Bleach Tablets

[Duckie]

I saw these in Discount UK today for a quid. 36 tablets and each tablet makes 1 litre of bleach.

When I got home I checked the ingredients to see if it would be possible to use these for water treatment in an emergency. Instead of sodium hypochlorite it said "Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate 55% w/w anhydrousas active chlorine agent".

I did a bit of a search about the Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate and found that this is the same stuff they make water purification tablets from. I have no idea what the "anhydrousas active chlorine agent" bit is though. Is it safe to say that these could be used for treating water? How would work out how much to add after making up one tablet with a litre of water, would it be the same as regular bleach?

I'm not too bothered if they can't be used for treating water, I got them as a space saving stock of bleach for regular uses, but it would be nice to know if I can.

[pietka]

I'm not sure if they're safe for that kind of use! But keep them away from anything that may rust!

I stored some in the wrong place and lost a lot of lighters/safety pins/needles and such!

[Duckie]

Thanks Pietka, yeah I've put them in a plastic tub.

[ForgeCorvus]

I'll ask a Bio-chemist I know

[Duckie]

I'll ask a Bio-chemist I know

Ah brilliant, thanks very much!

[ForgeCorvus]

The

w/w anhydrousas active chlorine agent

just means it produces chlorine gas when mixed with water...... I think

[riversong]

I've got a kind of similar question regarding Bleach Tablets. Costs for the usual
"Water purification tablets" are quite high.

I came across some Covchlor tablets which contain an active ingredient of sodium dichloroisocyanurate, Na DCC. These were in a tub of 200 tabs for less than £10.

Strength is

Add 1 tablet to 5ltrs of water creating 200 ppm available chlorine.
Add 1 tablet to 1ltrs of water creating 1000 ppm available chlorine.

I didn't know whether these wee going to be OK for water so I wrote
to them and got a very guarded response. Essentially these are for disinfectant
of surfaces etc and although water purification tabs use the same or similar chemical
the company "doesnt usually sell them for this purpose"

They suggest a strength of between 1 - 5 ppm for water but I've read elsewhere
that for 'shock' water treatment you need a strength of 50ppm which would call for
1 tablet to 20 litres of water.

Any water experts out there who can give a definitive reply and give some citation please?

[jansman]

I use these to make plain old bleach. That bleach I use a lot of for sterilising my beer/wine making kit and disinfecting the yard where the dog has been. I do not see why they cannot be used for treating water. They certainly do the business with the brewing gear, never have any problems.

[skinhead]

i got 50 oasis purification tabs for £2 off amazon, each does a litre, didnt think thats was too bad , they also had stronger ones for a couple of quid more , but in thought id go with the 1 litre ones as in an emergency its easy to get hold of a litre fizzy bottle