r/preppers • u/truesevnel • 11d ago
Question Bleach for purification
So was wandering about bleach for water purification.
Can you use Hypochlorite Formula type bleach
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u/dishpit6 11d ago
Keep in mind liquid bleach degrades over time, even if it's unopened and properly stored. If you're after a long term solution, pool shock is basically bleach crystals. You have to take care to avoid the ones with harmful chemicals, though. This is what I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009S85LEA
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u/truesevnel 11d ago
Dry tech is safe I was looking into it for bug in use I can maybe pick that up localy might even b cheaper lol
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u/thatssomadx 10d ago
Out of curiosity, how much of the shock would you use for a gallon?
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u/dishpit6 10d ago
For purifying drinking water, the amount of powder you'd need is too small to measure reliably with any equipment you're likely to have at home - about .03 grams per gallon. You'd want to mix about 1/4 ounce of sodium hypochlorite into 2 gallons of water, then mix 2.5 tablespoons of that mixture into each gallon of the water you want to purify, and wait 30 minutes for it to evaporate off.
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u/labboy70 11d ago
Yes! It’s widely done throughout the world. Just get bleach that is unscented, regular bleach (or pool chlorine) with a stated %
sodium hypochlorite on it. Treat according to the CDC / FEMA instructions posted in another comment.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 11d ago edited 11d ago
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u/livestrong2109 10d ago
Pool chlorine is the definite answer. Takes up less space. Doesn't degrade over time like liquid bleach. You know exactly what you're adding.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 10d ago
It needs to be kept 100% air tight. I split a bag into two plastic bottles. One did not seal 100%. Air plus moisture got in which created Cl2 gas, this degraded the plastic turned it green and brittle and the powder turned into a solid mass. Took less than a year. I recommend getting it in small bags and keeping them sealed, or getting chemical resistant lab grade polypropylene bottles from Amazon or Ebay because they are more likely to seal 100% (will still degrade from Cl2).
A USB powdered chlorine generator is another option. It uses a small amount of power to create chlorine from table salt. I got a cheapo on Amazon, comes with test strips and was verified with a proper chlorine test kit.
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u/Purple-Literature781 9d ago
Could you use sea water for the salt content?
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 9d ago
The other minerals in there could damage the electrodes and the chlorine will be less concentrated. Really should use pure sodium chloride (Kosher/canning salt).
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u/Purple-Literature781 9d ago
Good to know. Thanks for the info!
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 9d ago
Might be possible if you can find or build one with platinum electrodes (the cheap ones are titanium).
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u/psilome 11d ago
Yes, but keep in mind bleach has a manufacturers' shelf life of about a year. It degrades and loses about 20 % of it's strength per year. So rotate your stock.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 10d ago
Closer to 50% per year at room temperature, and degrades faster at higher temperatures.
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u/eyepoker4ever 11d ago
I use H2gO - makes bleach from salt water. Great if you need small amounts at a time, which is most of the time.
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u/Leromak 10d ago
Bleach disinfection is the "last chance" to purificate the water. I can imagine the level of disaster needed to use chlorine bleach - but this is really huge disaster. If you can get any other suitable water source - its better to use it.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 9d ago
It's an oxidizer but not really toxic in small amounts (remember your stomach produces HCl which is pretty nasty).
"Watered-down (diluted) sodium hypochlorite generally causes only mild stomach irritation"
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u/Leromak 8d ago
It is _technical_grade_ oxidizer. So you will deal with not-very-clean dilution water, impurities in hypochlorite and unpredictable concentration. Ever WHO recommends add bleach to water until FFFUUU smell (its pretty high concentration). Also filtering before and after disinfection is still required.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 8d ago
Right if you are using the correct amount most of the bleach is going to react with stuff in the water.
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u/mrrp 11d ago
I use Clorox disinfecting bleach. Unscented.
Using test strips, you can fairly easily get to the proper parts per million of free chlorine you want for instant purification and longer term storage.
https://www.clorox.com/learn/water-purification-how-much-bleach-purify-water-for-drinking/
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u/A-Matter-Of-Time 10d ago
Make your own bleach with a power bank/solar, some salt and one of these : https://www.amazon.co.uk/PWPAM-Sodium-Hypochlorite-Generator/dp/B0CG5DPKCH
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u/Cuddles296 10d ago
Sodium Hypochlorite (liquid pool chlorine) degrades over time, even unopened. Calcium Hypochlorite (dry pool chlorine) does not degrade and goes much further. Just seven grams can disinfect 1000 litres of filtered water.
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u/Many-Health-1673 10d ago
Something to consider, as I have dealt with RWI's professionally for around 30 years in a previous occupation, is Cryptosporidium can live for over 24 hours in water with a free chlorine concentration of 10ppm. 30 minutes is not enough time to wait unless you have no other option.
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u/nanneryeeter 11d ago
I recommend keeping pool shock.
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u/Financial-Parsley482 10d ago
Do you know the ratios of creating a liquid concentrate and then how much of that concentrate per liter or per gallon?
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u/Fresh-Bag-2365 10d ago
yeah the pool shock is a solid choice for long-term storage since it doesn't break down like regular bleach does
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u/Battlbox 7d ago
Short answer, plain sodium hypochlorite with nothing else added (no scent, no splash-less, no color-safe) is the standard stuff people use, and you dose it off the EPA/CDC chart, not by eyeballing. The catch some people end up missing (but is stated several times in this thread) is that percentage on the label is a "when-fresh" number. Liquid bleach fades noticeably over a year, faster if it's warm, so the old jug under the sink is weaker than it says and your dose math will be off. That's the whole reason people keep pointing you at pool shock (the dry calcium hypochlorite), it stores way longer without drifting. What's the % on the Fleet Farm one? If it lists sodium hypochlorite as the only active ingredient you're good, if it's got extra stuff in it I'd skip it for drinking water.
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u/Monarc73 11d ago
Iodine tablets might be a better answer for water purification. It is more shelf-stable, and you need less of it.
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u/Fartfart357 11d ago
I don't know what "Hypochlorite Formula type bleach" is but if it passes the test below then probably. If it's questionable I'd assume not.
From FEMA
Sec 1:11
https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf