For new and old pool owners the question of what chemical can be a difficult one to answer. For a long time the standard answer was to just use chlorine, but today there are other alternatives that must be considered. Bringing our pool store in Michigan’s experience to bear, we will discuss the pros and cons of chlorine and bromine and compare the two chemicals.

Some of the advantages of chlorine are that chlorine costs less per treatment that the alternatives. Chlorine also dissolves quickly in water below 75 degrees and takes effect quickly. The treatments are easy and varied as you can use powder, tablets, floating pods, or a pump.

Chlorine also has disadvantages. Chlorine is not very stable in water higher than 75 degrees, causing treatments and shocking to be done more frequently. This can reduce the savings of using chlorine. Chlorine is also a known eye and skin irritant. It also fades swimwear and corrodes spandex. The effectiveness of chlorine can be reduced when exposed to the UV rays in sunlight.

Bromine is halogen gas like chlorine, but it behaves rather differently to its bleaching counterpart. Bromine is far more stable than chlorine when in hot water so it is used frequently in spas, pools, and hot tubs. The cost of Bromine per treatment is higher than chlorine, but the treatments are less frequent and can add up to some decent savings. Bromine has little to no effect on eyes and skin and does not affect swimwear at all. It has no taste or smell and also does not lose effectiveness when exposed to sunlight.

The disadvantages to Bromine are less severe than those of chlorine. The treatment involving bromine is quite a bit more complex than that of chlorine and it takes longer to dissolve well in pool water. That said the costs of these treatments are also higher than the chlorine ones, but they happen less frequently and will add up to be less cost over all overall.

Both substances have their merits and are both used frequently all over the world. Regardless of which one you choose they will work to keep your pool clean. The real differences are simply in varying circumstances and instances. So realistically you should pick the solution that best fits your setup. It is important to note that whatever you choose is not permanent. You can change your mind, but chlorine to bromine is much easier than bromine to chlorine.

These two chemicals are both more than capable of doing the job. They both have upsides and downsides. It is simply a matter of attaching the best solution to your problem. There are other options out there than these two but these are well known and likely to be recommended to you by a pool store in Michigan. For more information or help deciding on how to best care for your on ground pool don’t hesitate to check out our site or contact us. We are always willing to help.