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HOCl.love

How to make inexpensive disinfectant and use it safely

What is HOCl?

Your body's own disinfectant

Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is the disinfectant your own white blood cells make to fight infection. You can make it at home, cheaply, to keep surfaces clean.

Make it from tablets or by electrolysis, with a generator you buy or build: see ways to make it. The tablets and kits here are made for cleaning surfaces. For eyes, skin and wounds, people use products made for them; Uses shows what the studies found.

The chemistry, for the curious

Whether it comes from a tablet or a machine, the molecule that does the disinfecting is the same: hypochlorous acid (HOCl). In water it shifts back and forth with a weaker form, hypochlorite. Which one wins depends on how acidic the water is: at pH 7.5 they are about equal, and in more acidic water HOCl takes over. Test strips count both together as free chlorine.

From tablets. The tablets are NaDCC (sodium dichloroisocyanurate). In water they make a mildly acidic solution, pH 6 to 7, so most of the free chlorine is HOCl. About half the chlorine stays attached to what is left of the tablet, which lets it go as the free chlorine gets used up. That leftover stays in the water as cyanuric acid, which is why drinking water takes a much smaller dose. Each tablet gives a known strength.

From a generator. A generator runs an electric current through salt water. That makes chlorine, which turns into HOCl in the water. Straight from the cell the water is alkaline, so most of the chlorine is hypochlorite, the chemical in bleach. A published 2024 build then adds vinegar, to about pH 6, where most of it is HOCl (the steps are in Make it). Below pH 4 it gives off chlorine gas. Nothing holds chlorine in reserve, and the strength changes from batch to batch, so strips show what each batch holds.

Next to bleach. Household bleach in water sits at pH 11 to 12, so most of its chlorine is hypochlorite, which kills bacteria and viruses less effectively than HOCl. In clean lab tests, tablet solution and bleach at the same strength killed bacteria about equally. With blood or other body fluids, tablet solution kept working at about a quarter of the strength bleach needed.

Hypochlorous acid, from Scientific American
YouTube · Scientific AmericanIs hypochlorous acid worth the hype?

Scientific American also has an article on whether HOCl works and a podcast on HOCl as a natural disinfectant.

For mutual aid

HOCl is one of the cheapest hygiene tools a community group can hand out. A US$30 box of 100 small tablets makes about 100 litres of sanitizer for food-contact surfaces: enough for a community kitchen, a shared fridge or a disaster kit. The calculator works out tablets and cost for each job.

Uses and strengths

What for, how strong, and what not to do

Strength is measured in ppm, parts per million: 1 ppm is 1 milligram of chlorine in a litre of water. Strengths for surfaces come from the tablet label, and strengths for drinking water from the safe limits for drinking water. They are for tablet solution; the label doesn’t cover generator solution, so for cleaning aim for at least 250 ppm and test it (see Make it). Each card links to its sources.

Ways to make it

Tablets or electrolysis
Option 1

NaDCC tablets

Drop a tablet in water, let it dissolve, and it is ready.PurTabs 334 mg, US$30 for 100 (as of September 2026)
White NaDCC tablets

Médecins Sans Frontières uses NaDCC tablets as its standard chlorine disinfectant. Dry, they keep 3 to 5 years. Mixed with water, it slowly loses strength (step 6).

Which tablets

We use PurTabs because their label covers hard surfaces, food-contact sanitizing and emergency drinking water, with a dilution chart for a 32 oz bottle, about 0.95 litres. Other NaDCC tablets work too: Tablets compared lists them.

How to make it

  1. Fill a clean 32 oz (about 1 litre) glass or opaque plastic bottle with cool water, not hot. Chlorine corrodes metal.
  2. Drop the tablets in straight from the pack and let them dissolve fully. Use clean, dry utensils.
  3. Label the bottle with the strength and the date.
  4. Clean the surface first, then spray or wipe the solution on. Dirt uses up chlorine.
  5. Fresh is strongest. Sealed, dark and at room temperature, it loses about half its strength in a month, and stronger batches and warmer places lose more. US rules cap no-rinse food-contact solution at 100 ppm, and a fresh batch stays there. Test strips show what a bottle holds.
Quick reference Tablets per 32 oz bottle (about 0.95 L), from the label's chart
JobTabletsStrengthHow to apply
Everyday and food-contact surfaces1 × PurTabs 334 mg100 ppmLeave it on 1 minute, then let it drain and air dry.
Disinfecting surfaces1 × PurTabs 3.3 g1076 ppmLeave it on 10 minutes (tablet label), or at least 1 minute (health-care guidance).
Vomit, diarrhea, spills and C. difficile2 × PurTabs 3.3 g2153 ppmLeave it on 5 minutes for norovirus, or 10 for C. diff spores (4 at 4306 ppm).
Option 2

Electrolysis

Run current through salt water, then add vinegar. Buy a generator or build one.US$42 in parts (April 2023 prices) or a US$199.99 generator (as of September 2026)
Three steps: fill with water and add salt, add vinegar and stir, choose a setting

Electrolysis runs a current through salt water, which makes chlorine. Adding vinegar afterwards brings the pH to about 6, where most of the chlorine is HOCl. Read the safety rules for generators first, and test every batch with chlorine and pH strips.

Electrolysis makes salt water alkaline: in a 2024 study of home electrolysis, salt water set to pH 5 with vinegar came out at about pH 8.3, where most of the chlorine is the slower hypochlorite, and the authors added vinegar afterwards to bring it to about pH 6. They note that some generator makers only say to add vinegar before. If your strip reads above pH 7, the solution is weaker, since more of its chlorine is the slower hypochlorite, but it still works on surfaces: use it as it is, and add no more vinegar.

Generators are sold for cleaning surfaces, like the tablets. The strengths in Uses come from the tablet label, which does not cover generator solution. In that 2024 study, home-made solution at about 250 ppm and pH 6 cut bacteria on surfaces about as well as diluted bleach or 70% alcohol; the authors advise making it stronger than that, because home production has little quality control.

Build the published design

The 2024 study published a complete way to make HOCl by electrolysis, with its numbers.

  • Parts. A 1.5 liter soda bottle with the top cut open, two carbon rods held apart with rubber bands, a multimeter, and a 5 volt DC power supply that can give about 5 amps. The salt water is 30 grams of non-iodized salt per liter of tap water.
  • Run. 90 minutes. A batch of 1.35 to 1.5 liters came out at about 800 to 1000 ppm free chlorine, measured in the lab.
  • Use. Dilute to about 250 ppm for surfaces, then add distilled white vinegar to reach pH 6. In their lab test that took about 28 mL of 5% vinegar for 1.35 liters. At about 250 ppm and pH 6 the solution disinfected surfaces about as well as 1% bleach and 70% ethanol in tests in Mexico and India.
  • Cost and wear. About US$42 for the parts in the United States, and about US$0.15 a liter to run. The rods lasted about 90 hours of running, or sixty 1.35 liter batches.
  • Storage. Solution without vinegar lost under 5% of its chlorine in 34 days. With vinegar it lost 16 to 20%.

Buy a generator

A generator does the electrolysis for you: follow its instructions for the strength you want. They come in several sizes. As of September 2026, the one-liter home unit listed below costs US$199.99, and the larger ones cost thousands.

Where to buy generators

Not a full list. Prices are the sellers’ as of September 2026.

Build the USB version

A smaller, more experimental build: a portable generator from parts. The parts cost about US$61 in all, at online prices from September 2026. The vinegar, jar and spoon are rough figures.

What you need

Steps

These steps are for information only, and you follow them at your own risk. If you are not comfortable with basic chemistry, buy a ready-made generator. Read the safety rules for generators first.

  1. Fill the mason jar with tap water.
  2. Add 1 tsp of salt.
  3. Add 1/2 tsp of vinegar. No more: too much acid releases chlorine gas.
  4. Stir until the salt has fully dissolved.
  5. Plug the generator into the USB wall charger, and the charger into a power outlet. Work in a ventilated space, away from flames.
  6. Put the green tip of the generator in the jar. Small bubbles should come off it.
  7. Let it run for at least 15 minutes with a 2 A charger, or 30 minutes with a 1 A charger. The charger’s fine print gives its output. That makes about 100 to 200 ppm, too weak to disinfect.
  8. Keep it running, and test with the chlorine strips, until the reading is at least 250 ppm. No source gives a run time for this generator at that strength, so run it longer and test. The 2024 study published a run time for its own build, above. In the 2024 home electrolysis study, home-made solution at about 250 ppm and pH 6 cut bacteria on surfaces about as well as diluted bleach, and its authors advise going stronger.
  9. Test with the pH strips. The reading should be around 6.
  10. Label the jar with the strength and the date. Use it to wipe surfaces, at 250 ppm or more. For spills, norovirus and C. difficile, Uses gives the stronger tablet strengths.
About the PWPAM generator

Followed as its own instructions say, the PWPAM generator makes sodium hypochlorite, or chlorine bleach, which is closely related to HOCl. The small amount of vinegar in the steps lowers the pH, so more of the chlorine is HOCl, which kills bacteria and viruses more effectively than hypochlorite. More vinegar than the steps give can take it below pH 4, where it releases chlorine gas, which can seriously irritate the airways.

For more about the generator, see its original manual (PDF, 5 MB).

Or buy it ready-made

Ready-made HOCl products

To try HOCl without making it, these sellers offer it bottled. Not a full list, and no listing is sponsored. Strengths and uses are as each maker states them.

Check the strength

Use free-chlorine test strips that read up to 1000 ppm, or high-range strips for 2000 ppm and above. Pool strips that stop at 10 ppm cannot read surface-strength solution. Strips are rough guides: one comparison of test methods found errors of 5% to 48%. With NaDCC they read somewhat high, because cyanurate binds some of the chlorine (a 2019 chemistry model and a 2018 chemistry review). For generator solution, test the pH too: a 2024 study of home electrolysis set it to about 6.

Ideas for distribution

How mutual aid groups hand out HOCl:

  • Street outreach: tablets, test strips, printed instructions and a labelled bottle, so people make small batches where they are.
  • Encampments: tablets plus printed instructions for mixing on site.
  • Disaster response: stockpile tablets, drinking-water tablets included.
  • Community fridges: wipe down with 100 ppm solution, no rinse under US food-contact rules.

Calculator

How many tablets for your water

How many tablets?

½ tablet0.96 PurTabs 334 mg tablets in 1 L of water make 100 ppm. Rounded down to ½ tablet, to stay at or under 100 ppm: about 52 ppm (estimate from the label's 31.10% chlorine). The label chart gives 1 per 32 oz (about 0.95 L) for 100 ppm. Cost about US$0.29.

Leave 1 minute, then drain and air dry. US rules cap no-rinse NaDCC solution on food-contact surfaces at 100 ppm.

Set by the job. Change it if you need to.

Cost: about US$0.29

The seller's price as of September 2026. Enter what you paid.

How much solution?

946 ml1 PurTabs 334 mg tablet makes 946 ml (0.25 US gallons) at 100 ppm on the label chart. Cost about US$0.30, or US$0.32 a litre.

Leave 1 minute, then drain and air dry. US rules cap no-rinse NaDCC solution on food-contact surfaces at 100 ppm.

Cost: about US$0.30

The seller's price as of September 2026. Enter what you paid.

It offers the three tablet sizes whose chlorine is on their label (31.10 percent), and drinking-water tablets sized by their dosing chart. Uses on the body are not presets: their studies used commercial products. The 334 mg and 3.3 g prices are Zogics’ as of September 2026; the others are rough figures. Enter what you paid.

Safety

For tablets and for generators

Read these before your first batch. Tablets and generators have different rules, so find the ones for how you make it.

Tablets

For solution made from NaDCC tablets.

  • It weakens within weeksTablets dissolve fully in cool, clean water. Sealed, dark and at room temperature, the solution loses about half its strength in a month, and stronger batches and warmer places lose more; a hot car or sun speeds that up. A label with the strength and date shows how old a bottle is.
  • Mixing with other cleaners releases gasMixed with acids, vinegar, ammonia, urine or any other cleaner, they release chlorine gas or chloramines.
  • Cleaning solution is too strong to drinkDrinking-water tablets, at the dose on the packet, stay under the 5 ppm limit for drinking water.
  • Tablets are harmful if swallowedTablets are concentrated and harmful if swallowed, breathed in or absorbed through skin. Once dissolved in water, the solution isn't hazardous to handle.
  • Water rinses splashes from eyesSolution or tablet dust in an eye washes out with water.
  • Tablets keep best cool and dryBelow 40 °C (104 °F), sealed from moisture.

Generators

For solution made by electrolysis, with a bought or built generator.

  • Electrolysis makes flammable hydrogenHydrogen burns. In a ventilated spot away from flames, it does not build up.
  • Too much acid releases chlorine gasThe steps add a measured amount of vinegar to the salt water before switching on. Below pH 4, as with acid added to tablet solution or bleach, chlorine solution releases chlorine gas (home electrolysis study, CDC).
  • Strips show each batch's strengthChlorine and pH strips show what a batch holds. For cleaning, the pH stays above 4 and the chlorine at 250 ppm or more. Stored, it loses strength too, so an older batch reads lower.
  • Chlorine corrodes metal containersGlass or plastic holds it. A label with the strength and date, and storage out of children's reach, prevent mix-ups.

Tablets compared

Sizes, what each one makes, and prices

Match the tablet to the job: small ones sized per litre for drinking water, bigger ones for surfaces.

  • PurTabs: for hard surfaces, food contact and emergency drinking water. The 334 mg tablet suits food-contact strength; the 3.3 g tablet suits disinfecting.
  • Aquatabs and UNICEF tablets: drinking-water tablets, each sized for a volume of water, as the Aquatabs dosing chart shows.
  • Other tablets: rough figures without a label to confirm their chlorine, so the calculator leaves them out.

For surfaces Chlorine from the label, 31.10% of tablet weight

TabletAvailable chlorineOne makes, at 100 ppmOne makes, at 1076 ppmPrice per tabletA litre at 1076 ppm costs
PurTabs 334 mg103.9 mg1.04 LToo weakUS$0.30Too weak
PurTabs 3.3 g1026 mg10.3 L954 mlUS$0.25US$0.26
PurTabs 13.1 g4074 mg40.7 L3.79 LUS$1.33US$0.35

"Too weak": the label's chart stops the 334 mg tablet at 538 ppm. PurTabs 334 mg: the seller's price as of September 2026. PurTabs 3.3 g: the seller's price as of September 2026. Other prices: rough figures.

For drinking water Litres per tablet from the Aquatabs dosing chart, written for 5 ppm

Tablet (NaDCC)One treatsPrice per tabletCost per litre treated
UNICEF or Aquatabs 8.5 mg1 LUS$0.08US$0.08
UNICEF or Aquatabs 33 mg5 LUS$0.20US$0.04
UNICEF or Aquatabs 67 mg10 LUS$0.28US$0.03
UNICEF 167 mg20 LUS$0.01 to 0.02US$0.001
Generic 1.67 g200 LUS$0.03 to 0.05US$0.0002
UNICEF 8.68 g1000 LUS$0.25 to 0.35US$0.0003

Prices: rough figures.

Other tablets Rough figures. Read the tablet's label for its chlorine before you use it

TabletWeightAvailable chlorine, as given earlierPrice per tablet
Ef-Chlor 2.5 g2.5 g1500 mgUS$0.05 to 0.08
EZ-Bleach 5 g5 g1450 mgUS$0.40 to 0.45
Generic bulk 4 g4 g2400 mgUS$0.13

Prices: rough figures.

Where to buy NaDCC tablets

Not a full list, and no listing is sponsored. Tablet sizes and NaDCC content are as each maker lists them.

Sources

Full referencesAll 60 studies, labels and guidelines: authors, titles, dates and links
  1. WHO. Guidelines for drinking-water quality: chemical fact sheet, sodium dichloroisocyanurate. 2022.
  2. JECFA. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate. WHO Food Additives Series 52, 2004.
  3. WHO. Household water treatment and safe storage following emergencies and disasters.
  4. WHO International Scheme to Evaluate Household Water Treatment Technologies. Product report: Aquatabs (round 1).
  5. Jain S, et al. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate tablets for routine treatment of household drinking water in periurban Ghana: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010;82(1):16-22.
  6. Boisson S, et al. Effect of household-based drinking water chlorination on diarrhoea among children under five in Orissa, India. PLoS Med. 2013;10(8):e1001497.
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  9. 40 CFR 180.940. Tolerance exemptions for food-contact surface sanitizing solutions.
  10. EarthSafe Chemical Alternatives and EvaClean. PURTABS effervescent sanitizing and disinfection tablets, EPA Reg. No. 71847-6-91524, master label.
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  12. CDC. How to prevent norovirus. Last reviewed 13 January 2025.
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Additional linksFurther reading, not used as evidence on this page

Note

This page is for education and planning. Product details come from makers’ labels, and it gives no medical advice.