Difference Between Liquid Chlorine and Household Bleach

[sun and water]

I was telling a friend I use bleach in my pool instead of the stuff you get from a pool store. Another friend said "I am surpirsed you have not had real problems with bleach! It is not the same type of chlorine and will not sanatize a pool properly." How would I answer this? I told him it was just a matter of percentage that liquid chlorine is 12% and bleach is 6%. What else could I have said?

[Watermom]

You said the right thing! Household bleach is 6% sodium hypochlorite and pool store liquid chlorine is usually labeled as either 10 or 12.5% sodium hypochlorite.

[sun and water]

Thank you!

Another question. I'm not real sure if he was talking about liquid chlorine or other forms ie.... dichlor or trichlor or whatever the pool stores sell. Do they all sanitize the same?

[AnnaK]

In the event your friend uses 'shock' powder or pucks in a floater you can point out that they dissolve to produce the same chlorine as bleach does. Chlorine is chlorine; the only differences are the delivery method–liquid or solid, and the concentrations of available chlorine.

[AnnaK]

Dichlor and trichlor are 'stabilized chlorine'. They are in solid form, granules or tablets/pucks. They contain cyanuric acid, the stabilizer, which protects the chlorine from being broken down by the sun.

Whether chlorine is added as some concentration of bleach in liquid form or as a solid, in the end it's all chlorine and sanitizes the same.

[PoolDoc]

the only differences are the delivery method–liquid or solid, and the concentrations of available chlorine.

. . . . and secondary effects!

• Bleach has few effects;
• Cal hypo raises calcium and alkalinity;
• Trichlor lowers pH and raises stabilizer (CYA)
• Dichlor lowers pH some, and raises CYA a lot.
• SWCG (salt systems) tend to raise pH.

[waterbear]

Also, I have seen pool chlorine that is 6%, exactly the same as bleach! I have also heard a lot of pool pros refer to liquid chlorine as "bleach" since that is what it is. You might want to tell them that liquid chlorine is how many commercial pools are santized and that sodium hypochlorite is the same thing as laundry bleach. Sometimes even the concentration is the same!

[Spensar]

My pool store had bottles of 12% liquid chlorine that actually said called it bleach in smaller lettering.

I don't bother saying bleach to anyone now, I just say liquid chlorine or sodium hypochlorite, and they nod their head wisely.

[AnnaK]

Too funny, Spensar!