oldparr Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... Thank you, oldparr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomab Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... Thank you, oldparr Good question. I've been using the Great Value brand on my tub for a few months now. All appears OK and easy as pie. Since you brought it up It would be nice to know if there are any not so obvious adverse reactions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Clorox Regular 6% has a relatively low pH (for chlorine) of 11.7 so has the lowest amount of "excess lye" in it. Off-brand Ultra bleach is usually 6%, but has more lye and typically has a pH near 12.5 (some are even higher). Off-brand Regular bleach is only 3% or less so not usually worth getting. The main thing the extra lye will do is to raise the pH somewhat. We're not talking about a lot -- if you use 4 ppm FC per day then using the off-brand Ultra might increase the pH by around 0.1 units per week. I'm talking about net -- obviously, adding chlorine raises the pH, but the consumption of chlorine lowers it. Odds are, the normal carbon dioxide outgassing will overwhelm whatever pH rise comes from an off-brand Ultra bleach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaGreg Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... Thank you, oldparr Good question. I've been using the Great Value brand on my tub for a few months now. All appears OK and easy as pie. Since you brought it up It would be nice to know if there are any not so obvious adverse reactions. Just curious, about how much chlorine do you apply and at what frequency? I am using from between 150 - 200 ml each day (or hot tub use) and it leaves me with a free chlorine of 2.0 or less. thanks, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomab Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... Thank you, oldparr Good question. I've been using the Great Value brand on my tub for a few months now. All appears OK and easy as pie. Since you brought it up It would be nice to know if there are any not so obvious adverse reactions. Just curious, about how much chlorine do you apply and at what frequency? I am using from between 150 - 200 ml each day (or hot tub use) and it leaves me with a free chlorine of 2.0 or less. thanks, Greg Usually after I soak I put in about 60-80 ml. I'm usually in the tub for around 45 minutes. Temp in tub is 101. That's when only myself soaks. I put more in after when my wife joins me. 80-100ml. On the days I don't soak I still top it off with about 40ml per day just to keep the chlorine level up around 4-5ppm. "Knock on wood" I have not have any water "issues" yet. You mentioned you put in about 150-200 ml daily or after soak, for me that would end up putting the tub well over the recommended chlorine level for soaking. I have a 600 gallon tub. I would tend to think your chorine demand is rather high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Just curious, about how much chlorine do you apply and at what frequency? I am using from between 150 - 200 ml each day (or hot tub use) and it leaves me with a free chlorine of 2.0 or less. 150 ml is around 5 fluid ounces so is the amount of 6% bleach usually needed to handle one person-hour of soaking at 100-104F temperature (so two people for 30 minutes, etc.). This rule-of-thumb is independent of spa size. So if it is just you soaking and you don't soak for an hour, then your chlorine demand does seem higher than is typical. You can check your chlorine demand when not soaking (i.e. not use the spa for 24 hours, then raise the chlorine level to around 4 ppm FC or so, then measure again 24 hours later). The chlorine demand when not using the spa should be around 25% or so. If it's 50% or more, then you probably need to shock the spa with high chlorine (or other oxidizer) levels since there is something in the water consuming chlorine at a faster rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Usually after I soak I put in about 60-80 ml. I'm usually in the tub for around 45 minutes. Temp in tub is 101. That's when only myself soaks. I put more in after when my wife joins me. 80-100ml. On the days I don't soak I still top it off with about 40ml per day just to keep the chlorine level up around 4-5ppm. "Knock on wood" I have not have any water "issues" yet. 60 ml is about 2 fluid ounces so would normally only handle around 24 person-minutes of soaking. So for whatever reason you are using quite a bit less chlorine than is typical. Your water temp is slightly cooler than then max 104F, but not by that much. Maybe you just don't sweat very much! Anyway, there's no problem so long as you can maintain a chlorine residual by the next time you soak. You clearly aren't getting behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelhd Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... I've been using it all month, the 6% unscented. I can't tell any difference. It's not the 50 cents, it's that they were out of Clorox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcw53 Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... I just bought a 3-pack of 182 ounce Clorox 6% bleach at Sam's Club for $8.12. Based on our average usage of the spa and chem geek's recommendation of 5 oz / hour soak, this should last us between 4 and 5 months. I figure my sanitizer cost will be $1.89 per month. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to try to save money by buying Brand X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomab Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Is there any difference between Clorox 6% and for example, walmart's great value 6%? I read something about lye... Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to try to save money by buying Brand X. I agree with your statement unless they are identical . It's literally pennys a day difference, however if you have a choice between the two that are side by side, the same product inside and the difference is only the name and more expensive(albeit slightly)wouldn't one be inclined to buy the less expensive product. Unless you decide the extra cost is worth it due to the name recognition. It just doesn't make sense to me to buy the more expensive product if what's in the bottles is the same regardless of price difference (example Motrin vs. ibuprofin). We are trying to find out if the products in the bottle are the same hence the OP question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcw53 Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 I agree with your statement unless they are identical. It's literally pennys a day difference, however if you have a choice between the two that are side by side, the same product inside and the difference is only the name and more expensive (albeit slightly) wouldn't one be inclined to buy the less expensive product. Agreed ... if you were able to determine two products are identical. I have a higher degree of confidence that Clorox contains 6% sodium hypochlorite than I have with a no-name brand. And since I am only spending about 6¢ a day on bleach, why take a chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomab Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I agree with your statement unless they are identical. It's literally pennys a day difference, however if you have a choice between the two that are side by side, the same product inside and the difference is only the name and more expensive (albeit slightly) wouldn't one be inclined to buy the less expensive product. Agreed ... if you were able to determine two products are identical. I have a higher degree of confidence that Clorox contains 6% sodium hypochlorite than I have with a no-name brand. And since I am only spending about 6¢ a day on bleach, why take a chance? Great Value brand does say it's 6% sodium hypochlorite, but I can't argue with your thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 The house brands of the big-box stores (walmart, target, aldi, etc) seem to be pretty reliable from all I've read. Grocery store and other off-brands, not so much. --paulr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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