Calcium Hypochlorite Granular Chlorine vs Bleach

[herb396]

I have been using the BB method this year which has been great. But it does accumulate a lot of empty bleach bottles. I happen to have about 50 lbs of calcium hypochlorite granular chlorine from a prior need. Ca I use this to maintain my CL in lieu of bleach?

Part of why I ask is I just picked up alge bloom so I need to hit the pool heavy again to raise the CL and I'm just envisoining all those empty bottles again.

thanks, herb

[Watermom]

You can use it as long as your calcium hardness level is low (below 400). If it gets too high, then you may have cloudy water problems.

[samtex]

I just did some rough calculations, which seems to me to be off. I came up with about an 8:1 ratio needed if using bleach (6%) instead of calcium hypochlorite. (48%) (?) This may be in error bit I got that approx. ratio by experimenting with the "Pool Calculator."

If bleach is .0156 per ounce (by volume) and hypochlorite is .21 per oz., then bleach is approx. half the cost. Doesn't seem right.

[aylad]

In addition to being cheaper, bleach doesn't add anything unwanted to your pool like Cal-hypo does. Bleach breaks down into chlorine and salt water. Cal-hypo breaks down into chlorine and calcium, which is fine for awhile and is actually needed in concrete/plaster pools, but can cause milky water problems as Watermom mentioned above when the levels get too high.

[samtex]

I understand the benefit of using bleach but I find it hard to believe it's half the cost. I was waiting for someone to correct my math though.

[chem geek]

In this old thread I compare the cost of chlorine sources. The prices are old (and Ben, please fix whatever broke with "code" blocks), but basically bleach and Cal-Hypo aren't that different in price, bleach being a little cheaper. In some areas of the country, Cal-Hypo is cheaper than bleach. I think you are getting your factor of 1.7 price ratio because you are using a higher price for Cal-Hypo than one can get if one buys in quantity. Nevertheless, bleach at a good price is usually the least expensive source of chlorine (other than chlorine gas you can't get).