[OttawaGreg]

I have been using Clorox 6% bleach. It lists the active ingredient as sodium hypochlorite 6%. I gather then the (non-active) ingredient is simply water.

I entered the grocery store today and they had a super sale bin of bleach (no name) for $1. So I grabbed one. I looked it over and it said nothing about the contents. The ones that add scents etc. will clearly state that and this one had no scent added. I was hesitant as it didn't state the % of active ingredient and as I am now trying to figure out exactly my bleach requirements on usage I chose the Clorox brand at a higher cost (no big deal here, $1.50 more) so I could keep my stats in-line.

Question is ... What would be the difference between a $1 bottle of no-name bleach and a $2.50 bottle of Clorox?

Greg

(no, I'm not trying to be super cheap here, just curious ;-)

[mcw53]

I am fairly confident that every bottle of Clorox you buy contains 6% sodium hypochlorite. With a no-name brand that is not labeled, who knows? Maybe 3%. Makes dosing a guessing game. Chances are you'll probably need to use twice as much, so there goes the cost advantage.

[chem geek]

Off-brand Ultra bleaches are usually 6%, but off-brand Regular bleaches are likey to be 3% or even lower. Also, off-brand bleaches tend to have more excess lye in them with a resulting pH closer to 12.5 compared to Clorox Regular at around 11.7. This results in a faster pH rise over time, even if there were no carbon dioxide outgassing.