Handling and Storage

HANDLING AND STORAGE

The danger of gas chlorine leakage has been virtually eliminated with the use of all vacuum-systems that rendered the old-fashioned pressure systems obsolete. With no government regulations regarding calcium and sodium hypochlorite, they are often handled, stored and used with a high degree of carelessness, due to ignorance of the risks involved.

POTENCY

Gas chlorine is 100% elemental chlorine and remains at full strength no matter how long it is in storage. Available as granules or compressed into tablets, calcium hypochlorite has only 65% of total weight in available chlorine and loses its strength once the container has been opened. Because of its form and storage, sodium hypochlorite degrades over time and can lose up to 50% of its potency in the first 90 days. Typically 12-1/2% solution averages approximately 10% by the time it is used, making it the most inefficient of all chlorination forms.

SAFETY

When sodium and calcium hypochlorite are contaminated, a spontaneous chemical reaction can result in an uncontrolled chlorine gas release. This is what cause the majority of accidents and injuries the media mistakenly attributes to gas chlorine. Recent data collected in California showed that, of the 1300 accidents involving chlorine, 87.5% were related to sodium hypochlorite. Sixty-five poison control centers nationwide recently reported a total of 69,804 chlorine exposures. Of these 78% were attributed to sodium hypochlorite and 13% to calcium hypochlorite. Gas chlorine was involved in only 9% of these exposures.