I’m doing laundry, and notice that a bottle of bleach (never opened) has a notice: “Best used before Nov 17, 2001”. I check the opened bottle of bleach I am using, and it expired on July 17, 2001.
Should I throw it out? I’m not cheap… I don’t care if I throw out a couple 1.50 bottles of bleach… but has the chlorine evaporated out of them?
Hrm… a followup. I tried smelling it… it had almost no smell. No chloring type smell. Obviously bleach does lose its effectiveness. Anyone care to explain this? Obviously my whites will not look nice tomorrow…
Only on a Fox special.
Yes, bleach goes bad. The hypochlorite (AKA bleach) will turn into chlorate (not bleach) if you let it sit for a year or more. High tempeatures and light accelerate the breakdown.
TMI here: http://www.powellfab.com/resources/literature/121.htm