Bromine Pool makes us cough

[nasay]

Hi! I just moved into a home that has a vinyl linner pool. It is inground. The owner has it set up on a bromine feed. We noticed that when ever someone jumps in every one starts to cough. Someone told me that it is from combined bromine? I have shocked the pool like they said but it didn't help. Also it is foamy around the person that just jumped in. What can I do to help?

[PoolDoc]

Multiple possibilities:

1. In the Google map photo, the pool shown for your address (if it's the right one, rectangular with a slide?) looks like it might have an auto cover. If it does, OPEN it, and do something to aerate it: put hook a shop vac blower to a pipe and stick it in; arrange a hose nozzle so it will spray into the pool, and pull bubble into the water; use a spa jet on the steps (if you happen to have that), etc.

Brominamines (combined bromine) can be both volatile and irritating. Solid covers trap them. Aerating -- with the cover OFF -- can remove them. Shocking does NOT remove most bromamines.

2. You don't say how you've added bromine, or how long the pool has been brominated. But, if tablets have been used for multiple years, you could have extreme levels of dimethyl hydantoin (DMH). DMH is the binder that the bromine and chlorine are attached to, when tablets are made. DMH is very irritating on its own. Unfortunately, the only way to remove it that I know of, is to drain and refill.

3. But, you can NOT empty a liner pool; doing so will likely destroy the liner! There is a way to replace nearly 90+% of the water in the pool, with fresh water, and remove all but 10% of the stale water. To do so on your pool, you'd need 30 x 50 tarp, a small sump pump, and several hundred feet of rope

4. If you replace the water, you'll be able to convert to chlorine -- much cheaper -- and avoid the problems that result from using bromine tablets.

[PoolDoc]

(membership upgraded.)