clorox bleach in water - ever heard of this?

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
That creates a 100 ppm solution which is a bit high unless you treating water out of a mud puddle. The birds may not want to drink it. I did a little looking around the web for disinfection of drinking water. Clorox and many emergency management agencies recommend 8 drops (1/8 teaspoon) per gallon to disinfect clear water. By my calculations that's around 9 ppm. That's pretty close to what we use to disinfect the watering lines in our hen house. We use around 12 ppm and then test the results at the far end of the drinking lines with chlorine test strips. (I actually mix a few ounces into 1 gallon of water and then that stock solution is injected into 128 gallons of water as it's used). The residual chlorine has to be below 4 ppm for organic production, the same standard as municipal drinking water.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Here's how I calculate it:

5.25% bleach is 52500 parts per million out of the bottle. 1/8 teaspoon is 1/48 of an ounce. A gallon of water is 128 ounces.

So we are diluting the bleach by 48 * 128 = 6144. 52500/6144 = 8.5 ppm

6% bleach diluted at the same rate yields 9.75 ppm.

 

[lfreem2]

I just found this:

Less than one-half (0.5) mg/L of free chlorine is needed to kill bacteria without causing water to smell or taste unpleasant. Most people can’t detect the presence of chlorine in water at double (1.0 mg/L) that amount.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
What they are talking about is the residual, the free chlorine that is left after the rest of it has done it's job oxidizing organic matter in the water. They are saying that the residual chlorine needs to 0.5 ppm to ensure that you have added enough bleach to oxidize all of the organic matter (if there is no residual then you haven't added enough bleach and the water may still be unsafe) and that people may be able to detect the presence of chlorine in the water at levels above 1 ppm. As I said before the EPA standard is 4 ppm, you may be be able to detect it at that level, but it's still very much drinkable.

 

[lfreem2]

Most helpful!

What do you think would be the point that would lowest where chlorine would be ineffective in killing bacteria by EPA standards? 3ppm or less?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Allow me to clarify. All water has a certain level of organic matter in it, to include bacteria. The bleach is used to oxidize the organic matter and kill the bacteria and is "used up" in the process. Bleach needs to be added at a level that oxidizes all the organic matter (and thus all of the bacteria). That level is governed by the amount of organic matter in the water. Once this is accomplished there should be some free chlorine left over. The presence of a chlorine residual ensures that there is no organic matter left to oxidize. By your citation, this residual should be at least .5 ppm, above 1 ppm and you may be able to smell or taste it. The EPA only allows 4 ppm maximum residual.

We inject it at 12 ppm because by testing I have confirmed that is amount needed to disinfect and still leave a small chlorine residual, but less than 4 ppm.

The recommendation to add 1/8 teaspoon to one gallon of clear water should provide enough chlorine to disinfect clear water and leave a slight residual. The part that I left out is that the recommendation also said that after a 30 minute contact time you should be able to detect a slight chlorine smell in the water, if you don't you should add slightly more bleach. The presence of residual chlorine ensures that all organic matter has been oxidized and that the water is thoroughly disinfected.

So, the 1/8 teaspoon per gallon of water should do the trick if you are starting with fairly clean water. If you are trying to clean out a fouled water line that hasn't been sanitized in some time, that is going to have a much higher demand for chlorine so you'd have to increase the amount significantly (referred to as shocking the system, you wouldn't drink the water while doing this) and then go back to normal sanitizing levels.

Does that make any sense?

 

[galanie]

A safer alternative is Oxine. But don't use the "activator" with it. Here is a great article on using Oxine: http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm

 

[lfreem2]

Unfortunately, at only a few dollars a gallon with chlorine versus $30 for Oxine (not including the shipping), the choice is a no-brainer. Not saying Oxine isn't great stuff, but it's not easy to justify the price difference and ease of accessibility.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I'm not sure why you say it's safer. Oxine is Chlorine Dioxide vs the Sodium Hypochlorite in bleach. I've never read anything that says one is safer than the other, nor that Sodium Hypochlorite is "unsafe" when used properly.

 

[Ivywoods]

Great information! I'm happy to have read this. I have used bleach for many years and am happy with how it works. I've never been very scientific about it, though, and reading this gives me a much better idea of how much I should be using.

I've always fed and cared for my chickens kind of like I cook. Measure? What's that? I use a pinch or a dab or a dollop or other fine measurements that I keep in my head.

Thanks for the very good information.

I never could justify the oxine price difference, either.