Local janitorial supply store - 55 gal drum of 12% for $150

[fishandfly]

I'm looking for some insight from anyone who has done it this way.

I've got a good storage area for it right next to the pool.

[chrisexv6]

Its a good idea! BUT.....doing the numbers:

Walmart 6% bleach is $1.67/gallon. $1.67*55 = $92.00. Double it (for 12%) and you get $184.00.

So you would be saving $34.00, but having to store 55 gallons somewhere (all at once, instead of buying it when you need it), and also need to factor in the fact that 12% turns to 10%, 9%, etc. faster than 6% turns to 5%, etc.

Every year I try to think of a better way, and every year I just end up buying jugs from Walmart.....usually enough to cover 2 weeks at a time, just to save trips. Oddly enough, this year bleach hasnt gone up in price from last year and the container size didnt change (like they would do to "sneak in" a price increase without actually increasing the price)

[ChuckD]

But it's also 55 plastic jugs that don't go into the waste/recycling stream.

[JohnT]

If you could find a few other folks to share, you could get around the deterioration issue. If it's a standard 55gallon barrel, it will accept a spigot so you could fill empty bleach jugs.

[waterbear]

IF the pool stores in your area sell 10 or 12.5% chlorine in refillable carboys that is often the best deal, better than bleach much of the time. Check the prices. For example, we sell a 2.5 gallon carboy for $3.99 with a one time purchase price on the carboy of $5.99. After that every refill is $3.99. That is the equivalent of 5 gallons of ultra bleach, which costs more than $4! (Plus you don't have empty jugs to throw away.)

[fishandfly]

Thanks for the info gentlemen.

Option number 3 -

Found a 50 pound bag of "Dry Bleach" by franklin technologies for $47.00

MSDS says:
*Sodium chloride - > 50%
*Sodium carbonate - >30%
*Sodium percarbonate - >10%

Can anyone interpret this for me?

MSDS is here:
http://69.149.235.133/images/1/pdf/P710162MSDS.pdf

[JohnT]

MSDS says:
*Sodium chloride - > 50%
*Sodium carbonate - >30%
*Sodium percarbonate - >10%



What you've found is basically a generic version of Oxi-Clean:

Sodium Chloride is salt
Sodium Carbonate is soda ash or pH Up
Sodium Percarbonate is the active ingredient in Oxi-Clean

[waterbear]

It's sodium percarbonate, an oxygen bleach. One company once sold it for non chlorine shock for commercial pools but no longer does because it was not suitable and created more problems then it solved.. The only company that I know of that is selling sodium percarbonate now for pool use is Proteam which sells it as System Support, a speciality product for quickly clearing very badly fouled pools. (It work, btw, but it's expensive and requires a lot of dry acid be added at the same time to keep the pH from skyrocketing.)
It is NOT chlorine and is not suitable for santizing a pool.

Sodium Percarbonate is most well known as the laundry additive, Oxyclean.

It can be a useful product for converting a biguanide pool (Baqua, SoftSwim, etc.) to chlorine in the initial stages of the conversion.

[fishandfly]

Thanks guys, I'll keep searching for carboys.

[Water_man]

Thanks for the info gentlemen.

Option number 3 -

Found a 50 pound bag of "Dry Bleach" by franklin technologies for $47.00

MSDS says:
*Sodium chloride - > 50%
*Sodium carbonate - >30%
*Sodium percarbonate - >10%

Can anyone interpret this for me?

MSDS is here:
http://69.149.235.133/images/1/pdf/P710162MSDS.pdf

Don't even think about using it!
Sodium Chloride is your regular table salt.
Sodium perchlorate releases hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent. There's no "active chlorine" species thereneeded for your pool.
Sodium carbonate is washing soda and will increase your pH.
So why is it called "dry bleach"? Because the released hydrogen peroxice does the job of "bleaching", but you don't want that kind of "bleaching".

[topless]

One more thought about the 55 gallon drum. It's going to weigh about 400lbs.