Clorox in Europe

[tobber]

Hi,

I'm unable to find clorox or anything similar here in Europe (Netherlands).
Any tips?

I now use dichlor, but my CYA grows very quickly since we use our spa a lot.
And, i know that you don't suppose to use cal-hypo, but why? If i am correct then this is the ingredient in clorox?

thanks
Tobber

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Calcium Hypochlorite

Commonly called "Cal-hypo", calcium hypochlorite was patented in 1799 and called "bleaching powder." It comes in a large granular form or as 1-inch or 3-inch tablets and is produced by passing chlorine gas over slaked lime. The resulting powder or granules provide 65 to 70 percent available chlorine. Cal-hypo will support combustion and one needs to avoid mixing it with acids, ammonia, soda pop, oil, trichlor or just about anything but water. Mixing with organics will cause a fire.

Because it is slow to dissolve, it should be used either in a feeder, or pre-dissolved in water and then added as a liquid. Cal-hypo can temporarily cloud the water, because the calcium takes a long time to dissolve completely. It can also cause calcium scaling and deposits on surfaces and in circulating equipment. Cal-hypo tends to increase the water hardness level quickly and has a high pH of 11.8. Neutralizing the pH requires approximately 4 ounces of muriatic acid per pound of cal-hypo.

[sksmoker]

http://community.expatica.com/forums/topic/204366/where-is-the-bleach

But dunne bleek (for example, Albert Heijn Basic brand Thin Bleach) is closest to Clorox (or even the same),

Does that help at all?

[chem geek]

The following are facts that will explain the side effects of the various chemicals:

For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness (CH) by at least 7 ppm.

So the reason you generally don't use Cal-Hypo in a spa is that it increases CH and that can cause calcium carbonate scaling.  Now if your CH level is low to start with, then you could use it for a while.  Just keep in mind that scaling in a spa can happen more readily because 1) the water temperature is hotter and that increases the likelihood of scale all else equal and 2) the increased aeration and higher spa temperature result in more carbon dioxide outgassing and that has the pH rise more quickly and higher pH increases the likelihood of scale.  Generally speaking, you should keep your CH from getting above 150 ppm unless your Total Alkalinity (TA) is kept lower.

You can use PoolMath to calculate the saturation index where you should make sure it doesn't get above +0.3 in your spa though 0.0 is a better target (if it's lower in an acrylic spa, that's OK since there is no plaster/grout to protect).

As was noted in the previous post, "Dunne bleek" or "Bleekmiddel" or "Bleekwater" or "Bleekloog" or "Chloorbleekloog" in grocery stores (such as Albert Heijn Basic brand Thin Bleach) is closest to Clorox.  Bleko brand might be OK as well.  You don't want Glorix (Dikke bleek) since that has thickeners in it.

[tobber]

Ok, thank you for your information.
In the past i tried several of these bleekmiddels, but i've found out that the amount of chlorine in there is extremely minimal.
I calculated that is was no more then 1% (the bottle says "max 4%"). So need a lot (too much) of this stuf.

I tried to search for concentrated bleekmiddel, en then i find that it should be up to 18%. Is that possible? Or has this stuf added some things i don't want in my tub?

thanks

[chem geek]

18% is most certainly possible and is usually the highest level you will find.  More commonly it's 10%, 12.5%, or sometimes 15%.  The higher concentration degrades more quickly which is why you usually don't find it that high.  It doesn't contain anything else that's a problem so it's fine to use, but since it degrades faster finding 6% or 8% or even 10% would be better than 18%, but if that's all you can find then it's still OK.  Just figure it will be lower in concentration in the weeks after you purchase it.