Shock

[orlandoguy]

At the risk of stirring up a great debate, when did bromine become out of fashion and the great exodus to dichlor begin?

I did a great deal of research and from what I could see the only benefit of dichlor was that it was less expensive.  I am probably wrong, but it seemed that bromine is better in hot water and is less odorous.

I'm also not sure if opinions are regional, like politics, but here in Central Florida, bromine seems to be very widely used and I don't hear too much about dichlor at my pool store, nor from a couple neighbors with tubs ranging from Vita Spa, Hot Spring, Jacuzzi, and Artesian.

[tony]

I think if you go through the 90s, bromine carried amost all of the load in homeowner spas.  I purchased in 2002 and there certainly was a move away from bromine in my area.  With biguanide systems getting popular, the greater use of mineral cartridges, enzyme products and other bacteriacides, the bromine base has been chipped away a bit.

[tony]

Doing a quick look through warranties, most of the majors specifically prohibit the use of trichlor, including Sundance, JacuzziPremium, HotSprings, Caldera, D1, and Marquis.  Arctic seems to push their own sanitizers, of which two are tabs (sanitizer B and sanitizer C) without much info on what they contain.  I could not find any Arctic exclusion of the use of trichlor.

[tony]

I did a great deal of research and from what I could see the only benefit of dichlor was that it was less expensive.  I am probably wrong, but it seemed that bromine is better in hot water and is less odorous.

That is a bit of misinformation regarding bromine being better in hot water, especially seeing that bromine tabs are mostly chlorine.  Clorine also has less odor than bromine.  Chloromines have the odor.  I like chlorine because you have better control over your sanitation, you are soaking in very little chemicals, there isn't a constant off gassing going on under the cover and the pH is neutral in dichlor compared to very low in bromine.

That being said, I have never used bromine.  But I have friends that do.  It should be no surprise that these friends have had spas a lot longer than I have, so they have been users since bromine was really all that was offered.  I have turned many of these folks onto the spa frog with their bromine (long before King Tech came out with their mineral and bromine floater or inline system) and they are extremely pleased with the results.  Most of the spa owners I know, though, use biguanides.

[orlandoguy]

See, now I always thought bromine was less odorous than chlorine

[tony]

People feel comfortable with what they are used to.  Amongst the people I know, I am in the minority with my chlorine use.  The down side is always having to add.  My bromine friends wouldn't think of changing and the baqua people love their method.  I think in todays world, it is more what the dealer is comfortable with and starting customers out on.

[tony]

People feel comfortable with what they are used to.  Amongst the people I know, I am in the minority with my chlorine use.  The down side is always having to add.  My bromine friends wouldn't think of changing and the baqua people love their method.  I think in todays world, it is more what the dealer is comfortable with and starting customers out on.