playa7seven7

Thanks for the quick response! I guess I won't be too worried about side effects occurring from adding chlorine. I still plan on doing some partial draining & refilling, but maybe not to the extent I had planned on. Since I have never used CYA or chlorine, I am sure I will have more questions in a couple weeks when my bromine runs out (if the weather is still warm enough to swim), otherwise, it'll have to wait until next spring. Thanks again for the help.

Hello. I am new to the forum, and have a similar situation to that of the original poster. Sorry in advance for the long post! The "background info" section can probably be skimmed through quickly (or skipped), it is the "questions" section that contains the important stuff... Background info: I'm a new homeowner (as of January) of a house that has an in-ground, 18x38 vinyl lined pool. We opened it this spring and the pool guys we hired to help us told us to add bromine as a sanitizer (we have a Hayward "chemical feeder", that they kept referring to as a "bromine feeder")... at this point we did not know that bromine was an alternative to chlorine (a much more expensive alternative at that!), as we had never owned a pool. We also did not know that once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool --I know, should have researched, but we'd been very busy and figured the pool guys we were paying would give us proper guidance. Well, halfway through the summer, I began questioning why the pool guys told us to add bromine, as we have a "chemical feeder" that accepts either chlorine or bromine. After going back to the guys, they had no explanation other than they thought it was a bromine feeder, so figured it was a bromine pool --also, we were told it was our fault we added bromine, and should have known what chemicals were used in the pool previously; so, we were stuck with the high bromine costs. BTW, I think they automatically figured it was a bromine feeder because Hayward used to only make bromine feeders (not that it really lets them off the hook, as they are the "pros"). To make things more interesting, about one month ago, we were finally able to get in touch with the previous owners, who were able to give us a bit of chemical background info on the pool. We found out that it had been a bromine pool, until last year when they could not afford bromine, so just used chlorine instead. They justified this is OK to do, as long as you don't use both at the same time --I know, not really OK to do... Anyways, so far we have gone through two 50 gallon buckets of bromine this year (we are trying to milk the last of our bromine so we don't need to buy anymore), which has cost twice as much as it would have for chlorine, and we are investigating the option of trying to convert it to chlorine. In talking to the pool guys we had hired (who we now have a severed relationship with, as they accused us of the wrong-doing, and lying), they briefly mentioned a conversion process of turning a bromine pool into a chlorine pool. So, I was wondering if people have anything they could add to what little they told us: They said that next spring, we will do a dilution process (to reduce bromide salts), since we can not fully drain it because of the risk of the liner popping up. They said that first, we'll add the typical two feet of fresh water, since we'll drain it two feet for the winter closing. But, then we will then drain it another two feet right after filling it, in which we'll then add another two feet of water. At this point, we'll then add chlorine to the pool, and then begin water sampling/testing for bromide salts. We may then have to drain some more, and then refill. Questions: One of my major questions is, what would happen if we decided to do what the last pool owners did, and just start using chlorine next spring after we open up the pool? I realize that since bromide salts are in the pool and if chlorine is added, bromine is regenerated, but this seems like a good thing. Would we experience cloudy, gross water if we simply started adding chlorine (the previous owners claim the water was gorgeous even after using chlorine)? Would we have to use tons more chlorine than we typically would if it had always been a chlorine pool? Right now the water is crystal blue, and I would hate to mess it up next year, as we have really enjoyed it... but the price difference between bromine and chlorine is ridiculous. The cost of water, and time of having to partially drain and refill a few times would totally negate the cost of another summer's worth of bromine IMO, but I do not see anywhere on the internet that states a step-by-step process of this...I just keep seeing the cliched "once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool" everywhere. I know we'll be replacing the liner in a few years (hopefully it gives us around 3-5 more years of use), in which we'll then have the opportunity to use chlorine, but I think if we do the conversion next year, we'd save hundreds of $$ in the end. Lastly, I am guessing it will take more than two partial drainings and refillings in order to significantly reduce the amount of bromide salts (draining two feet will reduce the salt concentration by around 30% each time). But, would even reducing the concentration of the salts by 75% (probably around 4 drain-and-refills) do enough to reduce the negative effects of adding chlorine to a previously brominated pool? I think to get the salt concentration down to 5% I would have to perform 8 or 9 drain and refills (around $280 worth of water, and lots of time!), but again, I think it would be worth it in the end, financial-wise. So, if I could have one question answered in this post, the one that would be most helpful to me is: Is there a certain level that the salts could be dropped down to, in which their presence would not affect the pool chemistry too much once chlorine is added? Thanks for the help! Thanks for any input and sorry for the LONG post!