What is better bleach or chlorine?
The “bleaching action” of hypochlorite ion (and eventually, hypochlorous acid) is a hallmark of both chemicals and why they are both really good cleaning products in general. It turns out, however, that pool chlorine is substantially more powerful than household bleach for several reasons.
Free Available Chlorine (FAC)
One important difference is the concentration of free available chlorine (FAC) in each chemical.
Research has shown that if you dissolve 1 gram of chlorine in a liter of water, you’ll get an FAC level of 0.47 grams per liter. If you do the same with bleach, however, you’re FAC level is closer to 0.04.
This significant difference shows that chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) has 11 times the free available chlorine of bleach, which translates into more sanitizing power per dose for chlorine. It also means that if you’re using bleach, you’re going to have to add a lot more to get the same result.
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