TFPC Expert Discussion - SLAM -

[mknauss]

Plain Household bleach from a grocery store as you say if the same product as liquid chlorine, just at a lessor concentration. So if you can find plain bleach that is less cost per equivalent concentration, great. In general, that is difficult to find. What you say your are paying for 'instant chlorine', is quite high. Check Ocean State Job Lots, Menards, Home Depot, etc.

 

[CTFocusST]

Help me understand why instant chlorine which is a liquid, at $6-7 a gallon vs regular household bleach that you can get from grocery store very inexpensive?

is instant chlorine that much stronger to justify or does bleach have other cons to consider?

Poolmath has a bleach price calculator that if you plug in price, size of container, and CL % it will give you a $/oz value so you can do an apples to apples price comparison

 

[TexEdmond]

Poolmath has a bleach price calculator that if you plug in price, size of container, and CL % it will give you a $/oz value so you can do an apples to apples price comparison

As an act of self care, I choose to simply buy $4/jug 10% at Home Depot and dump. If I let myself get wrapped up in chasing a couple bucks a week, I'll just end up spending the savings on whiskey to try to help the stress... Fortunately I'm also saving a bunch these days working my way thru my pre-TFP stock of Cal-Hypo and Trichlor. (I am at the low end of the scales on CH and CYA for an upcoming SWG install)

 

[Selenap]

Help me understand why instant chlorine which is a liquid, at $6-7 a gallon vs regular household bleach that you can get from grocery store very inexpensive?

is instant chlorine that much stronger to justify or does bleach have other cons to consider?

Instant chlorine is liquid bleach. It doesn’t add calcium. Liquid Pool chlorine, sold as such, is usually 10% chlorine. Maybe a little more. Great Value concentrated bleach from Walmart I think is also 10%. Regular bleach is anywhere from 6.5-7.5% bleach. I think the technical term is hypochlorite or something. Price is based on strength, name and availability. What that breaks down to is the amount you need to get you to whatever ppm you’re going for. Lower percentage (and cheaper) bleach takes more bleach to raise your ch ppm. Cheaper per gallon but it takes more. So,instant chlorine is liquid bleach. All will get you the same end result. More or less

 

[TexEdmond]

I think the technical term is hypochlorite or something.

Bleach is Sodium hypochlorite, Cal-hypo is Calcium Hypochlorite. It's my understanding that bleach raises the sodium (salt) level in the pool over time, which is generally harmless unless it gets insanely high. Cal-Hypo raises salt and calcium levels in the pool, which I believe causes knock-on effects by increasing the water's hardness and pH, both of which can lead to scaling.

 

[wireform]

That's what we do here at TFP. Every chemical has its calling. You add to your chemistry only what your missing and nothing else.

 

[TexEdmond]

That's what we do here at TFP. Every chemical has its calling. You add to your chemistry only what your missing and nothing else.

Maybe this is the new banner on the homepage from the "How do we make this easier for newbies?" thread going on right now...

Our method: Use reliable tests, Understand the effect of adding chemicals, and only add the ones you need.

Pool store method: I knew an old lady who swallowed a cat. Who ever heard of that!? Swallowed a cat?? Well, she swallowed the cat to catch the bird, she swallowed the bird to catch the spider, she swallowed the spider to catch the fly... I don't know why she swallowed the fly... maybe somebody at the pool store told her to.