Careful where you set down that bleach bottle

[sudsmaster]

Some years back I stashed a gallon jug of Clorox bleach under the bathroom sink. I pretty much ignored it for at least a year, and then one day I went in and retrieved it, only to find to my surprise and some horror that it had leaked though a crack in the plastic. The slow seepage of alkaline chlorine concentrate had actually turned a ring under the bottle on the plywood floor of the cabinet to... jelly... A testament to the corrosive nature of chlorine bleach. It can eat holes in fabrics, too.

 

Anyway, from now on I'm more careful where I set a bleach bottle down. That white plastic may look strong but apparently it doesn't take much to crack it.

 

And yes, I cleaned out the wood jelly from the cabinet bottom, and left the semi-circular gouge it created. One day I'll get another piece of plywood, cut it to size, and screw it down over the damaged cabinet bottom. I might even add a layer of HDPE white plastic over that, just in case. It's not a big priority since it's hidden away... But I'd be really upset if a cracked bleach bottle had seeped through to a finished hardwood floor and ruined it.

 

 

 

[alr2903]

I think some of the jugs, bottles are not the same in strength, maybe some are defective. I had the same thing happen with a small jug of "Fabuloso", just last month. You can make a nice durable liner for under sink cabinets on the cheap with a linoleum remnant.

 

[mark_wpduet]

It is corrosive

It takes me a YEAR to go through a jug of bleach because I use it sparingly because a little goes a LONG way. But isn't it true that it ultimately just becomes salt water? I could be wrong but I remember reading that somewhere. I can't be without bleach in my house. I've always used it, but very little

 

[polkanut]

A suggestion would be to transfer it to a glass container if it's feasible.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I had the same problem

With two bottles of distilled water. 

I keep in the basement for emergencies.  They were just sitting there and then one day I noticed that the floor was wet under the shelf.  Discovered that the plastic water jugs were leaking. 

 

Didn't realize distilled water was so corrosive, or maybe it's the bio-degradeable plastic??

 

[delaneymeegan]

Bleach is toxic. You shouldn't use it unless you absolutely have to. You also shouldn't store it, and other toxic chemicals in the same air space as your house living quarters.

I put bleach into spray bottles a while back, and used the spray bottles to deal with some mold on a basement wall of a house I had recently bought. These were the typical dollar store spray bottles one can buy. Within less than a month, the bleach has eaten a hole in the flexible rubber parts of the sprayer, thus rendering it garbage.

I thought it was just a defective bottle and tried another one. Same thing. Tried again, same damage.

I use these type spray bottles every day for dispensing vinegar, and other liquids and never have a problem.

It just goes to show how toxic bleach is. Read the label on the side of bleach. They even warn you about how to transport it. "don't let it tip. Move bottles on a plastic sheet. Wear rubber gloves. Don't get it on your hands. Don't mix with other chemicals."

If you are going to spray bleach on walls, make sure you have a fan running to suck the vapor outside, and wear a respirator. It can damage your lungs.

In my enjoyment of Urbexing of abandoned properties, I've seen pictures of old houses where the people have lived there 50+ years, and in a forgotten cabinet, someone stored away old batches of chemicals. Paint, cleaners, waxes, bleach, etc. and the containers have completely disintegrated and the chemicals have leaked out and ruined the cabinet. Bleach fumes, in a typical small cabinet, is enough to cause disintegration of metal containers stored near by.

I know I don't want that crap in my living envelope.

What I typically do with bleach, when I only need a small amount is to find a safe place outside my house to store it, like under a deck or in a ventilated shed. I drill a small 1/16" hole in the top of the lid of the bottle. This is for both controlled dispensing, and to allow fumes to slowly escape the bottle so hopefully the build up will not cause the bottle to deteriorate, which obviously, they do.

 

[DADoES]

 
Had that happen once 15+ years ago.  The leakage wasn't as long-term but enough to score a ring on base of the cabinet where the bottle sat.  I wasn't using LCB very much at that time but I use it now on the whites load usually every two to three weeks, and don't buy the gallon-size any longer.

 

[henene4]

Either your bleach or plastic is different

In Germany, there is only one major chlorine bleach label I know (DanChlorix; everytime my grandma mentions bleach, she even says "Chlorix"), and man, that stuff is strong. Never saw stain vanish faster, LOL.

However, my grandma always has 3 bottles in stock, and in the years not one botlle has shown one sign of damage, no matter how old (though this stuff barley gets older then a year).

Any bleach product says to use gloves. However, a (mentaly) healthy human should know how to handle bleach and survive doing so without major concerns, protection and issues. (Of corse, sensitive skin or breathing inhibitions of what ever kind change that.)
You shouldn't sniff it. You shouldn't drink. You shouldn't get it in your eyes.
But I have actually never wore more then my old flanel jacket to protect my clothing while using bleach. And I still breath

There are a few no-gos however.
The biggest is mixing it with any other pure cleaning chemical that contains amonia or hydrogenperoxide.
In reaction with amonia, pure chlorine gas can be leaked into the athmosphere, reacting with the moisture on your tissue it is passing over during inhalation, creating HCl(aq), an acid.
With hydrogenperoxide, I heared there is the eventual possibility of hydrogen gas being produced, and that's a thing you don't want to risk either. (But don't quote me on that.)
However, in normal circumstances, it reactes with oxygen and water to release several pretty reactive and agressive substances (mostly ions), which however are almost completly solved in water. Thus, danger is little.
That is btw the reason you get such a sudsy mess if chlorine bleach and oxy-products react in high concentrations: A lot of oxygen is produced in that reaction, actually so much, it no longer can be bound in the water or react with any other substance.

 

[liamy1]

I love...

Bleach and would never be without it.

I use it in a solution of hot water and dishliquid with bare hands to clean everything- no probs at all.

A little does go a long way, however, bleach is one of the few products that you have to be stringent on shelf life, bleach is only effective for 6 months in it's raw state and only about 6 hours once it has been mixed with water, after which it breaks down to sodium chloride. (salt)

 

[cleanteamofny]

Using Bleach in any liquid dish soap like Dawn, Joy, etc... should be avoided because ammonia is part of the cleaning ingredient!
If your dish soap label is free of ammonia, then it MAYBE safe!?
Read the labels!

 

[liamy1]

Thanks

I'm in the UK, we don't have any commercially available cleaning brands that contain ammonia. Our advice here is that we can use dish liquid with bleach.

We can buy ammonia, but as a standalone product.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Dude

eww. yeah. :-(

"...solution of hot water and dish liquid with bare hands... "

I'm feeling a sad for your hands... and your health. It will take it's toll.

Frankly, when I was younger, I didn't wear rubber gloves either. Consistent exposure to hot soapy water will age your hands and dry them out. Direct contact with bleach is not good for your health.

Maybe the mixture of bleach in the U.K. is different than in places like the U.S. but I encourage you to read the bottle and check with her Majesties health agencies on using such chemicals safely.

http://https//www.ag.ndsu.edu/flood/home/chlorine-bleach-safety

 

[delaneymeegan]

U.K. health agency

The U.K. certainly has superior health and safety guidelines for products. Take advantage of the information.

It's your health. Once you permanently lose part of your health, you can't get it back.

http://https//www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/337436/hpa_sodium_hypochlorite_general__info_v1.pdf

 

[sudsmaster]

In my case, the bleach was probably left over from when I painted the bath.

 

Originally the bath walls were covered with flocked foil wall paper. Yes, really gross.

 

When I steamed it off, I found lots of gray/black spots underneath, which I took to be mold. So, out came the bleach to treat the spots before painting. When I was done, I probably just put the jug under the sink, shut the cabinet doors, and forgot about it.

 

The bleach jug probably got handled roughly during the painting so that's probably how the crack happened.

 

I've also had distilled water jugs (the big 2.5 gallon rectangular tanks with spouts) leak. The thinnest possible plastic is used for them, so I'm not surprised when one leaks. I store them in the shop or garage.

 

Yes, the chlorine in bleach gradually seeps out as chlorine gas and the strength of the remaining liquid weakens over time. However, I surmise that the liquid is still highly alkaline (sodium hydroxide is a common ingredient in liquid chlorine bleach) and of course that is corrosive as well. So I wouldn't regard an old bottle of liquid chlorine bleach as defanged... lye burns are nasty...

 

I rarely use chlorine bleach in laundry or for cleaning around the home. For a while I was using it to help keep the toilet bowl clean, but have since switched over to the gooseneck type of viscous blue bowl cleaner. And even that may be overkill. But I've never had one of those bottles leak. And usually it's the Lysol brand, which doesn't contain chlorine.

 

 

[cleanteamofny]

Here in the States it's clearly marked but should be in bold letters and in red color for better warning understanding!

 

[cleanteamofny]

Lestoil does the same thing Rich and I keep that stuff this empty bottle!

 

[tolivac]

Bleach is one of those things--if you have to have it-buy it only in small quantities so you don't have to store large amounts of it.I hardly use it.So a SMALL bottle is fine.Keep in mind plastic jugs are not good for long term storage.The chlorine content of the bleach will weaken just about any plastic.And product makers are using thinner and cheaper plastics in their containers to save money and shipping cost.And the horrors that could result if the bleach jug is stored with other chemicals nearby!!!Bleach can have uses-but only have what you need at a time.The smaller the container-the better.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I use it in spray bottles

and I know what you mean about it ruining them. But if you buy heavy duty spray bottles it won't happen nearly as bad. At any rate, the only time I use full strength is when I do a load of whites in the washer, and the dispenser only takes a small amount, so not much is getting used.

For any other thing I put like a tablespoon or two in a spray bottle, then fill the bottle with distilled water, so it's HEAVILY diluted. I've had spray bottles ruined from just using hard water instead of distilled water too. I finally got tired of replacing spray bottles so I got some heavy duty ones and so far so good.

 

[askolover]

I

personally I don't think bleach is any worse chemically than shower cleaners with SULFURIC acid in them, or Lysol non-bleach toilet cleaner gel with Hydrochloric acid in it.  It's all in how responsible the user is.  I like bleach.  After working in healthcare all these years and seeing (and smelling) some of the other disinfectants with chemical names I can't pronounce that cause who knows what kind of damage, I think I'll stick with bleach.  As for spray bottles, I just buy a bottle of bleach based spray cleaner...and when I use it all, I refill the bottle with more bleach, or diluted bleach, or bleach based cleaner.  I've never had a bottle of Clorox crack on me...then again, I've never had a bottle hang around very long in my house