New house with bromine pool with spa attached. Not sure how to proceed

[Smehltrett]

Hi all!

I am a former pool owner and used to follow the TFP methods with my old pool and never had a lick of trouble. I have recently bought a new home that has a nice pool with a hot tub attached to it. This pool seems quite a bit more complicated then my last one a lot more valves and equipment on the pad and the previous owner said they used bromine instead of chlorine. I am fairly sure I can figure out the equipment end but I am stuck on what to do about the bromine situation. It is my understanding that I can not simply switch to using chlorine. To make matters worse it looks like this pool has not been taken care of for a while . When I removed the cover I was greeted with dark green water and what appears to be a giant chia pet growing on the stairs/floor .

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed with this one? I was considering potentially draining it but I am sure it will cost quite a bit to refill. I was also considering putting my pride aside and calling in a professional to get me started. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[duraleigh]

It might be cheaper to drain/refill than you think. Getting rid of that bromine will cost a LOT in how much chlorine it will take. I would strongly consider draining it.

 

[Flying Tivo]

+1 on Draining. It will be a lot cheaper, even if you hire the pool guy to do it. If you hire someone to do it make sure they just fill with water and you will add the chemicals. We can guide you with the equipment layout(looks straight forward) and you already know TFP. So it would be a great start.

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Smehltrett]

If I go the draining route that would make the pool a a lot easier and cheaper I guess. What about the hot tub though will that more or less work with the TFP methods as well? Would I be able to get away with partial drain/replacement or would it need to be completely drained to get rid of the bromine? This might also be a good time to replace the inline bromine feeder with a stenner pump or maybe a salt generator?


PS: sorry I just bombarded you all with questions

 

[Flying Tivo]

Great questions! Keep them coming!
It seams the pool and spa are the same body of water. So draining will include the spa. You have in your signature a vinyl pool but by the pictures it seams a Gunite/plaster pool, can you confirm? Draining is different in each one. You can wait on the removing the feeder, just make sure its empty. SWG are awesome but hard to get due to pandemic. Stenners also work great. The more you drain the less bromine you will fight.

 

[Smehltrett]

Oh sorry my signature is from the old house haven't had a pool for the last 3 years. They had it listed as "concrete" on the disclosure so I am assuming its gunite. With the SWG that is something I can always add later right?

 

[Flying Tivo]

Yes, you an add SWG at any time.

 

[Smehltrett]

Appreciate all the help so far. I still haven't heard anything back from the pool builder/store and thinking I might just go it alone. The suction side seems to have a main drain so I am assuming that would be on the floor of the pool right? (sadly that I can't even see the bottom of the pool). If that is the case can I just use my pool pump to waste? I think I can do that with this filter since someone installed this valve on the drain port presumably for that purpose? If not I can always use a couple submersible pumps it will just take a bit longer.

The next question is how to actually clean the pool once its drained. I would imagine there is going to be a lot of nasty surprises that dont make it out to the sewer. Any specific chemicals to use or just good old chlorine and a brush?

-thanks!