You can find the active ingredients of many common bleaches at the National Institutes of Health,
Looking over the list, Clorox makes quite a few bleaches that aren't chlorine bleach, but still quite a few standard sodium hypochlorite bleaches as well.
Non-chlorine bleaches are marketed as being "color safe," they won't fade many dyes that are susceptible to chlorine bleaches. They can also be safer for some fabrics that react badly to chlorine bleach. More recently, non-chlorine bleaches have also been marketed for environmental concerns.
Probably should be obvious, but if you're going to spray undiluted bleach in a confined space, you don't really want to bleach the inside of your lungs by breathing bleach mist. Wear a suitable respirator.
Sadly for me, I wasn't as complete as I should have been.
This wasn't marked color-safe, and is sold in the standard bottle which used to sell Clorox chlorine bleach.
It almost certainly isn't color safe, because in place of chlorine is another similar element, for a compound something like sodium hypofluorite. It's the exchange of chlorine for a similar but still different element that suprised me.
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To really understand you have to know the structure of microorganisms and what the alcohol does. Here is the simple answer. Higher concentrations cause the the cell walls of bacteria to become impenetrable stopping entry of the alcohol and dessication of the cell.
Maybe you are confused because there are so many different products, e.g., no splash, regular, non chlorine, etc. I think I saw at least 7 different formulations all called Chlorox.
Regular bleach is what everyone is talking about, not some substitute that is intended to make colors brighter. Regular bleach is Sodium hypochlorite which ruins cottons by turning them yellow. So there are other "bleaches" that contain other substances including enzymes for special purposes.
If you are smart enough to know the word "halogen" then you should be smart enough to know what chlorine bleach is. There may be some products with bromine or iodine, but I wouldn't want to use them on my clothes. And certainly, none have fluorine in them.
Bull Shit. I think this is all a troll. No one would substitute sodium hypofluorite for sodium hypochlorite. Not sure that sodium hypofluorite exist under normal conditions.
Actually, "Whink" rust stain remover, usually found either in the laundry aisle or in the bathroom cleaners section, is hydrofluoric acid in a plastic squeeze bottle. Strong enough concentration to etch many porcelain fixtures, but it does remove rust stains quite well. Just avoid those nasty HF burns....
(And people say bleach would be hard on your skin ;-)
I have never seen that product and couldn't believe it contain HF, so I googled. That is just unbelievable that a commercial product like that contains HF.
I can see how you looked for a product that contains fluorine from my statement. But, my statement was directed at bleaches and HF is not a bleach. I would think that any compound considered a bleach with fluorine in it would be highly unstable.
Yep HF would get rid of iron stains, by dissolving it, but excepting some waxes (which HF used to be shipped in wax bottles) and plastics, it dissolves just about everything including what the rust stain was on and you. This HF must be pretty dilute.
I would prefer denaturated alcohol, its cheap and does work well by penetrating in the deep of the molded material and takes out the water of it and so dehydrates the mold what kills it. Besides, it is not harming the user.
But much more important is the question of the reason for mold growing. Here a lot of mistakes in thinking and doing are usual. Mostly the room is sealed with airtight windows and a heating system and technique, which first warms up the air and later the material (wall, ceiling, ...) and will cool off the exterior walls every night. So I would recommend putting out the upper rubber of airtight windows, permanent heating and often this both gets rid with mold attack. Some further advice I have done in the linked info:
It's not a troll and there's no need for your vulgarity.
Well I said "something like sodium >> hypofluorite ". Since you don't think that is likely, I went to the basement, but I finished that container of bleach. So I was going to the grocery anyhow tonight and I looked for bleach.
All of Clorox's regular bleaches** have gone back to using sodium hypochlorite, but out of the blue I recalled more or all of what my previous gallon had in it, sodium hyposulfite, or at the very least some salt of some sulfite.
Before, when I said fluorite, I was only considering halogens. I looked for info about sodium hyposulfite and Britannica had a short bit about common sodium compounds, and all it said was" Sodium thiosulfate (sodium hyposulfite), Na2S2O3, is used by photographers to fix developed negatives and prints; it acts by dissolving the unchanged silver salts." In other words, hypo. Another page also gives no other use for it.
There is also sodium bisulfite, but that seems also to be used as photographic hypo and nothing else.
There is also sodium sulfide, and one of the "photographic formulas" for that is called Dassonville T-56 Bleach. The only use of the word bleach on the whole page, but still related to photography. OTOH, this was Jack's Photographic and Chemistry Site, so maybe he is concerned wityh photography.
A page under
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has " Sodium chlorite, hypochlorite, perborate, and peroxide are used to bleach paper, cotton, and rayon. Sodium hyposulfite is used in the reduction of certain dyes. Sodium thiosulfate is used to dissolve unreduced silver salts in photographic processes. Sodium sulfide is used as a depilatory and in the manufacture of sulfur dyes." This guy doesn't seem to know that hyposulfite and thiosulphate are, accoding to Jack's site, the same thing.
Other sites call hyposulfite a [deliquescent] ["hypo", photography], I haven't looked up deliquescent.
Any ideas why it was used in Clorox? There was an 800 number on the Chlorox bottle, but this strikes me as just the sort of thing they won't know anything about.
I'll try to remember to call on Monday.
**not Clorox 2, for example, which IS called color-safe. I was talking about "regular bleach", a term they use on the Clorox label.
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The last place I lived (apartment) had windows that leaked incredibly badly. After a few years there was mold inside the walls, which of course got washed out and onto our carpet when it rained good. I asked an amateur mycologist of my acquaintance how to get rid of it, and he said, "bleach." When I said that's fine for the walls but would discolor the carpet, he replied, "vinegar." Both worked.
:Jack wrote: :> I am planning an attic mold cleanup-- Conventional wisdom is to use :> bleach and water, but when I google it... I get a lot of hits saying :> that it is a myth that Bleach kills mold. :> :> The EPA brochure does little to clear it up. :> :> Anyone with any real-world experience or other good info. :> : :I can say for certain it turns it a perly white :) As for wether or not :its dead, I couldn't say. I don't see why bleach would kill mold, its :not that harsh of a chemical. Perhaps thats why we like to use it.
Undoubtedly, bleach is a very effective fungicide (i.e. it kills mold DEAD). Of course, like any poison, it depends on the strength you use. You don't have to and shouldn't use full strength bleach to kill mold. Even full strength from the bottles they sell, it's around 5% sodium hypochlorite. For an effective fungicide, use ~25% solution of that - i.e. 1 part bleach from the bottle, 3 parts water. Now even that's pretty potent and you could use a weaker solution effectively, is my opinion.
Here's a paragraph from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
"Clean Mold Growth Off Hard Surfaces Mold growth on hard surfaces [Examples: floors, stoves, sinks, certain toys, countertops, flatware, plates, and tools]
Mix 1 cup of bleach in 1 gallon of water. Wash the item with the bleach mixture. If the surface of the item is rough, scrub the surface with a stiff brush. Rinse the item with clean water. Dry the item or leave it out to dry. "
I would use borates/borax and/or ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) before I used bleach. Anti-freeze kills pretty much every living thing, and it has an afinity for water, which means it'll soak into wet/damp wood really well.
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