, Lowe's that have no LC except for scented or splashless bleach. It comes in occasionally, but someone loads up a flat cart and hauls it away. My local pool store started rationing the LC as well. Up until my last visit I had no indication there were any issues, but now you're not allowed to buy more than two cases of chlorine or acid combined ... and the price has increased 31% ... and the LC is watered down compared to before. It's labeled 12.5%, but it was consistently actually around 16%. Now it's closer to 10%.
 
I have not seen shortages in general. HD, lowes are out of stock a bit quicker than normal, but Leslie's here gets in two shipments a week and always seems to have some. it a bit more expensive but I do what I need to keep it TFP clear and clean.
 
The shortage has finally caught up in my area. I cant find any liquid chlorine in the stores around here now 😔. Heading to the store now to buy regular bleach which is not financially ideal.

I just moved into a new home and the water was not particularly balanced well. I have high CH around 700 and my CYA is also too high at 90. Do I have any other options here?

I was at Home Depot earlier and they told me someone just came and bough a full palette of their LC, which is around 200 gallons. Claims they were taking it to their pool store which idk if really believe. I think stores really should put limits to what you can buy during times like this. This is absurd!
 

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