How long for chlorine to outgas from bricks?

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MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Before you reply without reading this entire post, putting the bricks in the oven is NOT an option; our house was built before stove/oven fans were required to vent to the outside, and it's in the 30sF out there.

That said, I had to disinfect some bricks to build up a basking/climbing structure. This was an unforeseen incidental--not in the original enclosure plan, so no way to have done it a month before getting the BD. Instructions here & elsewhere said to soak them in a 10% bleach solution. Done. Also soaked & rinsed them in water afterward. The bricks have been out-gassing chlorine for 3 days now.

Anybody got any idea how long this is going to take?

TIA
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
FWIW, 5-7 days minimum. The chlorine smell got less each day, but (logically) the 2 days in the bright sun had the greatest effect (hard to find this time of year in the NE US). Other locales with more clement weather/climate (i.e. warm sunny days) should take less time.

YMMV
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
I generally boil all of the stones I use. I had never thought about bleaching them....hmmmm! :idea:
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Good luck getting all the chemical out of the bricks , house bricks are very porous , the porosity of brick is attributed to its fine capillaries, and it will take for ever for the liquid to evaporate and any chlorine absorbed to be released at anywhere near STP , the gas will likely never be released any a appreciable rate without heating it.

You can check the capillary coefficient Ks for bricks in any good engineering handbook.

IMO those bricks are buggered and will never be safe to use in any enclosed reptile tank because
1) the surface has been made much more degraded by the action of the bleach on the surface
2) chlorine will have diffused into the brick with the water ( under capillary action ) and there can never be any guarantee without heating the bricks and holding them at temperature that the brick has been dechlorinized.. NOT WORTH THE RISK.

I suggest investing in some band new house bricks (you'll be pretty safe with them as they'll contamination free).
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
That might be true for a more stable compound but bleach is far from a stable compound and degrades extremely quickly outside of its preferred environment.

If you smell nothing left in the bricks even after warming up under the heat bulb, you should be fine.

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
Well...

The bricks were left over from when the house was built--30-40 yrs ago. They're still on the original pallet that's been sitting in the basement since then, stacked from the brickyard, so there's really no difference between them and brand-new bricks aside from age. The only contamination I could think of was if any bugs traversing the basement laid eggs. A few had webs in them, so I figured bleach should do it.

After soaking in the 10% bleach, I washed/rinsed them under the faucet to remove any surface... whatever, soaked them again in clean water, and rinsed again.

They've been sitting in the sun when possible (I'm sure this would've gone far faster if it were still summer (Jul/Aug)--brighter sun & higher breeze temps. When they're done I make sure there isn't a whiff of chlorine or any chemical smell or residue, or keep putting them out there until they're "odorless". I'm pretty sensitive to chlorine (allergy) so I would've gotten a reaction if any were left.

Now that the chlorine smell is completely gone, I spoze I could put them in the oven, but I'm doubtful that's necessary at this point.

They seem fine... just... cleaner. :lol:

I appreciate the input--all the input. :) My question was regarding evaporating all the chlorine; it was taking longer than I thought (and there are still some other "enclostrations" (enclosure frustrations) I'm dealing with.
 

JumpinJellyfish

Juvie Member
The only thing I was ever able to find about chlorine off gassing was for water, and that was 4 days. I agree the oven is probably overkill. Let us know how the beardie likes the bricks once the setup is in place and the bricks warm up. :0)
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
JumpinJellyfish":19wtor1q said:
Let us know how the beardie likes the bricks once the setup is in place and the bricks warm up. :0)
I expect he'll like it fine. His basking spot needed to be closer to the UV--even with a reflector--and since the UVB is mounted to the ceiling, we had to raise the basking spot.

Hopefully, that'll be this weekend. He was in the big enclosure for a few days, but more work had to be done on lighting & electrical, so he's back in the sterilite tub until the rest of the stuff comes in--allegedly on Fri.
 

JumpinJellyfish

Juvie Member
MrSpectrum":1ayey10z said:
JumpinJellyfish":1ayey10z said:
Let us know how the beardie likes the bricks once the setup is in place and the bricks warm up. :0)
I expect he'll like it fine. His basking spot needed to be closer to the UV--even with a reflector--and since the UVB is mounted to the ceiling, we had to raise the basking spot.

Hopefully, that'll be this weekend. He was in the big enclosure for a few days, but more work had to be done on lighting & electrical, so he's back in the sterilite tub until the rest of the stuff comes in--allegedly on Fri.
Crossing fingers for Friday delivery!!
 
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