Bromine to Chlorine

[jrv331]

After reading here for several days Ive convinced my brother to switch from Bromine to Chlorine. Two things Im not really clear on. He curremtly has a inline Brominator which were removing and will be using a float for the chlorine pucks. Is a float enough? Secondly and most importantly, after reading the posts here Ive learned the test kits dont distinguish between chlorine/bromine readings - so how do we know what levels were at?

Im glad I found this forum before getting my pool and listening to the bad advice for the pool store.
Thanks
John

[gregugadawg]

One very important thing to note about bromine to chlorine. As long as there is so much of a trace of bromine in the water then when you add chloriine it will be converted back in to bromine. So before you completely convert over to chlorine you need to make sure that you eliminate all bromine from the water. After that you can use the same kit to test bromine and chlorine. Nothing else really changes except you can add cya now to stabalize the chlorine in the water.

[jrv331]

He has been using Bromine for years so Im guessing it will contain amounts of Bromine for some time. Im just trying to figure out where to start for taking readings.
Thanks
John

[jrv331]

Follow up - if we drain the pool about half way would that solve the problem?
John

[waterbear]

Follow up - if we drain the pool about half way would that solve the problem?
John

In a nutshell, no.
Here is some info from Ben (PoolDoc)
http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/tip10.html

The second half of this addresses using bromine tabs in a floater.

Bottom line, you need to drain the pool and get rid of the old bromine feeder.

[waterbear]

One very important thing to note about bromine to chlorine. As long as there is so much of a trace of bromine in the water then when you add chloriine it will be converted back in to bromine. So before you completely convert over to chlorine you need to make sure that you eliminate all bromine from the water.
This is basically correct! You need to drain and refill if bromine tabs have been used.
After that you can use the same kit to test bromine and chlorine.
With a correction factor. On OTO and DPD test kits that ae calibrated for chlorine you can multilply the results by 2.25 to get a bromine reading. IF the test is calibrated for bromine then you need to divide the reading by 2.25 to get the chlorine reading.
Nothing else really changes except you can add cya now to stabalize the chlorine in the water.

JRV331, I have a question. Your brother's pool IS an outdoor pool, isn't it? If it is an indoor pool then switching to chlorine from bromine might not be a real advantage. Chlorine presents it's own special set of problems with indoor pools and should NOT be stabilized in an indoor pool.

[jrv331]

Yes the pool is an out door pool. Were making the switch to chlorine because 1) I will be using it in my pool and we can buy the chemicals in bulk were possible 2) lower cost vs Bromine.

Thanks
John

[jrv331]

Waterbear,
My inline feeder is a Sani King Proformax(hope thats spelled right). The manual says its for bromine or trichlor. If I scrub it real good wjhy cant I use it? Heres the problem, my brother like to keep his solar cover on if the pool is not in use. Were afraid that a floating dispenser will not move around enough under the cover to be effective. Is this incorrect?
Thanks
John

[waterbear]

Waterbear,
My inline feeder is a Sani King Proformax(hope thats spelled right). The manual says its for bromine or trichlor. If I scrub it real good wjhy cant I use it? Heres the problem, my brother like to keep his solar cover on if the pool is not in use. Were afraid that a floating dispenser will not move around enough under the cover to be effective. Is this incorrect?
Thanks
John

First, I really don't know if you can use it and not have problems.
What I know is this. trichlor can react violently with other forms of chlorine, I don't know if this applies to bromine. Unless you get a answer otherwise it is not worth taking the risk.
Second, I question how well you can clean the feeder out. I don't know the amount of bromine needed to convert the chlorine pool back to a bromine pool but the amount of bromine that is used as a mustard algae treatment (which converts the pool to bromine temporarily) is not very much.
Third, Trichlor is fine but you will eventually have problems with your CYA levels getting too high and your options are to either drain and refill or switch to unstabilized chlorine. Many of the people on this forum choose to use unstabilizied chlorine for normal sanitation and shocking and add an appropriate amount of stabilzer separately for this very reason.

[jrv331]

I wound up getting a deal on a new inline feeder so I will be using that. Im going to use slow 1" disolving Trichlor tabs in it. If I understand everything corectly this is my stablizer(is this also my cya reading). For shocking Im going to use regular bleach which I believe is also my sanitizer. Is this correct? Would I turn my feeder off a few hours after adding the bleach?

I know Im going to be in for a rough time this season but hope it will be worth it in the end. Just so additional info. So far I have drained my pool half way and refilled twice to help dilute the bromine level. It wont deplete it but may help some. I was cautioned against doing a full drain. Im not officially opening the pool until this weekend so Im going to leave it uncovered, I get lots of direct sunlight and hope this will aid in the burn off.
Any additional thoughts?
Thanks
John