Liquid Chlorine Price and Supply

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Last weekend, my local Lowes had lots of Kemtek three-packs of 10%. The price was mid-$4 range per gallon. Date code of Sept 22, 2020 though :(
 
I’m so glad to live in a climate without tons of pool owners so I’ve never experienced a bleach/liquid chlorine (whatever you wanna call it) shortage, even during the worst of the pandemic last spring and summer. I buy my 10% LC from Ace Hardware and my plain ole generic regular bleach (8%) from Kroger. Menards was always well-stocked too.
 
I was in Home Depot today and strolled down the Pool Supply aisle. HD now offers a new liquid chlorine package. It is a box of 4 individual 1 gal jugs for $16 (before sales tax) - so $4 per gallon. It is still 10% so that is .313/oz per Pool Math on bleach price calculation. Also the date code was 2021 60 so just 2 weeks old. They had stacks of it (all inside). There was another person there buying about 4 cases (16 gals). I told him about TFP forum as well.
This is in Houston area.
In my area this is same unit price (per Pool Math bleach cost calculation) for a 4 gallon case at Leslies ($20 for 12.5%) but Pinch A Penny is still slightly cheaper at $8 for a single 2.5gal jug at 10% is 0.246/oz
There was a sign posted over the pucks shelf that they were limiting the purchase of trichlor pucks to 2 bags however there was no limit on the liquid chlorine
Hope this helps those in Houston area.
 
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PrairieGirl said:
Apparently we have plenty here in northern illinois. I have never seen this much chlorine in this store.
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I read that LC is not made at that plant in Louisiana where they made trichlor pucks but now is damaged. So maybe stores will try to stock and push LC since the pucks will supposedly be in short supply
 

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HermanTX said:
I was in Home Depot today and strolled down the Pool Supply aisle. HD now offers a new liquid chlorine package. It is a box of 4 individual 1 gal jugs for $16 (before sales tax) - so $4 per gallon. It is still 10% so that is .313/oz per Pool Math on bleach price calculation. Also the date code was 2021 60 so just 2 weeks old. They had stacks of it (all inside). There was another person there buying about 4 cases (16 gals). I told him about TFP forum as well.
This is in Houston area.
In my area this is same unit price (per Pool Math bleach cost calculation) for a 4 gallon case at Leslies ($20 for 12.5%) but Pinch A Penny is still slightly cheaper at $8 for a single 2.5gal jug at 10% is 0.246/oz
There was a sign posted over the pucks shelf that they were limiting the purchase of trichlor pucks to 2 bags however there was no limit on the liquid chlorine
Hope this helps those in Houston area.
Click to expand...


HermanTX said:
I was in Home Depot today and strolled down the Pool Supply aisle. HD now offers a new liquid chlorine package. It is a box of 4 individual 1 gal jugs for $16 (before sales tax) - so $4 per gallon. It is still 10% so that is .313/oz per Pool Math on bleach price calculation. Also the date code was 2021 60 so just 2 weeks old. They had stacks of it (all inside). There was another person there buying about 4 cases (16 gals). I told him about TFP forum as well.
This is in Houston area.
In my area this is same unit price (per Pool Math bleach cost calculation) for a 4 gallon case at Leslies ($20 for 12.5%) but Pinch A Penny is still slightly cheaper at $8 for a single 2.5gal jug at 10% is 0.246/oz
There was a sign posted over the pucks shelf that they were limiting the purchase of trichlor pucks to 2 bags however there was no limit on the liquid chlorine
Hope this helps those in Houston area.
Click to expand...
HermanTX said:
My experience SE of Houston (Webster, Clear Lake, Friendswood, Seabrook area) has been different. The HD's and Lowe's near me have no new KemTek or HTH stock, and most of them have little of that. Newest familiar brand (KemTek or HTH) I could find at a HD was six months old (Novermber, 2020). I did find a Lowe's in Pasadena in late April that had a February batch, but it was a brand I haven't bought before (Pool Essentials). It was labeled at 10%, but I could barely smell a hint of chlorine upon opening one of the jugs and breaking the seal. So I put it back because I didn't want to take a chance with an unfamiliar brand that seemed stale. I've been using LC for three years in a 40K gal pool, so I know what it smells like. I hope the 4 pk you're mentioning comes my way. Can you tell me please where in the Houston area you found this? And do you recall the brand (maybe I could find this if I knew which HD's to check). I would be willing to drive to get 60-90 gal of good fresh LC. Thanks for the tip.
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thefloatqueen said:
I’m so glad to live in a climate without tons of pool owners so I’ve never experienced a bleach/liquid chlorine (whatever you wanna call it) shortage, even during the worst of the pandemic last spring and summer. I buy my 10% LC from Ace Hardware and my plain ole generic regular bleach (8%) from Kroger. Menards was always well-stocked too.
Click to expand...
Same here. We have it at Woodman’s, Farm and Fleet, Fleet Farm (yes they are two different chains), local pool stores, HD, Walmart, Menards....
 
Just stopped at Leslie's (Houston, TX area). A 4 gallon box of Liquid Chlorine (4 separate gallon jugs) now costs $21.99 + tax. This was 16.99 a year ago and went to 19.99 by end of 2020 and now 21.99. All is 12.5%.

Pinch a Penny is still a better deal for a single 2.5 gal jug for $7.88 but it is 10.5% LC
 
For those of you with interest on various chlorine products - I found an old thread that is very informative. While the pricing may be out of date, the science and the product types are all those that are discussed on the forum.

Cost Comparison of Chlorine Sources

I originally posted the following on another forum (I thought I also posted it here, but can't find it). First, I describe exactly what is in chlorinating liquid and bleach as far as we know. I'll use 12.5% chlorinating liquid as an example. This link is a typical example. Though they do not...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Last weekend I went to Lowes in Hartsville, SC for some liquid chlorine. I was shocked to see that the dates on the boxes they had were from 2019! Plus they're stored outside and I think I read that makes it degrade faster.. Do they have any chlorine left in them by now? Anyway, left there and went to Walmart. They had Pool Essentials LC for $3.74 a gallon made just a month ago and they had plenty at the time, which was great because I'm doing a SLAM right now and really needed it.

Nancy 🌺
 
not far from where I live on the north side of houston is: NAPCO Chemical Supply

I purchased a 5 gallon carboy type container from them which is refillable.
They sold 12.5% at around ~$1.80ish a gallon. They said that their prices would be raising next week to around ~$1.90.
It will liekly cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of ~$10 for a refil.

I remember contemplating whether I really wanted to buy 10-15 gallons, until the moment, I had to carry 5 gallons from the car to the garage. Then as it turns out 5 gallons was 'plenty'

yeah, its cheaper than I was getting a walmart/home improvement stores. But I also like, not having to toss out plastic 1 gallon jugs all the time.
 
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I just purchased some LC at Pinch A Penny in the Houston area (Katy). They raised their price by over 12% from 7.88 to 8.88 (before tax) for the refillable 2.5gal jug. They said "supply issues", but I just think they raised prices to match or get closer to Leslie's and Home Depot. They are still marginally less expensive if you compare it via the Bleach Calculator in Pool Math.
If NAPCO wasn't so far away, I would consider it but it may be a break even considering rising gasoline prices as well plus a 2.5 gal jug is way easier to handle than a 5 gal jug IMHO.
 

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