Is bleach weaker today?

[Donna]

Has anyone else observed that laundry bleach seems to
be weaker than it was 20 years ago?

Donna

[Sawney Beane]

It has a limited shelf life. It used to be 5.25% because that
concentration had a good shelf life. Now it's usually 6%. I think
manufacturing had improved so that the stronger concentration had
an adequate shelf life, and it saved on shipping weight.

My last bottle was a discount brand. In time it got very weak. My
new bottle, another discount brand, is much more potent, but I just
noticed the concentration is not stated on the label. That
convinced me to buy name-brand bleach in the future.

[Muvin Gruvin]

awhile back I purchased bleach at Costco. They came in a set of 2 gallon
plastic containers. My utility room is small and lacks much space so I
poured some of the bleach from the gallon bottle into a smaller ½ gal
bleach bottle. That way I could store on the floor next to the washing
machine. Well I do not use bleach all that often. When I finally picked
up that small bottle the vinyl floor is totally stained yellow as if the
bleach had leached onto the floor. Luckily it not an area in direct
vision

[Donna in Texas]

Muvin wrote:
>When I finally picked
>up that small bottle the vinyl floor is totally stained yellow as if the
>bleach had leached onto the floor.

I have had bleach kept a long (really long) time sort of eat through the
plastic bottle a little bit. Now when I store it in the cupboard I put the
bottle into a larger plastic bowl---sort of as a coaster. Now, having heard
your experience, I think I'll start storing it in the garage.

Donna

[tom tulinsky]

replying to Donna, tom tulinsky wrote:

It seems to me it is. I had a spot on a knit cotton shirt that wouldn't
come out. I thought , a white spot would be better than a dark spot, so
first I put on the pencil bleach spot remover--no effect.
Then I poured pure household bleach on it, let it soak--still no effect.
When I was a kid (60s-70s) I remember bleach could make holes in cloth.
People splashed bleach on jeans on purpose and it made spots that were
totally white.


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[Amy]

replying to tom tulinsky, Amy wrote:
I just found this out for myself after purchasing the "big name brand " in
bleach department to attempt to reverse the dye a black shirt at full
concentrate the color took about half hour and required full submersion to
achieve a slight color change turning dark mauve brown color not much lighter
than the black . I can remember when using it diluted to clean if a slight
drop came in contact with your black clothing it was instantly changing
orange before your eyes .

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[Mary Bingle.]

I certainly think it is. Every year I treat mildeau on my stone patio. 10 years ago I'd mix a 25% bleach solution, which immediately cleaned it up. Now this year, I pored 100% bleach on it and saw little result. What's happening?

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[Michael]

We have more color options now with modern dyes, so different blacks have different undertones. That’s why matching a basket of black socks is so madding, or why three black shirts don’t quite look the same. Also with modern weaving techniques bleach won’t affect synthetic the same as natural fibers. So when we got bleach on us in the 60s the natural fibers and weaker dyes would go white so easy.

[Hot]

**I’m sure the average bleach product (ie household bleach) is of less strength than previously, I’ve tried one or two of these to clean my toilet, but they do not clean like they used to. I reaslise it would have/has harmful effects to the environment

[Proud American]

YES!!! I thought the same thing! Its weaker and the price has skyrocketed!!