Chlorine dioxide
A gas, not a bleach solution — and the distinction matters, because its occupational exposure limit is an order of magnitude below most substances in this catalogue.
What not to do
Chlorine dioxide requires the precaution Household plastics
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
Precautions
- Ventilate the area
- Never mix with other cleaning products
- Keep away from children and pets
- Consider professional help
Why we say this
Strongly supported
A precaution edge rather than a material one. The reason to record it against an indoor surface at all is that consumer products generating it are used in enclosed domestic spaces, and the exposure limit is an order of magnitude below most substances in this register.
Sources
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Chlorine Dioxide (RTK 0368)
New Jersey Department of Health · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That chlorine dioxide is a gas whose permissible and recommended airborne exposure limits are both 0.1 ppm. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The 'IDENTIFICATION' block and the exposure limits. Supports the claim as stated. Lets the catalogue separate chlorine dioxide from hypochlorite bleach rather than treating consumer chlorine products as one family, and supplies the exposure figure that makes the distinction matter.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Precautions
- Never mix with other cleaning products
- Ventilate the area
- Keep away from children and pets
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Consider professional help
In detail
Chlorine dioxide is described by the regulator as a yellow to red GAS with an irritating odour similar to chlorine, used to bleach wood pulp, textiles and oils, in processing flour, and for water purification. That it is a gas is the fact consumer material about it consistently loses. Products marketed for odour removal and mould treatment generate it in place from a precursor, and are frequently described in the vocabulary of ordinary chlorine bleach, which is a different substance behaving in a different way. The number that separates them is the exposure limit: the legal airborne permissible limit is 0.1 parts per million averaged over an eight-hour shift, with the recommended limit the same figure. That is an order of magnitude below the limits recorded for most substances in this register, and a product that liberates a gas with a limit that low is not one whose behaviour can be assumed from its relatives. CleaningHQ holds no position on any consumer chlorine-dioxide product because it has read no evidence about one — this record exists so that the absence is a stated boundary rather than a silence, and so that a reader can tell the two chemistries apart.
Properties
- Chemical name
- Chlorine dioxide
- pH
- Not applicable
Why
- Chlorine dioxide is explained by Oxidation and bleaching
- Chlorine dioxide is explained by Cleaning, disinfecting and sterilising
Sources for this page
Sources
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Chlorine Dioxide (RTK 0368)
New Jersey Department of Health · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That chlorine dioxide is a yellow to red gas with an irritating odour similar to chlorine, used to bleach wood pulp, textiles and oils and for water purification, and that the permissible and recommended airborne exposure limits are both 0.1 ppm. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The 'IDENTIFICATION' block and the exposure limits. Supports the claim as stated. Lets the catalogue separate chlorine dioxide from hypochlorite bleach rather than treating consumer chlorine products as one family, and supplies the exposure figure that makes the distinction matter.
Last reviewed by a person on .