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Eco-Friendly Swimming Pools: Tips to Manage, Maintain

March 15th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Speaking of eco-friendly swimming pools, this is a great story from the Orlando Sentinel (FL) on green standards for pools.  No, not algae - we’re talking about managing your pool in an environmentally sound and sustainable way.  The Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC), a nonprofit organization, has published a Green Home Standard Reference Guide (note: PDF link requires Adobe Reader or equivalent) that recommends standards for green home building in Florida and is a resource for builders and consumers. The first two pages of the guide recommend steps for eco-friendly swimming pool management.

Not surprisingly, the FGBC would prefer you didn’t have a pool or spa at all due to water evaporation, energy use and chemical use concerns.  However, if you want an eco-friendly swimming pool, or want to maintain and manage your existing pool in a more eco-sensitive way, there are four steps you can take to minimize the environmental impacts:

Install a sanitation system that reduces/eliminates chlorine use.  The constant use of chlorine liquid or tablets to sanitize and shock the pool is of primary concern. Chlorine degrades and evaporates quickly from the water, necessitating weekly replenishment. FGBC recommends using salt water pool systems, ionization or UV sanitation systems to reduce or eliminate the amounts of liquid or tablet chlorine used.

Eco-friendly swimming pools use pool covers. Swimming pool covers keep the pool cleaner, reducing chemical and filter maintenance costs. A pool cover also reduces the amount of water and chlorine lost to evaporation. And, covers help prevent heat loss, keeping your pool water comfortably warm, miminizing pool heater usage and possibly extending your swimming season.  FGBC recommends “transparent or lightly translucent [pool] covers” which allow the sun to warm the water.  Opaque pool covers are specifically recommended for Florida pools to minimize heat loss at night.

Use a more efficient swimming pool pump. FGBC estimates that a pool pump accounts for as much as 20% of a home’s electrical use. To reduce this energy expense, they recommend using a pump no larger that 1/2 hp (horsepower) per 10,000 gallons of pool water, paired with an oversized cartridge filter and 2″ diameter PVC pipes instead of the standard 1 1/2″.  For example, I have a 30,000 gallon pool and I need to replace my pump - it took a nasty shock during our last electrical storm (ugh!). So according to this, seems I’d look to replace my ailing pump with a new 1 1/2 hp model.

It’s recommended to put the pump on a timer and run it no more than 6 hours per day in summer, three hours in winter. Six hours is pretty long; unless you’ve got hordes swimming round the clock, you shouldn’t need nearly that.  I set my timer for four hours in summer; and the water’s beautiful. You might also consider putting the pump on solar power.

Use a solar pool heating system.  This would lessen electricity and gas dependence, and is definitely eco-friendly.  

With water shortages, drought and water contamination in the news, we need to look for ways to responsibly and sensitively manage our swimming pools.  While I can’t implement all of the FGBC’s recommendations (solar power is out - too many trees) I’m happy to know my salt water swimming pool is considered green. The pool cover is coming.  The pool pump is a must; and I’ll measure my pipes. Having an eco-friendly swimming pool is not without expense; but if taking these steps can help the environment I think it’s worth the price.

Swimming Pool Safety Covers: Save Lives, Protect Your Loved Ones

January 18th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

A beautiful swimming pool can provide years of fun and pleasure for your family and friends. Yet one must keep in mind the dangers that a body of open water presents, especially for babies and toddlers. Your pleasure can vanish in a second if an accident occurs and a young child is injured or killed by falling into the pool. Children are fascinated by the sparkling water and must be kept safely away from the pool when adults are not present. A swimming pool safety cover is a necessity to help prevent tragedy. Especially in a lawsuit-happy society, you need to protect yourself by having not just a safe and secure pool fence, but a safety cover.

Choose the Right Swimming Pool Safety Cover for Your Needs

There are three types of safety covers:

• Mesh swimming pool safety covers
• Plastic swimming pool safety covers
• Automatic swimming pool safety covers

Mesh swimming pool safety covers allow you to see the pool’s water; yet will prevent children from falling in. These types of covers clip into pins that are installed in the cement deck surrounding the pool, making sure that they are securely fastened. There is a tightening device which is located in the center of the mesh that pulls tightly together, ensuring that the mesh is pulled even tighter before it is secured. This creates a taut covering above the water so that even if a child manages to reach the edge of the pool and fall over the side they will be caught safely in the netting.

Plastic swimming pool safety covers are normally used during the winter months when the pool will be out of use. It covers the entire body of water from view. In the same way as the mesh swimming pool safety covers, these plastic ones fix firmly into clips that are embedded in the cement surrounding the swimming pool. These then are locked firmly into place so that there are no gaps that the children can crawl under to get to the water. The saftey covering is sturdy and strong and is designed to carry even an adult’s weight.

Automatic swimming pool safety covers are motorized as their name suggests and are therefore a more expensive option. But they are easier to use than the other two covers as there are no fiddly clips to individually fasten and unfasten every time you want to use the swimming pool. This also means that they are much more convenient as the motor will automatically run the cover over the pool or take it off. These types of safty covers also ensure that the entire pool is covered with no chance of anyone being able to get to the water and therefore are probably the safest to install. They provide a solid surface over the water when the pool is not being used.

When it comes to you and your loved ones, there is no such thing as too much safety. Choose the swimming pool safety cover that best suits your family’s needs.

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