Posted: 8/28/2012 1:26:12 PM EDT
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About 3-4 years ago I purchased two box's of Calcium hypochlorite to use as a water purifier if I needed large amounts of clean water.
It came in small bags in side of cardboard box's. I made the fatal error of storing these box's in the same enclosed space as many of my other items. Over time at last one of the bags deteriorated and started to release fumes causing me around $2000-$3000 in damage to canned food, lanterns, stoves, cots, and some plastic items it reacted with. It caused serious corrosion to anything you can think of made of un-coated steel, aluminum, brass, and some plastics. Luckily my primary items were not stored in the location and no firearms, ammunition, etc were there. Things like a grain mill, pressure cannier, etc were in other containers that protected them. So, a hard lesson learned. Nuts. |
| I'd like to hear how to best store it as well. I bought a 1 lb package. The package looks like it wouldn't leak. A sealed plastic type bag like you typically see at the pool stores. But I guess given time... it very well could leak. What about in a seperate ammo can? |
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I keep mine in the sealed bag it came in, inside of a ziplock bag, inside of another ziplock bag, inside of the 2.5 gallon bucket with a lid that I would use to mix up my bleach, inside of a 5 gallon bucket with a lid tha I will use to chemically clean water in.
This stuff must also be kept away from all petroleum products. And if water can get to it, you get chlorine gas that may do more than rust your canned goods.
If enough water gets to it, it can expand violently, aka explode. |
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Quoted:
I'd like to hear how to best store it as well. I bought a 1 lb package. The package looks like it wouldn't leak. A sealed plastic type bag like you typically see at the pool stores. But I guess given time... it very well could leak. I had the same experience as CoyoteGray with the 1 lb packages in sealed plastic bags. Apparently, some of the chlorine gradually diffuses through the plastic - which makes me question the long-term shelf life of Pool Shock. What about in a seperate ammo can?
It'll corrode the ammo can - guaranteed. |
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A relative of mine manages a pool supply store, and he told me long ago to NEVER store your chlorine-based pool products in the garage. It seems that no matter how well-sealed the containers are, fumes always escape and will wreak havoc on anything stored in the area. He's seen the metal and chrome surfaces on people's motorcycles severely damaged when liquid chlorine or chlorine tablets were stored in the garage. I have one of those plastic closet-type storage containers on the side of the house by the pool pump where I keep all of this.
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Quoted:
About 3-4 years ago I purchased two box's of Calcium hypochlorite to use as a water purifier if I needed large amounts of clean water. It came in small bags in side of cardboard box's. I made the fatal error of storing these box's in the same enclosed space as many of my other items. Over time at last one of the bags deteriorated and started to release fumes causing me around $2000-$3000 in damage to canned food, lanterns, stoves, cots, and some plastic items it reacted with. It caused serious corrosion to anything you can think of made of un-coated steel, aluminum, brass, and some plastics. Luckily my primary items were not stored in the location and no firearms, ammunition, etc were there. Things like a grain mill, pressure cannier, etc were in other containers that protected them. So, a hard lesson learned. Nuts. Guess who's wife put 2 new can openers on top of the pool shock? It's all kept in mason jars now. |
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Same thing happened to me.
I was cleaning the shed this weekend to prep for hurricane isaac, that moved off west, and wondered why all my metal items stored recently had suddenly rusted. I had an open bag of Shock in a ziploc bag which was sealed and set in a plastic bin. i pulled it out and it was coated with a slippery coating of something. Upon closer inspection of the ziploc bag, i found moisture inside the bag. I dumped it all in a trash can full of water and will let it sit there for a few weeks to break down. I put a cover over it to keep critters out. I think i will get a patio box and store my Shock there now, as well, Lesson learned. Still finding items all rusted up. Glad it wasn't near any guns or ammo. |
OP, sorry to hear about the damage to your goods 
I had read that it could cause corrosion, so I have two of the 1lb bags of Leslie's Pool Shock in a small 2 gallon bakery bucket with lid. It's in a climate controlled storage closet with my buckets of food - hopefully that's good enough? I wonder if putting desiccant packages in the bucket would be enough to help protect it from any moisture? |
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My local pool supply store as well as most other stores stock this stuff out in the open on metal shelves. I've not seen any of the shelves or other metal items near it rusting or corroding abnormally compared to other shelves or metal items in the same stores.
I wonder why that is. |
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My local pool supply store as well as most other stores stock this stuff out in the open on metal shelves. I've not seen any of the shelves or other metal items near it rusting or corroding abnormally compared to other shelves or metal items in the same stores. I wonder why that is. Lids are on really tight. I store all of my pool crap in a big outdoor plastic footlocker. Everything was fine, until one day I was careless screwing the lid back down on my shock bucket. Within a week or so I had corrosion on everything metal within the box. It doesn't take long. |
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OP, thanks for the warning. I have some shock that is stored ok, but probably needs an upgrade. I store some that I actively use for cleaning in a mason jar with a screw on plastic lid that ball makes for the jars. The plastic lid is an easy screw cap, but not for the heat of canning.
The rest of my shock is in its original bag in a plastic 50-cal style ammo can. I know it is not fully airtight. It makes an ok seal, but will not hold water inside without leaking when I gave it a fill test. If I find a beat up pelican - style case, I may switch over to that. They are air tight for sure, and the hypochlorite is pretty important and easy to keep if you just store it right. A cheap plastic ammo can may work better with an extra strip of weather seal gasket around the edges to make it more airtight. |
| Anyone have any other recc for storing it? I took mine out today after reading the thread. But I'm not sure now how I need to store it long-term. Two zip lock bags and then some type of good heavy plastic container like the ammo can with weather stripping seal, as mentioned?? |
| Befriend someone with a pool and have them give you one of their empty containers that their chlorine tablets come in. The lids screw on, they don't seem to be affected by the chlorine, they seal well and usually have a latching mechanism built into the lid, and they come in various sizes ranging from about 1qt to over 5 gal sizes. They are perfect for storage of pool shock. |
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My local pool supply store as well as most other stores stock this stuff out in the open on metal shelves. I've not seen any of the shelves or other metal items near it rusting or corroding abnormally compared to other shelves or metal items in the same stores. I wonder why that is. Lids are on really tight. I store all of my pool crap in a big outdoor plastic footlocker. Everything was fine, until one day I was careless screwing the lid back down on my shock bucket. Within a week or so I had corrosion on everything metal within the box. It doesn't take long. ? I thought this thread was about the plastic bags of pool shock (Leslie's ~70-something %). My pool supply and other local stores just keep them loose on metal shelves or cut the top and front off the box they came in and put the box on the metal shelves. There are usually other metal items not far from them also. I've never seen the shelves or other metal stuff near them that was rusting abnormally. I'm not saying it can't or doesn't happen, but I wonder why it doesn't happen there. |
| Same thing happened to me. Was going to start a thread about it, but kept forgetting. I put mine in plastic Hodgdon powder bottles with metal tops. It ate the metal tops clean away and started looking like mud. Not sure if it was absorbing moisture from the air or what. |
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I store mine in the original bag, vacu sealed in a food saver bag and placed in a small bucket with an o ring seal.
That bucket is placed in a larger bucket with a sealed lid and placed in a plastic storage cupboard that is outside on the patio. Been that way for just over a year with no problems. |
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? I thought this thread was about the plastic bags of pool shock (Leslie's ~70-something %). My pool supply and other local stores just keep them loose on metal shelves or cut the top and front off the box they came in and put the box on the metal shelves. There are usually other metal items not far from them also. I've never seen the shelves or other metal stuff near them that was rusting abnormally. I'm not saying it can't or doesn't happen, but I wonder why it doesn't happen there. Good ventilation probably helps. Your average store has blowers for the HVAC running most of the time, which helps disperse any vapors. Also, the large square footage of a store spreads the vapors over a much larger area than, say, a residential closet or garage. |