Where can I get HOCl?

Q: Where can I get HOCl?

A: You can buy bottled HOCl or buy a generator to produce your own as required. Bottled solutions are said to be less effective than freshly generated solutions and require a longer kill time than freshly generated solutions. 

There are 2 categories of onsite generators:

1. Kettle—these are cheap to purchase; however, with little control over the solutions generated, they generally produce HOCI with an extremely high chloride content that can cause corrosion. 

2. Automated—these have tight controls on the HOCl quality, pH, and chloride concentration. 

Electrolytic Hypochlorite Water Generator

Q: Are all HOCl solutions the same?

A: No, there are many variations of HOCl on the market. If the generation process is inefficient, salt will remain unconverted in the HOCl. High chlorides cause corrosion of dental chairs, waterlines, and equipment. Many bottled solutions and solutions produced by kettle-type generators have an extremely high chloride content with as much as 18.75 g of salt per liter of HOCl. The automated generators that are designed specifically for dental applications use as little as 0.2 g of salt per liter of HOCl. To test just how much salt remains, evaporate 50 mL of any HOCl solution. Visible salt crystals remaining after evaporation indicate a high chloride content.