If it is exposed and not protected it will get zapped!
-
ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info
1-Year Grid Down Prep
- Thread starter Leveraction44
- Start date
If it is exposed and not protected it will get zapped!
Bleach Shelf Life
By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated June 23, 2019
Bleach is one of those household chemicals that loses its activity over time. It doesn't matter whether or not the bleach container has been opened or not. Temperature is the primary factor on how long bleach stays active.
According to Clorox™, the amount of hypochlorite that is added to their bleach depends on the season in which it is manufactured, because temperature affects the decomposition rate of sodium hypochlorite. So, more hypochlorite is added to bleach made in the summer than in cooler months. Clorox aims to maintain a 6% hypochlorite concentration for at least six months after the manufacturing date, assuming the bleach is stored around 70°F. It takes about 4-8 weeks from the time chlorine bleach is made to when it gets to a store so that you can buy it to take home. This leaves you 3-5 months where the bleach is at the effectiveness level stated on its label.
Does this mean bleach is useless after 3-5 months? No, because you probably don't need 6% hypochlorite for laundry and home disinfection. The 6% hypochlorite level is an EPA disinfection standard. If you store your bleach where it can get warmer than 70°F, like 90°F, the bleach is still effective for around three months.
How Long Is Bleach Good?
So, when you buy a bottle of bleach, it has a shelf life. The bleach will be highly effective for around 6 months and fine for home use for around 9 months. Clorox recommends replacing any bottle of bleach that is over a year old.
Another way to tell if your bleach is expired is to note its odor. Don't open the bottle and take a whiff! The human sense of smell is sensitive to bleach, so you should be able to smell it as soon as you pour it from its container. If you don't smell any bleach, it's likely most of the product has decomposed into salt and water. Replace it with a fresh bottle.
Maximizing the Bleach Shelf Life
If you want bleach to remain as effective as possible for as long as possible, avoid storing it in extremely hot or freezing conditions. Generally, this means it's better to store a bottle of bleach in a cabinet inside the house, which has a relatively stable room temperature, as opposed to a garage or outside storage shed.
Bleach is sold in an opaque container. Don't switch it out for a clear container because exposure to light will degrade the chemical more quickly.
By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated June 23, 2019
Bleach is one of those household chemicals that loses its activity over time. It doesn't matter whether or not the bleach container has been opened or not. Temperature is the primary factor on how long bleach stays active.
According to Clorox™, the amount of hypochlorite that is added to their bleach depends on the season in which it is manufactured, because temperature affects the decomposition rate of sodium hypochlorite. So, more hypochlorite is added to bleach made in the summer than in cooler months. Clorox aims to maintain a 6% hypochlorite concentration for at least six months after the manufacturing date, assuming the bleach is stored around 70°F. It takes about 4-8 weeks from the time chlorine bleach is made to when it gets to a store so that you can buy it to take home. This leaves you 3-5 months where the bleach is at the effectiveness level stated on its label.
Does this mean bleach is useless after 3-5 months? No, because you probably don't need 6% hypochlorite for laundry and home disinfection. The 6% hypochlorite level is an EPA disinfection standard. If you store your bleach where it can get warmer than 70°F, like 90°F, the bleach is still effective for around three months.
How Long Is Bleach Good?
So, when you buy a bottle of bleach, it has a shelf life. The bleach will be highly effective for around 6 months and fine for home use for around 9 months. Clorox recommends replacing any bottle of bleach that is over a year old.
Another way to tell if your bleach is expired is to note its odor. Don't open the bottle and take a whiff! The human sense of smell is sensitive to bleach, so you should be able to smell it as soon as you pour it from its container. If you don't smell any bleach, it's likely most of the product has decomposed into salt and water. Replace it with a fresh bottle.
Maximizing the Bleach Shelf Life
If you want bleach to remain as effective as possible for as long as possible, avoid storing it in extremely hot or freezing conditions. Generally, this means it's better to store a bottle of bleach in a cabinet inside the house, which has a relatively stable room temperature, as opposed to a garage or outside storage shed.
Bleach is sold in an opaque container. Don't switch it out for a clear container because exposure to light will degrade the chemical more quickly.
Hydrogen Peroxide
By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated April 07, 2020
Hydrogen peroxide, like many compounds, can expire. If you've ever poured hydrogen peroxide solution onto a cut and didn't experience the expected fizz, it's likely your bottle of hydrogen peroxide has become a bottle of plain water.
Hydrogen Peroxide Shelf Life
A 3% hydrogen peroxide solution stored at room temperature under normal conditions can be expected to decay at a rate of 0.5% per year.1 Once you break the seal, it should be used as soon as possible because when you expose a peroxide solution to air, it starts to break down into water more rapidly. Likewise, if you contaminate the bottle—by dipping a swab or finger into it, for example—you can expect the effectiveness of the remaining liquid to be compromised.
So, if you have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide that has been sitting in your medicine cabinet for a few years, and especially if you've opened the bottle, assume that the compound is partially or fully decayed and no longer effective as a disinfectant.
Tips to Extend the Peroxide's Life
Don't open a new container of hydrogen peroxide until you're ready to use it and don't transfer it to a clear container. Like air, light reacts with peroxide by accelerating the rate of its decomposition. You can help extend the shelf life of your hydrogen peroxide by storing it in a cool location and in a dark container.
Why Peroxide Bubbles
Hydrogen peroxide begins decomposing into water and oxygen even before it's been opened. The chemical equation for this reaction is:
2 H 2O 2 → 2 H 2O + O 2(g)
The bubbles formed during the decomposition of peroxide come from oxygen gas. Ordinarily, the reaction proceeds too slowly to be perceived, but when you pour hydrogen peroxide onto a cut or other surface containing a catalyst, it happens much more quickly. Catalysts that speed the decomposition reaction include transition metals such as iron in blood and the enzyme catalase.
Catalase is an enzyme found in nearly all living organisms, including humans and bacteria, and it acts to protect cells from peroxide by quickly deactivating the compound. Peroxide, even when produced by body cells themselves as part of the oxygen cycle, must be neutralized before it can cause oxidative damage.
But as peroxide undergoes oxidation, it destroys cells. This can be seen as bubbling. When you pour hydrogen peroxide on a cut, both healthy tissue and microbes are killed as the peroxide is attacked and begins to break down. Damage to healthy tissue typically repairs.
How to Test If Peroxide Is Still Good
If you're not sure whether that bottle of peroxide is worth keeping, there's a safe and easy way to test it: splash a bit into a sink. If it fizzes, it's still good. If it doesn't, it's time to replace the bottle.
By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated April 07, 2020
Hydrogen peroxide, like many compounds, can expire. If you've ever poured hydrogen peroxide solution onto a cut and didn't experience the expected fizz, it's likely your bottle of hydrogen peroxide has become a bottle of plain water.
Hydrogen Peroxide Shelf Life
A 3% hydrogen peroxide solution stored at room temperature under normal conditions can be expected to decay at a rate of 0.5% per year.1 Once you break the seal, it should be used as soon as possible because when you expose a peroxide solution to air, it starts to break down into water more rapidly. Likewise, if you contaminate the bottle—by dipping a swab or finger into it, for example—you can expect the effectiveness of the remaining liquid to be compromised.
So, if you have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide that has been sitting in your medicine cabinet for a few years, and especially if you've opened the bottle, assume that the compound is partially or fully decayed and no longer effective as a disinfectant.
Tips to Extend the Peroxide's Life
Don't open a new container of hydrogen peroxide until you're ready to use it and don't transfer it to a clear container. Like air, light reacts with peroxide by accelerating the rate of its decomposition. You can help extend the shelf life of your hydrogen peroxide by storing it in a cool location and in a dark container.
Why Peroxide Bubbles
Hydrogen peroxide begins decomposing into water and oxygen even before it's been opened. The chemical equation for this reaction is:
2 H 2O 2 → 2 H 2O + O 2(g)
The bubbles formed during the decomposition of peroxide come from oxygen gas. Ordinarily, the reaction proceeds too slowly to be perceived, but when you pour hydrogen peroxide onto a cut or other surface containing a catalyst, it happens much more quickly. Catalysts that speed the decomposition reaction include transition metals such as iron in blood and the enzyme catalase.
Catalase is an enzyme found in nearly all living organisms, including humans and bacteria, and it acts to protect cells from peroxide by quickly deactivating the compound. Peroxide, even when produced by body cells themselves as part of the oxygen cycle, must be neutralized before it can cause oxidative damage.
But as peroxide undergoes oxidation, it destroys cells. This can be seen as bubbling. When you pour hydrogen peroxide on a cut, both healthy tissue and microbes are killed as the peroxide is attacked and begins to break down. Damage to healthy tissue typically repairs.
How to Test If Peroxide Is Still Good
If you're not sure whether that bottle of peroxide is worth keeping, there's a safe and easy way to test it: splash a bit into a sink. If it fizzes, it's still good. If it doesn't, it's time to replace the bottle.
I think the top, dirt cheap now but priceless in the future preps are.
water and filtration equipment
Dry beans
Rice
Chlorine bleach
Vinegar
Salt
Sugar
Multi-vitamins
Antibiotics
Soap
Toilet paper
Tarps
Rope
Batteries
water and filtration equipment
Dry beans
Rice
Chlorine bleach
Vinegar
Salt
Sugar
Multi-vitamins
Antibiotics
Soap
Toilet paper
Tarps
Rope
Batteries
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Messages
- 65,870
- Reaction score
- 73,882
The other thing besides your medication free health that will be most needed in the given scenario (1 year grid down) is knowledge. Either committed to memory or written down, on paper, the old fashion way. YouTube University will be closed for business.
Food safe pool shock. Mix your bleach as you need it.
Everclear or shine and a good stock of in date neosporin.
A whole year grid down is damn hard to prepare for. I can stock goods, have a well set up garden and the skills to keep it going, a hand pump well in a deep clean aquifer, and a solid house of ICF with a metal roof and some limited solar panels. But, it's really dangerous to be the only have in the land of have nots to quote from a good movie. I would hope I'm in a very out-of-the-way spot. I'd also want my goods stashed securely in many separate caches. Either be able to be out of site of of mind or a hard enough target to make you just not worth the cost. Hard to stay that unnoticed and desperation makes people do stupid things even if you are a hard target. Layers and layers of plans because nothing is certain. You could have the best, most secure, well hidden bol in the world and a forest fire can come along a mess up your world. Gray man would be hard. If you are eating, in a couple months the difference between you and everyone else will be very apparent. If I knew it would only last a year I'd want a hole I could to crawl into for a year. There really isn't a good answer for this. Prepare accordingly and do the best you can trying to keep you and your situation as under wraps as possible. An adult male doing hard work daily needs 3200 calories a day to avoid losing muscle mass according to army studies. Keep that in mind when stocking up. You almost have to triple those freeze died storage foods if that's the route you go.
Bottled Water
Most bottled water has an expiration date stamped on the bottle, but does the bottled water actually go bad? If so, how long is bottled water good? The answer to this common question is fairly simple.
Expiration Dates Come From a State Law
Although bottled water has an expiration date, it doesn't actually go bad. Why is there an expiration date on a product that doesn't go bad? This is because the state of New Jersey requires all food and beverages, including water, to carry an expiration date on its packaging. It doesn't matter if you don't live in New Jersey...your water may carry an expiration date anyway to make it easier to standardize packaging. Some bottled water only carries its bottling date or a "best by" date. These dates are helpful because the flavor of the water will change over time as it absorbs chemicals from its packaging. The flavor will not necessarily be bad, but it may be noticeable.
Any Leaching From Plastic Is Unrelated to Time
Leaching of chemicals from packaging is a health concern, but as far as toxic chemicals go, you can get exposure to most of those chemicals from freshly bottled water as well as bottled water that has been on the shelf a while. A plastic taste is not necessarily an indicator that the water is bad; conversely, the absence of an unpleasant flavor does not mean the water is free from contaminants.
Keep Bottled Water Sealed
While algae and bacteria will not grow in sealed bottled water, the situation changes once the seal has been broken. You should consume or discard water within two weeks after opening it.
Most bottled water has an expiration date stamped on the bottle, but does the bottled water actually go bad? If so, how long is bottled water good? The answer to this common question is fairly simple.
Expiration Dates Come From a State Law
Although bottled water has an expiration date, it doesn't actually go bad. Why is there an expiration date on a product that doesn't go bad? This is because the state of New Jersey requires all food and beverages, including water, to carry an expiration date on its packaging. It doesn't matter if you don't live in New Jersey...your water may carry an expiration date anyway to make it easier to standardize packaging. Some bottled water only carries its bottling date or a "best by" date. These dates are helpful because the flavor of the water will change over time as it absorbs chemicals from its packaging. The flavor will not necessarily be bad, but it may be noticeable.
Any Leaching From Plastic Is Unrelated to Time
Leaching of chemicals from packaging is a health concern, but as far as toxic chemicals go, you can get exposure to most of those chemicals from freshly bottled water as well as bottled water that has been on the shelf a while. A plastic taste is not necessarily an indicator that the water is bad; conversely, the absence of an unpleasant flavor does not mean the water is free from contaminants.
Keep Bottled Water Sealed
While algae and bacteria will not grow in sealed bottled water, the situation changes once the seal has been broken. You should consume or discard water within two weeks after opening it.
Similar threads
