Chlorine Bleaches-All The Same Or Different?

[mark_wpduet]

I think after I use this gallon

I'm going to start buying smaller bottles since I didn't realize bleach expired that quickly. I know in the past, when I'm nearing the END of the gallon, after about a year, it still has that strong chlorine smell to me, so maybe it hasn't gone completely bad. It's just that I only use liquid bleach for whites, sheets, towels; the Duet dispenser doesn't hold that much bleach AT ALL. I can't imagine using a WHOLE CUP of the stuff even in a top loader. Bleach is so strong! I once ran a clean washer cycle and used a cup of bleach and I will never do that again. The fumes were so strong. I love a faint bleach smell, but not the strong overpowering smell. I mean, if you can kill germs with a tablespoon in a spray bottle, I would think you most certainly wouldn't need an entire cup, would you?

I don't think I could imagine not using bleach ever in my washer. I also seem to remember reading that someone said they believed that bleach actually helps the spider to last longer by keeping the muck out of your washer......Not sure if that's true. Wish I could remember where I read that. I've also read that it shortens the life of your washer. Who knows? All I know is that I've used it for 8 years now and have no issues at all.

 

[sudsmaster]

Expired bleach:

The chlorine content of the liquid bleach will gradually drop as the chlorine reverts to common salt. The expiration date indicates when the active chlorine content will drop below the labeled concentration. However, for laundry or other purposes one can simply use more of the product to compensate for any loss of activity.

The rule of thumb seems to be that liquid chlorine bleach will lose 20% of its strength after 1 year, and 20% each year after that.

Here's a recipe for using calcium hypochlorite (pool shock) powder to make smaller batches of liquid chlorine bleach as needed.

http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-make-chlorine.htm

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's another article on chlorine bleach, including the claim that fresh solution made from dry calcium hypochlorite is a much better disinfectant than liquid bleach made from sodium hypochlorite:

CHLORINE, A GREAT DISINFECTANT

BUT WE MUST LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN sodium hypochlorite i.e. HOUSEHOLD
BLEACH and calcium hypochlorite DRY CHLORINE TABLETS AND POWDER

Dr. Leon Buchan PhD Microbiology, Control Chemicals LTD
Robert J. Saldivar, MS Animal Science, Sanitation Specialist, Texas A&M University 1958

Calcium Hypochlorite tablets when mixed with water produce a FRESH hypochlorite solution, used as it is being
produced. “BLEACH”, often called “chlorine bleach” a sodium hypochlorite solution usually containing LYE
is manufactured at a factory, stored, shipped to distribution centers, stored again and then sold.
According to all the technical literature, depending on storage conditions; all hypochlorite solutions will lose
half of their potency in less than thirty days. Light, temperature and age are the biggest factors.
We must also recognize that the word bleach means to whiten, and it does not mean it contains chlorine. There are
many bleaching agents that do not contain any chlorine at all and are still called bleach.

A web site of the Clorox company says “CLOROX BLEACH IS NOT CHLORINE, EVEN THOUGH SOME CALL IT
“CHLORINE BLEACH” IT CONTAINS NO MORE CHLORINE THAN COMMON TABLE SALT ” 1998, The Clorox
Company

There are three main and distinct differences between calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite, often called
"chlorine bleach".

1- Dry calcium hypochlorite tablets produce a "FRESH" hypochlorite solution when mixed with water. In tests done, a
solution produced with the proper calcium hypochlorite tablet, can maintain “free available chlorine” or HOCl the
active disinfectant in a chlorine solution, for about 4 hrs, then it starts rapidly degrading. There are many dry
chlorine dispensers available.

The biggest misconception is that liquid household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) does not loose potency until you make
a sodium hypochlorite solution; “liquid household bleach” is already a sodium hypochlorite solution, that starts
degrading soon after manufacture, so a "bleach" bottle bought at a retail store or chemical supply house is, NOT A
FRESH HYPOCHLORITE SOLUTION it is a hypochlorite solution with an unknown chlorine content, so when we
make a solution all we are doing is diluting an already weak hypochlorite solution even more. All literature recommends
that if you are using “chlorine bleach”, daily tests should be conducted by a laboratory to assure its potency.

2. - For a chlorine solution to be a good disinfectant it must meet the Chlorine Demand. The chlorine demand is the
amount of FREE AVAILABLE CHLORINE, or (FAC) often called HYPOCHLORUS ACID or HOCl, needed to
disinfect or oxidize organic matter before a FAC residual is reached. If the chlorine demand is not met then
complete disinfection has not been obtained. One of the best signs that the Chlorine Demand has not been met is the
strong chlorine odor present produced by chloramine gas. HOCl, (hypochlorus acid), is the most germicidal of all
chlorine compounds, between 80 and 120 times stronger than the OCl- ion. (Kapoor, University of Illinois. Fair, G.M.
Harvard University). The pH of the solution is the determining factor on which species of chlorine is produced in the
solution, HOCl or OCl-. The ideal pH of a disinfecting chlorine solution is a pH of 6 to 8.

3.- Most FRESH CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE solutions have a pH of between 7and 8, ALL (fresh or old) SODIUM
HYPOCHLORITE solutions, (“chlorine bleach”) unless buffered by the injection of an acid, have a pH of 10.25+
producing no HOCl. These solutions produce only the OCl- ion, a very poor disinfectant which is from 80 to 120 times
less effective as a disinfectant than HOCl, providing that there is any chlorine left in the stock solution.
There is a big misconception that an EPA REGISTRATION means that product is APPROVED by EPA.
According to the EPA web site the registration means that, “All pesticides, (disinfectants are pesticides), sold
or distributed in the USA must be registered by EPA, based on scientific studies showing that they can be used
without posing unreasonable risksto people or the environment.

http://www.klormansystems.com/calcium.pdf

 

[sudsmaster]

FWIW, Lever dry chlorine bleach is not the same as pool shock.

Pool shock is calcium hypochlorite. The lever dry bleach product is sodium dichloroisocyanuric acid. These yield different liquid compositions when diluted with water.

Not sure I'd want to use pool shock in laundry due to the calcium content. Also according to the previous article, liquid solutions made from pool shock have a shelf life of only about four hours. They are supposedly better for disinfection than liquid sodium hypochlorite solutions, but also perhaps more hazardous as well.

http://catalog.nationalew.com/pdf/Lagasse/DR-2979646.pdf

 

[launderess]

Buying LCB

Always purchase LCB of whatever brand from a shop that has decent turnover and make sure to check the expiration date. For the odd times one does purchase the stuff (dealing with mould in the bathroom for instance) usually reach behind the bottles on the front of shelf for something towards the back. Usually when the stockboys do shelves in stores the older products are moved to the front whilst fresh stuff goes in back.

 

[yogitunes]

I have used pool chlorine granules to "clean" any machine I have gotten which has mold and scum thruout its internals.....

hot water wash and a thorough rinse takes care of everything the first time around....

great stuff if used with caution.....you would be suprised at what this fresh concentrated solution will clean...!....

same thing goes for city water....if you can smell the chlorine, they didn't add enough!

interesting links...thanks guys for your efforts.....learning more and more

 

[kqkenmore]

I use to only buy Clorox and nothing else but I noticed that on the back of the bottle it says that it is Mfd for the Clorox Co so I am thinking that they are not making there own bleach and also I saw on the Sun Website that they make products for the Clorox co.That is when I started to try other premium bleaches Tandil from Aldi's and Kroger Home because it is there best cleaning brand (plus Kroger is the only game in Memphis)and Target up and up brand. I look at how much chlorine is in the bleach and get the one with the most.The one thing that I like more is the bleach tabs that they have at Walmart I use 3 tabs in a full load in my TL Speed Queen.Stay away from the Kroger Value Liquid Bleach and Top Job at Dollar General because they only contain 2% chlorine so it is like using bleach water. The main thing that I use liquid bleach for is instead of Drano or Liquid Plumr for drain cleaner it is about the same thing but it cost a lot less and works better.