Pool Pilot Digital - Do I need to use Sodium Bromide

[vinnie]

I just finished up all my plumbing today and plan on doing the electrical tomorrow and then firing everything up. I was reading over the manual for the Pool Pilot and was a big confused about Bromine. Is this something I will need to use? I see it says to add so much Sodium Bromide per gallon, but I though that Bromine was an alternative to chlorine?

Also regarding the salt, if my pool has never had a SWG will the water have any salt in it already?

 

[Strannik]

normally you are supposed to add sodium chloride i.e salt ...

 

[JasonLion]

You should either measure your startting salt level or wait till the AutoPilot measures it for you. There will be some salt at the start.

You should NOT add sodium bromide. That is only for people who are setting up bromine systems.

 

[Strannik]

You should either measure your startting salt level or wait till the AutoPilot measures it for you. There will be some salt at the start.

You should NOT add sodium bromide. That is only for people who are setting up bromine systems.

oddly enough, PoolPilot manual does say to add sodium bromide at startup and then every time you add normal salt

maybe Poolsean can explain why

 

[Guest]

Actually the manual does not say that you MUST use bromine. I just reread it again and it says to add the sodium bromide if you are going to set up a bromine system instead of a chlorine system. (Not all SWGs can be used with bromine but the Pool Pilot units can.)
This is one quote from the manual about sodium bromide:
Along with the normal Salt level, add 2lb (0.9 kg) Sodium Bromide (NaBr) per 2000 gallons
(7.5 m³) of water. Your Pool Pilot™ Digital will now generate Bromine to purify your pool

and here is a quote from the CYA section of the manual right above it:
NOTE: For Bromine or indoor pools, it is not necessary to add stabilizer.

I think it's just a case of the manual not really being written that clearly, which is not unusual in our industry. Actually, the PoolPilot manuals are better than most, IMHO.

 

[Strannik]

Yeah, that's the bit that got me curious, why do you need to add salt (sodium chloride) if you are using bromine?
And why do you need to add sodium bromide if you are using salt?

 

[Guest]

Yeah, that's the bit that got me curious, why do you need to add salt (sodium chloride) if you are using bromine?
And why do you need to add sodium bromide if you are using salt?

From my understanding, there are two ways to generate bromine.
One directly from sodium bromide with no sodium chloride added but, also from my understanding, this is very hard on the cell electrodes and requires special design of the cell and uses graphite electrodes. This is the approach taken in some of the spa bromine generators such as the Genesis unit.
The second uses sodium chloride to generate chlorine and a small amount of sodium bromide is added as a bromide bank just like in manual 2 step bromine sanitation. The generated chlorine then oxidizes the bormide ions into hypobromous acid and is converted back into chloride ions in the process.