Spray bottle "maintenance"

tinglett · 04-12-2022, 08:04 AM

Ok, this seems like a dumb question, but it seems every year I am replacing my spray bottle I use for bleach in the dumping process. I mix the bleach 25/75% and bring the bottle in over the winter. But like clockwork in the spring the bottle no longer functions. I suspect the bleach is killing it. Last year I bought a "pro" bottle and same thing as the cheapo ones -- it no longer has any pumping ability.

It seems I should be at least "winterizing" the bottle by running water through it at end of year, but it seems odd the bottle can't handle bleach. I have lots of nasty cleaners in bottles that must be similar...but maybe not?

BobC · 04-12-2022, 09:39 AM

I'd try using a spray bottle that's designed for bleach like one like Clorox Clean Up Cleaner + Bleach comes in? Albeit, it's not full-strength bleach but it might work.

https://www.clorox.com/products/clor...leaner-bleach/

SLOweather · 04-12-2022, 02:51 PM

IMO, 27/75 is way too strong of a mix. You could try 90/10 (water/bleach) or even 95/5 and be fine.

tinglett · 04-12-2022, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLOweather

IMO, 27/75 is way too strong of a mix. You could try 90/10 (water/bleach) or even 95/5 and be fine.

Maybe that's it. I didn't try to pull apart the bottle, but it seems as if a seal had dissolved as it only pumps air. I'll tone down the mix and see how it goes.

Morich · 04-12-2022, 06:44 PM

I'm missing some info. What do you use the spray bottle to do? I assume to spray bleach but on what and why, perhaps? That mix seems really strong for lots of things and just uses more bleach than needed for most anything I can think of but that leaves a lot of uses I've not considered!

Second is how does the bottle fail? Is it the actual bottle or just the spray mechanism?
I can easily see the metal spring that makes the spray work would corrode if left with a super strong bleach solution on the metal. If only the pump is failing, doing some simple work to protect the metal may be the easy solution???
Working around chlorine in well treatment and pools has shown me that the chlorine stored with any metal in the area will give off fumes strong enough to ruin lots of metal as it is such a strong oxidizer. Pool chlorine has to be stored in air tight storage to keep it from eating your shovel and the nail it hangs on!

Maybe just a good rinse and a bit of oil run through the pump?

wyocamper · 04-12-2022, 06:49 PM

A bleach/water solution is only good for about 24 hours before the effectiveness starts to fade rapidly. There's really no reason not to just mix what you need for a specific job and discard the unused portion when done.

tinglett · 04-12-2022, 06:58 PM

I only use this spray bottle to spritz over the slinky and parts during and after dumping. Maybe this isn't really a useful thing to do? I keep my supplies in a sealed bin for the purpose (slinky also) and spray over and into it just to "nuke" it to some degree. The spray certainly keeps its chlorine smell all year, but maybe it isn't effective?

The spray mechanism "dies" by not being able to draw up any liquid. All I get is air, so I assume some seal has dissolved. I haven't tried to disassemble it as the bottles are so cheap they really don't (seem to) have a way to pull them apart. But honestly, I haven't really tried to repair one.

wyocamper · 04-12-2022, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinglett

The spray certainly keeps its chlorine smell all year, but maybe it isn't effective?

Correction: The plastic bottle retains a chlorine smell because it had bleach in it. The solution itself is nothing more than very slightly salty water after just a few days.

You could try rinsing the bottle and squirting some clean water through it before storing.

tinglett · 04-12-2022, 07:26 PM

Well, go figure. Here's a reference for anyone interested to know a bit more:

https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews...13/bleach.html

Guess I'd better amend my ways. Perhaps I should be hitting these parts with some other cleaner that lasts a bit longer. I really don't want to be handling bleach. I only went with the spray bottle idea because I could leave it in the bottle without hassle for long periods of time. Well, that clearly doesn't work -- and it isn't just the broken bottle that's the problem. It just doesn't work :(.

And yeah, that brief article also summarizes that you end up with salt water! Thanks for the good advice

wyocamper · 04-12-2022, 07:34 PM

Clorox and other companies make a stable chlorine cleaner that would be easier than the mix-your-own stuff and lasts a long time too.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Clorox-3...s&locale=en-US

tinglett · 04-13-2022, 06:53 AM

Awesome! And in a spray bottle too.

The sad thing is that I knew bleach has a shelf life and I knew that water effectively "activates" it (i.e., bleach without water doesn't work very well at all). I'm sure I've read about or was told it has a short shelf life, but in this case the brain wasn't firing I guess

Thanks everyone for the help! One easy thing to add to the shopping list for my first little trip of the year.

Morich · 04-13-2022, 08:10 AM

One of the funnty things of life is how we can know so much but still get into a rut of ignoring the facts!
I raised tropical fish for a long time and one of the big things I used to clean tanks and such after disease or just to "reset" was chlorine bleach. Since chlorine was one of the older treatments for water, it is well known in the hobby that chlorine will react with the gills of fish and they die.

So any mention of bleach automatically sets off mass hysterics from folks who don't think it through!
We know that chlorine kills fish. We know that we smell chlorine as we drink treated water or walk past a pool. Chlorine is a gas by nature and we have to work pretty hard to keep it in the solution in the jug! So does it follow that we can get rid of it if we just let it set for a while and let the chlorine blow away?

But in your case, the process is slower and likely the chlorine reacts with any metal springs in the pump to rust them before it blows away, especially if it is enclosed in a plastic pump inside a plastic bottle!

MadMaxWinny · 04-17-2022, 04:37 PM

I had the same issue with a 10/90 mix, which I fixed with a "dump and rinse" policy. Now I just use Clorox Cleaner with Bleach. It seems to have a pretty decent shelf life, as well. I keep those bottles when empty, just in case a want a more aggressive solution.

BobC · 04-17-2022, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny

I had the same issue with a 10/90 mix, which I fixed with a "dump and rinse" policy. Now I just use Clorox Cleaner with Bleach. It seems to have a pretty decent shelf life, as well. I keep those bottles when empty, just in case a want a more aggressive solution.

The Clorox cleaner is available in an economical gallon size that comes with a spray bottle.

We had some dark, almost black, water stains on the "fuzzy" ceiling of our 2002 Suncruiser from an old water leak prior to our ownership. We sprayed them with the Clorox Cleaner with Bleach and they effectively disappeared after a couple of applications. I'm hard pressed to locate where they were.

Rick 99037 · 04-19-2022, 08:31 AM

I found the same problem with putting windshield washer fluid in a typical spray bottle. It worked great at the time, but later wouldn't pump a drop. I suspect the alcohol in the solution is my problem, and your bleach, no doubt is even more aggressive against the rubber elements. I also wonder what I could pump through it, that has lubricating properties, then put it back in the bottle. The trick then, to remember to pump it a couple times to flush that out first.