Ordering liquid chlorine online

[Jeska]

I always have the hardest time finding fresh liquid chlorine in the spring. The stores only seem to have old stock. I typically buy the HDX brand from Home Depot but right now all of the stores in my area only have chlorine dated 2020 I bought a few gallons of 10% from Walmart yesterday ($3.74 each) but they were dated early Feb 2021 so I’m not thrilled with that either.
Has anyone ordered liquid chlorine online? The only thing I don’t like about that is I can’t check the date code so I don’t know if it’ll be fresh either. I’m sure in the month or 2 the stores will have fresh stock but for now I’m in a bind.

 

[kellyfair]

I would use that Walmart pool chlorine with no hesitation.

 

[Newdude]

Gallons of chlorine are heavy so most places don’t like shipping them. If they do ship them it’s usually costly for you.

My own HD recently had 3 packs from Dec 2020. While not ideal they will work fine for now, just adding a little more of it at a time. Very soon they should all be well stocked for the season with fresh stuff.

 

[borjis]

Do you have any local restaurant supply or cleaning supply companies, open to the public?

I've been getting my bleach from a restaurant supply co. for the past 5 years. Beats all the grocery store bleach prices. Usually buy a case or two, always fresh like a week or two old at most.

 

[ajw22]

3 month old chlorine is not bad and does not degrade too much.

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jeska]

Do you have any local restaurant supply or cleaning supply companies, open to the public?

I've been getting my bleach from a restaurant supply co. for the past 5 years. Beats all the grocery store bleach prices. Usually buy a case or two, always fresh like a week or two old at most.

Not that I know of, but I’ll have to find out. I would love to get bleach that fresh.

 

[Jeska]

3 month old chlorine is not bad and does not degrade too much.

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

That spreadsheet made me feel a lot better about the 2 month old chlorine I just bought. I guess it wasn’t degraded as much as I thought. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jeska]

I would use that Walmart pool chlorine with no hesitation.

I think I got spoiled last summer because I kept finding chlorine that was only 2 weeks old. I’ll have to be happy with the Walmart stuff until HD gets some new chlorine delivered.

 

[scdaren]

Chlorine made in the fall will still be fine by spring. It's really if it gets stored in heat, or especially sunlight that causes significant degradation. Sunlight generally is not an issue for the jugs in opaque cardboard boxes, and it doesn't normally get hot from fall to spring.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The problem with Walmart is just about midsummer they stop stocking it for some reason? Every year come August you are hard pressed to find any there.
I hope Home Depot will stock it year round now.

Maddie

 

[MITBeta]

I diluted 1ml of 12.5% pool shock I had leftover from last August into 1L of tap water, mixed thoroughly, then diluted 1ml of the resulting mixture into 10ml of tap water. (12.5/100)*(1/1000)*(1/10) = 12.5/1,000,000 = 12.5ppm.

When I tested with my Taylor FAS-DPD I got 12ppm.

 

[ajw22]

Chlorine made in the fall will still be fine by spring. It's really if it gets stored in heat, or especially sunlight that causes significant degradation. Sunlight generally is not an issue for the jugs in opaque cardboard boxes, and it doesn't normally get hot from fall to spring.

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

If you have an Atwoods, check there if you haven't. Not for the regular 'bleach' - it's called Pool Shock, it's 10% and the cheapest i've found. They sell it in 4 packs. But they stop selling it at least here way before the season is over, unfortunately.

 

[derekm]

I just pick up a few bottles of regular store brand household bleach (5-6% strength) whenever I am at the grocery store. Liquid "pool chlorine" is 10.8% here so I have to buy 2X as many bottles for the same level of chlorination, but the turnover is high so it's always fresh, and the regular price is comparable, while the sale price is cheaper. The big advantage is that I'm going there anyway, and I'm not tempted to buy extra pool stuff I don't need as the grocery store doesn't have any! And, of course, regular bleach is available year round.

 

[kellyfair]

I just pick up a few bottles of regular store brand household bleach (5-6% strength) whenever I am at the grocery store. Liquid "pool chlorine" is 10.8% here so I have to buy 2X as many bottles for the same level of chlorination, but the turnover is high so it's always fresh, and the regular price is comparable, while the sale price is cheaper. The big advantage is that I'm going there anyway, and I'm not tempted to buy extra pool stuff I don't need as the grocery store doesn't have any! And, of course, regular bleach is available year round.

Around here most grocery store bleach has additives that you don’t want in your pool.

 

[derekm]

Around here most grocery store bleach has additives that you don’t want in your pool.

That's strange! As long as I don't buy the lemon-scented stuff, I'm good here. What in heck would they put in it, and why would they bother??

 

[kellyfair]

Scented, splashless, Chloromax (in Clorox, something about protecting fabric, I think). You don’t want any of that stuff.

 

[derekm]

Scented, splashless, Chloromax (in Clorox, something about protecting fabric, I think). You don’t want any of that stuff.

Nope. Luckily our house-brand bleach comes only in lemon-scented and regular. A lemony pool might be nice, but I have no plans to find out! The only "fancy" bleaches I see here are Clorox, and the price tag keeps me away from that brand!