None of my local supermarkets are selling thin bleach anymore- can I just dilute thick bleach?

[BigButtons]

I always have a couple of bottles of thin bleach- I find it very useful. Am having to eek out my last bottle as it stopped being stocked during the last lockdown and has never made a reappearance.
Can I just dilute thick bleach with water to make the same product?

We periodically use a cap of thin bleach in my eczema suffering DC's bath, it's NHS guidance for some cases and for us has made an absolutely incredible difference.

However even using thin bleach scared the life out of me, thick bleach with a 'gelling agent' sounds even worse. Hopefully if they phase it out something will be made available on prescription at least...

That's why I couldn't find any during the week. It's a standard a level chemistry practical! Shit. I need some for next week.

I know OP it's really annoying. I use think bleach for a variety of things and it was cheap as chips but since the pandemic everywhere seems to have stopped selling it. I currently buy it from Amazon but it's more expensive. I can't use the thick stuff (even if I could think it down) as they all contain fragrance and I have a fragrance allergy.

Both my last two orders are now showing as unavailable on Amazon but there's this one....

Selden GLC1008 Thin Bleach, 5 L Pack of 4 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PY8QZQ4/ref=cmswwrsmssapiglttfabc6JQFZ7H7SMWY6PVZ8R5C

@SuperSange you can buy 5L Bottles from Amazon.

Morrisons had thin bleach in the other day, having not had any for ages.

[quote SarahAndQuack]@PickAChew, it's the reaction between vinegar and bicarb that has an effect! It doesn't matter that they end up (roughly) neutral. You're not trying to burn away stains through sheer concentration of acid/alkali.[/quote]
No. It's the reaction between the acid or alkali and what you need to clean that you need. All the reaction between the vinegar and bicarb does is produce sodium ethanoate, water and carbon dioxide, none of which clean anything any better than tap water, though the fizzing can be useful if, for example, you need to unblock a plughole. Vinegar, itself, can do things like remove limescale and neutralising wee. Also kills mould, to some degree. Bicarb removes tannin stains (I use it in my knackered porcelain belfast sink) as well as neutralising the smell of puke and, to some extent, saponifying grease so it can be removed and removing soap scum, though there are more effective cleaning agents for that.

@pickachew, am I missing something (I may well be!). Of course the end results of the reaction between vinegar and bicarb aren't very exciting and don't do much. Why would they?

It's the reaction itself that is useful for cleaning - and much more effective than tap water! If you add vinegar to bicarb, the bubbles it emits effectively scour the surface on which you're working.If you add another abrasive, like sand or rice grains, that same reaction will stir it about quickly and add to the effect.

There are some things you can clean just by using vinegar or just by using bicarb, sure. But if you are trying to get the stain of a teacup, mixing bicarp and vinegar will work best because it will gently scour the surface of that stain.

Yes, it's the reaction with the thing that is being cleaned. For example, vinegar removes limescale by reacting with it. Put sodium bicarbonate in there and you are left with less vinegar to neutralise the calcium carbonate (limescale)

@PickAChew

Yes, it's the reaction with the thing that is being cleaned. For example, vinegar removes limescale by reacting with it. Put sodium bicarbonate in there and you are left with less vinegar to neutralise the calcium carbonate (limescale)

No, honest, the fizzing action of an acid plus base will clean things gently even if you don't have a strong acid or alkali deposit.

I bought a large bottle of Milton equivalent from Savers the other day for 75p. Also false teeth tablets do the same job equally well.

@TheSpottedZebra

Can you bleach a cup with thick bleach?

Yes.

Bleach does kill viruses and bacteria. The 'bleaching' effect on clothes ie removing the dye is a side effect of the chemical reaction it produces when it comes into contact with a fabric. It kills covid, currently the cheapest chemical that does.

And yes sometimes it is bloody difficult to find plain thin bleach in the shops.

Was looking up bleach tablets- most seem to be choline rather than sodium chlorinate. My chemistry is rubbish. Will they do the same thing?

Sorry chlorine

I don't understand if you wash them straight away they don't stain none of mine are stained?
I just put them in the dishwasher or handwash them as they are used

I'm sure at the beginning of Covid I heart a professor talking about superbugs etc and he said one of the causes was diluting bleach with water.

Most liquid bleaches are sodium hypochloride and tablets tend to be calcium hypochlorite. Its just a compound which "holds" the chlorine and stabilises it. Effectively the same thing, presented in a slightly different way.

I use the bleach tabs for sanitation mostly. I use them extensively at work (for sanitising stored water containers) and I monitor the use of Sodium Hypochlorite in the tanked potable water supplies (some sites don't have mains water).

At home they're great chucked into the washing machine for the sanitising empty wash cycle and for soaking water and juice bottles, tea flasks etc.

@MissMinutes24

I'm sure at the beginning of Covid I heart a professor talking about superbugs etc and he said one of the causes was diluting bleach with water.

I don't know in what context the professor talking about chlorine, but our domestic water is chlorinated.

cdn.dwi.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/23151717/chlorine.pdf

@saraclara

Bleach is bleach. Thin and thick are the same strength. The thick one simply has an additive to make it cling to surfaces when used neat. It's not more concentrated.

Everything you use thin bleach for you can use thick for.

Some things you don't want it to cling too though. I wash the conservatory windows / roof with it once a month as has a problem with condensation mould this time of year much easier decanted into a spray bottle.

You can buy tablets and make your own thin bleach www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297774936

I think it works out at as more expensive than the tesco value thin bleach I used to buy but much easier to store I have kept an old container to make it up in.

Thank all- no longer need to panic- I will pick up bleach tabs and make up my own.

Dr. Gerard Fleming, who led the study, said, "In principle this means that residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091227212310.htm

Milton is sterilising fluid - you can get cheaper versions of it. I have a bottle from Savers. A good scourer gets most of the tea stains off without bleach (which bleached the stains rather than removing them I think).

I've been struggling to buy it too, but recently discovered that our nearest Morrisons have it in stock so I've bought a few bottles of it.

Asda have thin bleach in their essentials range, March 2023. Dirt cheap and the same as what mum used to use.

For the doubters in this thread, DILUTED thin bleach is a great, CHEAP, way to sanitise dishes etc if eg one person in the house has a tummy bug.
This link has the how-to:
www.clorox.com/learn/how-to-sanitize-dishes-with-bleach/

TAKE CARE and don't let it splash on your clothes, especially when pouring from the bottle, or it can make instant white bleach spots.

The advantage of pure thin bleach, with no added scent etc, is that it evaporates and leaves no residue, and air drying is the cleanest way to dry dishes. So though it's pretty vicious, it's completely food safe when it dries.

Thick bleach leaves a residue which can be tasted and is not food safe, so needs further rinsing after sanitisation if used on plates and utensils.

Milton is some kinder version of the same thing, but somehow modified to last longer / be gentler / be in tablet form etc. It does the same job but costs more. For babies I'd obviously only use Milton, but for household things it's a matter of principle for me not not pay pounds for what I can buy for pennies.

You can make your own hypochlorite bleach with salt and water with a little usb powered generator like this