Shelf life of bleach and test kit question

I seem to remember reading somewhere on the forum about bleach having a limited shelf life. How long can bleach sit before its effectiveness is reduced enough to be an issue? How about shelf life for borax and baking soda? I'd like to purchase several months supply but don't want to have any problems.

Also, is it necessary to buy the big Taylor K2006 test kit when they offer a smaller "5 Way Basic Test Kit" which covers free and total chlorine, pH, alkalinity and bromine. It would seem the bigger kit is overkill. ??

Thanks in advance!

Borax and baking soda are no problem but you don't want to be months worth of bleach. I typically don't buy more than a couple of weeks worth at a time.

The Taylor K2006 kit can measure high chlorine levels. Those other ones can only read to 5ppm.

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The table at the bottom of this link gives the half-life for bleach or chlorinating liquid at various concentrations and temperatures. This is for high quality product without even trace metals in it. So bleach at 6% or 8.25% if kept at cooler room temperature will last for months. 12.5% or higher chlorinating liquid won't last as long, but again if prevented from getting too hot it should still not degrade too much in a month or two. I use 12.5% chlorinating liquid and I buy one month's worth at a time and never noticed any significant decline between the first and last dosing in terms of expected FC rise.

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