sue

I have a bromine pool, it has been a bromine pool for about 11 years. I am looking for information about converting it to a salt water chlorine-generating system. My goal in switching from bromine is to get more hours of open pool time. Currently our pool is covered all the time except when we are actually swimming. With the cover open I loose >2ppm/hour. The sun is very strong here in the desert at 6000 feet in elevation. As you can see after just 2 hours, I am below recommended sanitation levels. I am constantly fighting Br levels when the pool is open for any length of time. I have talked to my local pool care store and they tell me that all I have to do is wait for my free Br level to be zero, and just switch over to salt. Won't the Cl generated in the salt water system just regenerate the Br from the Br bank in the pool? The pool care people say I don't need to drain my water. If I don't change the water, then won't I be measuring free Br and not free Cl with a generator? Will the generator react differently because there is Br in the water as it passes through the plates? The cyuranic acid that is added as a stabilizer for Cl does not work for Br, will it cause any interferance or problems? Why is the recommended level of CYA higher for salt water systems than fresh water systems? Doesn't a higher CYA conc require a higher free Cl level for sanitation? I would prefer to keep both CYA and free Cl levels as low as possible since both are carcinogens. The guys at the pool store are clearly not water chemists, even though they have done this type of work for many years and they may be right, that I can just switch. Is there a publication or web site where I can get more technical/chemical information? Are there other sanitation options available without draining the pool? 20,000 gallons is alot of water, and we are having a drought - with water use restrictions. Thanks for your help!! Confused...need answers!!