Chemistry
Same chlorine family, different pH
A side-by-side look at the usual pH of household bleach and of HOCl-type solutions, and what that does to the HOCl / OCl⁻ split.
No. Household bleach is sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) in an alkaline solution (above pH 8 for tap-water dilutions per CDC 2008, and about pH 9.3 to above 11 in the studies cited on this site), where most of the free chlorine is hypochlorite ion (OCl⁻). Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is the undissociated form of free chlorine, and it is the majority form near pH 5–6.
They are relatives rather than strangers: both count as free chlorine, and one turns into the other as pH shifts (CDC 2008, p. 41). That is why a free-chlorine reading counts both, and why the two are compared at all. But a bottle of bleach and a batch of HOCl are different solutions, kept at different pH, usually used at different strengths, and stored with different results.
The pH bands and the HOCl / OCl⁻ split are laid out on Same chlorine family, different pH.