For those of you with swimming pools...

[StockMan]

I keep my pool chemicals in a building I have next to the pool.  Periodically, I will store other stuff in there, and I found that anything cast or steel would rust at an alarming rate.  I though it might have been related to humidity or something.  Today a friend was over and he was looking at some spikes I have in there to hang stuff on  (rusted) and he said, 'So you keep your chlorine in here'.  I said yeah, along with all the other chemicals.  He said that granular chlorine will emit gas and become airborn and corrode the hell out of anything made of iron/steel.

I thought I would pass this along to just in case you decide to store car parts, or your car, along side a pail of chlorine in your garage.

[lukedukem]

  I'll pass it along to my father in law. He just bought a new z71 that he parks in his garage with the pool stuff in it also.

Luke

[StockMan]

The same guy who told me about this has a Harley, and in one season both rims became pitted and began to rust.
I am amazed at how it accellerates the rust process.

I think if the pails are sealed you might be ok, its when you store chemicals that used used is where you have problems.

[chargerboy69]

Nice to know. 

Luckily we keep all our pool chemicals in a separate shed.

[Ghoste]

Good advice.  I discovered this myself over the winter when I stored some  chlorine in the garden shed.  I never did that before but had some left over last fall.  It was in a sealed bag inside a plastic container with a lid and still managed to rust a bunch of old garden tools.  Luckily nothing of value but hate to think if I had stuck it in the garage.

[six-tee-nine]

Thats very true. i worked in the swimmig pool biusiness a lifetime ago.

Chlorine granular can be an extremely dangerous product. Always keep it dry and away from children or pets. Just the fumes of a high concentration can make you dizzy or give you a headache all day long.

Oh an NEVER mix different brands of chlorine. The company I worked for at the time switched brands and one of my colleagues mixed the two brands of chlorine in the pump basket. The result was the whole filter installation exploded. I had never seen so much cracked PVC pipes until that day.
And the gas was terrible. Almost like it was WW I again

[duanesterrr]

Chlorine is some deadly stuff.  In bulk chlorine storage rooms I will use FRP ductwork to prevent corrosion (It will even corrode aluminum).  As for the health side of things, too much exposure and you will be a gonner for sure.

[4cruzin]

I have stored the chemicals in the garage but typically in a sealed bucket that the stuff comes in . . . last year I used most of the chlorine so I had none to store.  This is good to know but I assumed it is not good stuff . . . .

[Ghoste]

Same with me but I figured being sealed in a bag that was in a plastic container with the snap on lid would reduce the outgassing to a minimum.  It likely did but I'm thinking a minimum is all that was needed to do cause some rust.

[Chad L. Magee]

Unfortunately, quite a few people use chemicals everyday without looking at the safety labels on the containers.  This leads to hazardous storage issues as well as unwanted reactions that can occur during usage.  All chemicals can be dangerous if used/stored in the wrong manner.  Case in point, many people use bleach in cleaning of bathrooms.  Bleach contains a form of chlorine (sodium hypochlorite and/or calcium hypochlorite solutions) that can be released as chlorine gas (Cl2) if it reacts with certain chemicals (especially ammonia).  There are many people each year that die from improper mixing of chemicals that could easily be prevented if they just read the directions before using or storing the chemicals.  Chlorine gas was used in WWI as a chemical warfare agent, but deemed not very effective compared to agents developed later on in the war.  It can kill if overexposed via lung damage due to the formation of hydrochloric acid, HCl(g).  I have been exposed to pure bromine gas (similar effects as chlorine) before in a lab environment, simply because a fellow worker did not vent her reaction properly in a safety hood....

One thing I teach in my classes at the university is that there are no bad chemicals, just bad uses for said chemicals.  It all depends upon how they are being used/abused.... 

On a side note:  Urine contains urea, which has two amino groups (R-NH2) at the end, which acts much like ammonia.  So, if you have ever peed into a toliet that contained bleach, you now know why it smelled so bad shortly afterward....

[warpspeed]

One other thing to think about:  If you EVER own a farm that had chicken coops, don't store your cars in the coops either.   No matter how long it has been since the chickens have been gone.  The ammonia from the chickens is there a  long time and destroys metal.  Oh, sorry,  in the south we have a bunch of land with abandoned chicken coops that we just love to store our valuables in. 

[firefighter3931]

Yep, chlorine will "off-gas" even when stored in sealed containers. I had some stored in my garage and noticed accelerated rapid oxidization (rust) on some untreated surfaces. I mistakenly assumed it was humidity causing the problem.  

Since i have moved the pool chemicals outside to a seperate plastic storage bin....no more rust issues !  



Ron

[Back N Black]

Good info, i will let my neighbour know, I have a salt water system, no chlorine required.

[64dartgt]

When my Wife was a child her Mom got in the habit of dumping the chlorine into the cap of the chlorine bottle, dumping it in the pool and rinsing the cap in the pool.  She put the wet cap on and kept the bottle in the closet in the house...until one night it literally blew up.  Could have killed everyone in the house.

I bought a bunch of pool chemicals, pesticides, rust removers, etc...the bagger put them in the the same bags....as a chemist...I promptly told him to separate the acids and bases.

It should be a requirement that people learn enough chemistry in grade school or high school to be safe, but sadly it hasn't happened.

[Ghoste]

C'mon man, we live in a society where fast food restaurants have to put a warning on the side of coffee cups that the beverage contained within the cup is hot.

[69rtse4spd]

Good info, i will let my neighbour know, I have a salt water system, no chlorine required.

How do you like your salt water system.

[Back N Black]

Good info, i will let my neighbour know, I have a salt water system, no chlorine required.

How do you like your salt water system.

I really like the salt water system, its almost maintenance free. No dry itchy skin or burning eyes from chlorine and you don't have to worry about chemicals, just add salt.

[oldcarnut]

I cant remember at the moment but one of the pool chemicals if mixed/contacted with brake fluid or oil will start a fire so keep'em separate

[c00nhunterjoe]

I have salt as well. You don't add chlorine but the generator uses the salt to chemically make chlorine. Its nice for your skin but it is salt water.... my pump didn't last very long and my heater is extremely corroded already.....