Bleach shelf life guidelines

[steveinaz]

Richard,
Does it seem feasable that Bleach would last 6 months, properly stored? What would you think would be max storage time?

[Vtattebury]

Hi folks--

Along these lines, I decided to do a test of "Home Basics" bleach (sold at a ridiculous $1.45/gal.) from my local NJ PathMark store. I know the brand has been discussed before, and the price (and lack of chemical labeling) led me to test it. This is also the FIRST time I've used my k2006 kit, which finally arrived.

So we've got two unknowns here: the percent chlorine, and my ineptitude of testing ;-)

I followed some other guidelines to make a 1/10000 solution (see below)

Following the steps listed below, I poured 100 ml of distilled water, and added 1 ml of the bleach. Then I took 1ml of THAT mixture and added it to another fresh 100 ml of water. *(giving me 1/10,000?)

Using my test kit, I believe I came up with 4.4 parts per million, and the instructions below tell me that's 4.4%. Is my math and process correct? *I compared that with Clorox and came up with 7.8ppm (7.8%?), so I figure I'm not too far off the mark.

If it is indeed only 4.4%, it's probably not worth the price per chlorination.

I followed these steps to make my dilution:
Measure 100mls of water and place in a cup.*
Using your 1ml syringe, remove 1 ml of water*
Add 1ml of your 10% Bleach solution and mix well.*
This is your first 1:100 dilution*

To another cup, add 100mls of water.*
Using your 1ml syringe, remove 1 ml of water*
Add 1ml of your 1:100 dilution solution from the above step and mix well.*
You now have your 1:10,000 dilution needed for your test