any chemists here? bleach no longer bleaching o_0

[Knibitz]

So I am absolutely baffled!!!






I have a business making distressed denim clothing for dolls, and I've had a large jug of clorox splash-free bleach for less than 12 months that I've been using obviously for bleaching. It's been on a kitchen counter, out of sunlight, in room temperature (average 71F), I haven't used it in about 3-4 months, so it's just been sitting still for that long.


I had another order that I needed to work on today and I when I went to pour my bleach out into the container I use, it came out like cloudy water...
It usually comes out like a clear syrup.


I wafted it and it still had a pretty strong bleach odor, so I just shrugged it off and started using it (100% bleach)... except it did nothing!
I started with unwashed brand new dark blue denim fabric and it hardly made the dye budge... I've had more dye come out just hand washing with just soap and water.


Thinking it might just be the fabric, I grabbed another swatch of older fabric I know I'd used before and tested that, no dice... still no effect.


I've tried googling it and it seems like no one else has ever had an issue like mine!


Any chemist ponies out there know what might be up?

[MSKing]

Funny, my family was talking about this a couple of weeks ago. Your bleach has exceeded its shelf life. Here's an article I found on the subject:

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2011/03/17/does-chlorine-bleach-ever-expire-or-go-bad-important-in-emergency-situations/

Time to buy a new bottle.

Cheers,
Lisa

[kittybethy]

Wow!! Who knew bleach had a shelf life?

[Knibitz]

Wow!! Who knew bleach had a shelf life?

o_o same here!

I can't think of the last time my parents bought bleach and the first time I tried distressing denim I was at their house, and using their bleach that I would have guessed was a year or two old.

I wonder if it's just because I went with the splash-fee type that it broke down faster...

[kaoskat]

That's wild! I never knew that either!

[Kiwi]

You do learn something new every day. I had no idea.