3.6 Swimming Pool Accessories:

• 3.6.1 Manual Cleaning Equipment
  There are basic components which are necessary for the cleaning of a pool as follows:
  VACUUM HEAD: This is a plate which has rollers or brushers on its underside & which move across the floor of the pool & allow the water being drawn through the plate to suck the dirt from the floor.
  The vacuum head should never be lifted above the water while it is connected to the system as you will fill the pump with air.

  VACUUM HOSE: This hose connects from the vacuum head to the skimmer box or a vacuum connection fitting on the side of the pool. The hose allows the pumps suction to be directed to the floor of the pool to suck up the dirt.
  The vacuum hose is a delicate piece of equipment & should never be left out in the sun or on the grass for the children to walk on or the dog to chew on.

  VACUUM PLATE: If the vacuum hose connects to the skimmer box, then there is usually a vacuum plate also provided which sits above the basket in the skimmer box & allows you to seal the pump suction from the normal skimmer mouth & from the bottom drain so it is solely directed to the vacuum head during vacuuming.

  TELESCOPIC HANDLE: The telescopic handle is an extendable device which connects to the vacuum head & allows you to control the movement of the vacuum head over the floor of the pool.

  LEAF SCOOP: This also attaches to the telescopic handle & allows you to remove leaves from the pool surface & also those from the bottom which may otherwise block the vacuum head or hose.

  POOL BROOM: This devise attaches to the telescopic handle & allows you to brush the walls & any stubbon stains on the floor prior to vacuuming.

• 3.6.2 Automatic Cleaning Equipment. These come basically in three types:
  • SUCTION: These units connect to the skimmer box in the same way as the vacuum hose & move about the bottom of the pool under motion created by the water being drawn through them. They suck the dirt & debri from the floor & walls of the pool & place it in the skimmer box or the filter.

  • PRESSURE: This style uses water pressure from the filter pump or from an auxillary pump to drive it around the floor of the pool. It normally has flailing arms or hoses which stir up the light dirt & the heavy & larger debri is drawn in to a basket atop the unit.

  • ELECTRIC: These units are a self contained motive power, pump, filter, unit which is driven by low voltage power around the floor of the pool.

  • These types of cleaners have their advantages as they take the major cleaning responsibility from your weekly chores.

    Which one is for your pool is always a hard question but a lot of times it comes to price & also to the shape of your pool, some types of cleaners dont work well in square corner pools & some get caught in pools with alcoves, always ask the sales rep if they have a demo unit which you can try for a few days before making a decision.

• 3.6.3 Under Water Lights

  Pool Lights can make a pool the center piece spectical of your yard at night, but they can some times be a problem for no apparent reasons.

  Points to consider:

  • COST: You will always need to consider not only the cost of the light & its associated transformer as most are 24V or 32V but also the cost of installation & the conduits to the pool & the switching for the lights, (manual or time clock).

  • NUMBER: There are world standards for lighting for commercial swimming pools & many times these are applied to domestic pools. Pools lit to this standard are expensive & so bright as to look out of place in most situations. Normally one light per 40SqM or 420SqF of surface area. You can always switch them independently or set them on a dimmer.

  • POSITION: Always set the lights so that they shine away from the main seating or standing area around the pool & especially away from the house. As the light exits the water it can slightly change angle & shine in to your eyes.

  • COLOR: Most manufacturers supply colored clip on lenses for pool lights, these can be effective but remember that they do reduce the light output dramatically. If you want to use them all the time put in more lights initially.
  
  

• 3.6.4 Chemical Feeders.

  There are anumber of different types of feeders feeding various products & they fall in to the following catagorys:
  

  • LIQUID PUMPS: These units are either a diarapham pump or a tube type pump & they inject liquid chlorine or a mixture of water mixed with various powder chlorines or bromines. These pumps can be manually or timeclock controlled & can also be level sensor controlled to maintain a specific PPM of chlorine.

  • ERROISION FEEDERS: These units are a cylinder filled with tablets of granulated or stabilized chlorine or bromine tablets or sticks & a small proportion of the filtered water passes through them. The water errodes the tablets dependent upon volume of both water & tablets & injects the resultant solution in to the circulation system.

  • SALT CHLORINE CONVERTERS: These systems rely upon a level of common salt (approx 3500-7000ppm) being maintained in the pool water. There is an electrolysis cell in the circulation system through which an electric current passes. The current converts the Sodium Chloride (common salt) in to a low concentration Sodium Hypochlorite (liquid chlorine) in the cell.

  • CHLORINE GENERATORS: These units hold a supply of common salt in a container & pass a small amount of pool water through the container, at the same time passing an electric current through the salt solution in the container. Chlorine gas is produced which is mixed with the pool water to form liquid chlorine.

  • IONIC STERILIZERS: These units are madeup of silver/copper electrodes & a power unit which passes current through the electrodes. The electrodes are installed in a container in the circulation system & as a current is passed through the electrodes, they breakdown & produce silver & copper electrons in the water.

    The silver tend to destory bacteria & thje copper tend to destory algae spore. The units normally have a controlable power input so the level of electrons in the water can be increased or decreased. These systems always need to have chlorine or another oxidizer added to break down dead organic matter.

  • OZONE GENERATORS:Ozone is a gas whith a very short life span & is therefore a very effective oxidizing agent. Many companies supply ozone generators which make a very very low concentration of ozone by passing air around an ultraviolet lamp.
    This converts the oxygen to ozone, the resultant gas is mixed with the pool or more likely spa water to break down organic matter in the water. The water will always need a chlorine or bromine or other type of oxidizing agent to carry out total breakdown of organic matter.

    Ozone is produced for larger pools using a corona discharge system which has a much greater expence than the ultraviolet light system.

  All of these systems work to various levels of efficency but the most dominant requirement is maintenance to keep components clean.

  
  

• 3.6.5 Time Clocks
  Time clocks can make the difference between owning a pool & a pool owning you.
  Time clocks can be used to maintain the following:
  • FILTER PUMP: This can be operated by time clock on a daily or two or three times daily basis to suit the pool usage & heating & chemical teatment requirements.

  • CLEANING PUMP: If you have a pressure type cleaner or an electric fully enclosed type pool cleaner, these can be set to operate in conjunction with the filter pump or off set from the filter pump as required.

  • LIGHTS: The pool lights can be set to operate every night at a preset time or every Friday & Saturday night for effect with a manual overide for use as needed.

  
  

• 3.6.6 Water Level Controllers
  Water level controllers can be broken into two main catagories.
  OVERFLOWS: In areas where you have a high rain fall it can be very benifical to have an overflow pipe set about 25mm or 1" above the center line of the skimmer box so that when it rains day after day, the less dense rain water flows off the top & down the drain & does not continually dilute the chemicals in the pool water.

  MAKEUP UNITS; These are of various types but they monitor the water level in the pool & add water as the level drops through usage, splash, evaporation or backwashing. They can be very benifical in hotter areas & where you may spend time working away from home & not be there daily in the middle of summer to keep a check on the water level.

  
  3.7 Pool Heating

  3.7.1 Gas

  • This is the most common type of pool water heating where control of heating & quick heat up times are required.

    Some common items to consider with gas heating are:
    

    • SIZING: Most manufacturers produce a graph which shows the volume of your pool & the surface area & the origional low temperature & the amount you want to rais the temperature & in what time. They cross reference these to come up with a size.

    • TIME: When it comes to a pool, it requires avery large heater to raise the temperature quickly, so you shoul really consider why you might need to raise the temperature in less than 24 hours by a set amount, combined with a bubble type cover it is some times cheaper to maintain a pool at a temperature with a smaller heater than to continually reheat it with alarger heater. especially if you have used polystryene 25-50mm (1"-2") thick between the concrete & the dirt when building your pool.

    • CONNECTION: When the heater is connected to the pool circulation system you should consider the following:
      • DIRECT/BI-PASS: Most heaters only run 40mm (1.5") pipework so if your main return to pool is a 50mm (2") return & you are pumping more than 250-300l/min (62.5-80 USG/min) then it is better to install two 50mm (2") tees with a 40mm (1.5") ball valve between them & connect the branches of the tees to the 40mm (1.5") heater connections. You can then shut back the 40mm valve to produce the required flow across the heater, whilst still keeping up the required total flow.

      • POSITION: The heater should be set with its pipes such that it can never be drained of water when the pump shuts down. This is especially true when the heater is above water level.

      • HEAT SINKS: At the inlet & outlet connection points of the heater there must be copper or stainless pipes which rise higher than the top of the heater prior to turning back down to the floor. This causes a heat trap to be created at the highest point when the pump shuts down & stops the adjacent PVC pipe from becoming hot & collapsing.

      • CHEMICALS: It is preferable to inject the chemicals after the heater so that there is never a consentration of chemicals within the heater when the filter pump shuts down. The only down side of this is that the hot water some times crystalizes the liquid chlorine when it is being injected & the injector has to be cleaned reguarly.

    
    
  • 3.7.2 Electric
    
    • Electric heating is generally only used in spas where heaters from 1.8kW to 6.0 KW are normal sizings. Thet can go as high as 36-48Kw for commercial spas. This type of heating is used where off peak rates can be obtained.
      The small heaters on spas, are very good if the spa is left to operate 24hours a day on a constant heat. Electric heaters are reasonably echonomical to operate & easy to control.

      Electric heating of pools can become echonomical with the use of Heat Pumps which have about a 3-1 heat ratio to power input, operated on off peak rates they can be very cheap to run, their only draw back is capital cost, they are best suited to pools which are kept heated constantly.

  • 3.7.3 Solar
    
  • The use of solar heating on swimming pools provides from a minimal to a substancial heat input dependent upon several factors.

    • AREA: The greater the area of solar collector the greater the absorbtion of heat & the more help you will get with the heating. There is a point where you will not get much longer swimming time irrespective of how much extra collector you put on. Generally if you can afford & have the space for an area equal to the surface area of the pool, you are doing well.

    • DIRECTION: The more north facing roof area you can use for the solar collectors the more efficent they will be in absorbing the heat.

    • OPERATION: If the system is automatically controlled to pump water through the solar at all times that there is sufficent heat available then the better heat gain you will achieve.

    • WIND PROTECTION: If you can protect the collectors from the wind especially in Fall (Autumn) & Spring. This can be achieved by covering the collectors with a clear plastic sheet or similar to stop wind chill.

    • COVER THE POOL: If you are spending daytime collecting the heat but dont cover the pool, you will loose the heat overnight as the air temperature drops. It is far more efficent to have a lightweight solar cover to put over the pool at night to retain the accumulated heat.

    
    

  • 3.7.4 Combinations
    
  • Many people combine gas & solar systems to allow them to be able to swim all year round or later in the Fall & eariler in the Spring. This can be done especially with indoor pools, but it needs to be set up correctly
    
    • PRIMARY/SECONDARY: You will need to decide which is to be your primary heat & which is your secondary heat.

    • SOLAR PRIMARY/GAS SECONDARY: you will need to connect your solar to the circulation system after the heater & set the gas heater thermostat to a lower temperature than the solar. This way the solar will keep the temperature up but if it is insufficent & the pool temperature drops another degree, the gas will cut in.

    • GAS PRIMARY/SOLAR SECONDARY: You will need to connect the solar across the gas heater. The feed to the solar pump should come from between the filter & the heater & the return from the solar should connect after the heater & after a non return valve.
      This way the gas will heat the water until there is enough solar & when the solar pump cuts in, it can be made to cut out the gas electronically or by reducting pressure on the gas pressure switch, it will cut out the gas heater, while the solar is operating.