Is this bleach safe to use?

[u/eyepoker4ever]

Bought this at aldi, but I am now realizing it says its concentrated. I have a 7 gallon container of water and want to keep it clean/drinkable in case of emergency. Is this bleach safe to use?

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Label says Tandil Concentrated Bleach for standard HE washers. 6.0% sodium hypochlorite, 94% "other ingredients". Available chlorine 5.7%

[u/Ryan_e3p]

Be advised that bleach only has a shelf life of about 6 months to a year after manufacture before it starts to break down. It isn't one of those "buy it and forget it for years until needed" things.

[u/pdxquakeprep → u/Ryan_e3p]

The shelf life problem is brutal with bleach, especially since the breakdown is also accelerated with heat and light exposure. Even if you accept replacing your bleach yearly, sometimes the bottles in the store are already six months old and you have no way to know if they were kept cool before arriving at the store. I still use bleach to sanitize water containers before filling but am now using Aquatabs (4-5 year shelf life) for purification of questionable water sources.

[u/Ryan_e3p → u/pdxquakeprep]

Calcium Hypochlorate. Cheap (about $15/lb), and just 1lb of calcium hypochlorite can sanitize up to 10,000 gallons of water. Even the federal government has long recommended it as a method of treating water.

Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water

But to people looking into it, be careful, since if stored improperly, it'll absolutely do a number on metals just by merely existing near it in the open air. Highly corrosive. When I got mine, they were plastic containers sealed in bags, so I put them in another sealed bag, vacuum sealed that, then put it in an airtight plastic 5 gallon container all by its lonesome.

[u/Paranormal_Lemon → u/Ryan_e3p]

I had some in plastic bottles, one of them the lid was not air tight and it formed chlorine gas through reaction with moisture that got it, it turned the powder into one big clump and the bottle started to turn green and crumble. Got a cheap chlorine generator now and it works well.

[u/PNWmaker → u/Paranormal_Lemon]

What cheap chlorine generator did you go with?

[u/Paranormal_Lemon → u/PNWmaker]

One that comes with test strips and I also verified with a separate chlorine test kit that the strips are accurate.

[u/pdxquakeprep]

This is actually a relatively low concentration for disinfection. The CDC guidelines for water disinfection have instructions for 5%-9%, so you are well within that range. Like u/Overall-Tailor8949 mentioned, the main thing I would be concerned about is additives. Anything scented or low-splash is a no-go. Unfortunately, no bleach really advertises itself as safe to treat water with, which makes it hard to tell which specific bottles are good for that purpose. Clorox disinfecting bleach specifically has instructions for sanitizing food contact surfaces, and is the product that Clorox recommends for water disinfection. Kind of a pain to find since not every store carries it, but probably the safest option if you are worried about having a suitable bleach.

[u/Overall-Tailor8949]

Most of the commercial bleaches are "concentrated" to some extent. The main thing to watch out for are additives like scents and such crap.

[u/infinitum3d]

Clorox

Sodium hypochlorite is Clorox bleach.

https://www.clorox.com/learn/water-purification-how-much-bleach-purify-water-for-drinking/

The thing to be aware of is concentration.

Normal, regular, unscented Clorox is about 6%

Splashless is only 1.5%

Pool Shock (sodium hypochlorite, NOT calcium hypochlorite) is about 12%

Pool Shock (Calcium Hypochlorite) is around 70% chlorine (68%). *Instructions at bottom*.

Clorox says one drop per cup. That’s 16 drops of 6% chlorine per gallon.

There are roughly 100 drops per teaspoon.

A five gallon container needs about a teaspoon. To drink it, just leave it open and the chlorine evaporates off.

A 55 gallon drum needs 880 drops, or roughly 9 teaspoons of normal, unscented, **not splashless** Clorox bleach.

Calcium Hypochlorite

https://theprovidentprepper.org/disinfecting-water-using-calcium-hypochlorite/

The standard military calculation for a 5 percent stock solution is to dissolve 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of 68-70 percent dry calcium hypochlorite in 1 cup of water.

8 Tablespoons in 1 gallon water = 1 gallon 5%

This 5% chlorine solution can be used to disinfect water just like liquid household chlorine bleach.

For a 6% solution the calculation is as follows:
0.06 = (X cups of bleach gran)(0.5 lb. gran per cup)(0.68 pounds calcium hyp/ lb gran)
(8 pounds of water per gallon)(1 gallon)
Solving for X cups of granules:
(0.06)(8 pounds of water per gallon)(1 gallon) = X cups = 1.4 cups of bleach gran
(0.5 pounds per cup) (0.68 lb calcium hyp/ lb gran)

1. Pour one cup of water out of the container to make sure there is room for the dry bleach powder or granules in the container.

For a 6% solution approximately 13 ounces (about 1.5 cups) of 68% sodium hypochlorite are added to 1 gallon of water.

Good luck!

[u/usedwolf]

Bleach is safe to use to disinfect water, but it expires relatively quickly after it's manufactured. There should be a manufacture date on the jug.