Swimming Pool Blog - Tips, Care, and Installation

Chlorine is a chemical that we use in our everyday lives a lot more than you may think. Not only does it keep our pools clean & healthy, we use it to clean our clothes, sanitize our dishes, & it’s even in our drinking water. Just like with most things these days, there are some common misconceptions about the chemical. The most common of all the misconceptions is that the smell of chlorine means there is to much in the water. This is false. The smell of chlorine actually is when chlorine bonds with nitrogenous products in your water to form chlorimines or combined chlorine. This is also the culprit for red & irritated eye’s. The fact is that  properly adjusted water chemistry has no smell, and does not bother the eye’s. What it actually means is that you need to super chlorinate your pool with granular chlorine. If you have a salt system, turn it up to 100%.

Another misconception mostly amongst females, is that chlorine will turn blonde hair green. The color change is actually due to a combination of alkalinity & copper. Copper & other metals get into the water from pipes, heater coils, filtration equipment, and kids diving for coins. The alkalinity works as a magnet drawing in the metals. Most shampoo’s are high in alkaline making the problem worse. There are certain “swimmer’s shampoo’s” you can use to counter act the reaction.

Swimmer’s ear is another thought to be caused by to much swimming, when in fact there isnt such a thing. Swimmers ear is caused by the bacteria pseudomonas aeruginosa, the most common pathogen found in pools and spas. Unsanitary pools cause cause a host of issues. Some symptoms of concern are itchy skin rash, an earache, pink eye, diarrhea, stomach pain, a yeast infection or a cough. The symptoms usually show up a few days after swimming. If this does occur, your pool is in need of a major cleaning and chemical adjustment.

The Americans with Disabilities Act  was made into law regarding swimming pools, wading pools and even spas. All new and existing swimming pools and spas that meet the criteria have to be in compliance by March 15, 2012.  It is very similar to the laws regarding public access to Public Accommodations.  Depending on how many linear feet a swimming pool is will determine if it has to provide one point of access either by having a sloped entrance or a pool lift, for pools over 300 linear feet  there will have to be two points of access which can be either a sloped entry, a pool lift, transfer systems or even accessible pool stairs. Wading pools will have to have a sloped entrance, where a spa can have either an operational pool lift or transfer system. There are exceptions to the law. For more detailed  information it is recommended to read the Americans with Disabilities guide .  Links that pertain to just the pools and spas section can be found here  and also here .

Swimming pool energy efficiency has recently been taken to a new level within the industry. With the introduction of multi speed pumps, pool owners are experiencing significant savings on their utility bills. Energy efficient upgrades can save homeowners up to 30-40%  a year in energy cost.  Case studies show on a 17,000 gallon pool a customer was spending $103.55 a month on electricity to run their filtration system. By replacing their traditional split phase, or capacitor start pump with a energy efficient pump the bill dropped to $53.84 in one month. With those tremendous savings, $596 a year,  the pump pays for itself in 16 months! I dont know about you, but that sounds fantastic to me. After the initial 16 months, that’s $2980 in 5 years alone! I can think of alot of things to spend that money on besides electricity! Like more toys for the pool! I’d like to point out also that this is NOT a rare occurance but rather the standard. The United States Department of energy has a energy calculator you can use to determine what you are paying for energy down to the minute. Some of the products we offer that will help control your energy consumption are multi speed pumps, LED lighting, robotic cleaners, lo-nox heaters, and automatic controls and timers. On top of all the energy & money your saving, your also helping the enviorment! Now who can argue with that?

Under normal conditions in today’s industry, a pool motor should last 5-10 years. If protected and properly maintained the later should be reached fairly easily. From time to time, problems do arise. We all know how expensive it is to call a service company and pay labor charges, so here is a few insider tips of the pro’s to determine some issues. Once you have determined where the problem lies, you can move forward with the proper fix.

Symptom; Motor will not start, it hums, buzzes or smokes.

a. Check the shaft, does it turn freely? If not, check impeller and diffuser for debris or breakage

b. check bearings

c. test the capacitor & replace as needed

d. Check the starting switch for proper adjustment

e. could it have a short in windings….if so replacement is answer

Symptom; Motor Loud

a. Bad bearings due to leaking seal (leaking seals are usually caused by other problems that will need addressing)

b. worn bearings or end bells (9 out of 10 times it will be in your best interest to replace)

c. improper voltage to motor (call electrician)

Symptom; Motor runs HOT and shuts off

a. pump not sized properly

b. wrong impellar

c. clogged vents or restricted suction due to dirty baskets

Symptom; Motor smokes

a. windings shorted

b. improper voltage

c.welded starting switch

d. capacitor failure

Replacing the motor does not always fix the problem. Knowing what caused the problem, and fixing that issue will prevent premature failure of new motor’s. If your motor is over 5 years old, and you have determined that it needs rebuilding, it may be in your best interest to go ahead and replace it. Good luck…& happy shooting!

Looking out the window to our backyard I can see two things; Snow and our Spa. I live in the South and down here, it doesn’t snow very often. So, I had the bright idea to heat up our spa and enjoy the snow from there! It took a few minutes to talk my husband into ‘wasting’ electricity to get in the spa, but when he finally agreed he was excited! After taking a few minutes for the spa to heat up and preparing mentally for our journey into the cold only wearing swimming suits and trunks, we were ready! First, my husband ran out, tiptoeing like he was walking on hot coals (or cold snow!). He was in and calling to me saying out wonderful it felt, but I was still a little hesitant. After another moment or two I finally held my breath and ran to the spa as fast as I could, making sure I didn’t slip and fall. Once I was in the warm spa water it quickly thawed my bones and I was able to really enjoy the snow! The snow was coming down in big flakes and our surroundings were covered in white and everything was peaceful. Having pretty scenery and being relaxed by the spa’s warm water and jets were amazing. We stayed in the spa almost an hour. When it was time to get out I was once again faced with getting out in the cold weather with only my swimming suit on. When I did get out and hop back to the house I noticed I wasn’t nearly as cold as before. Being in the warm spa water for so long, the water had raised my temperature so that when I got in the cold air my body didn’t recognize it as ‘Hey! It’s cold out here!’ which was pretty cool! When I waited at the door with a towel to hand to my husband, I noticed he had steam coming off of him when he got out. I knew he was good looking, but right then he was just hot!
Ever since then I look forward to snow at night in hopes I can hop in the spa and watch the snow fall!

1]  The Titanic was the first ship to have a heated swimming pool.

2]  Who won 5 gold medals in the Olympic swimming competitions and then became one of the best known actors to play Tarzan?
      a-Johnny Weissmuller

3]  What Olympic athlete won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games?
       a-Mark Spitz

4]  How many medals has Michael Phelps won?
      a- He has won a total of 14 gold medals and 2 bronze medals

5]   What US President had the first indoor swimmingpool built at the White House?
        a-President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a swimming pool put in the West Wing.

6]   President Gerald Ford had an inground pool installed near the tennis courts on the White House grounds in 1975.

Zodiac is one of the largest and most prestigious swimming pool equipment manufacturers in the world. They have a long heritage, established more than a century ago. Zodiac’s company features iconic brands like Polaris, Jandy, Nature2 and Baracuda. They continue to be leading supplier of new, innovative, and echo friendly products. Zodiac truly believes in innovation excellence to provide their customers best in class products and affordable pricing. Zodiac has industry leading consumer support and world class technical support.

They go above and beyond with product training and dealer resources.

One of 2011’s best programs was Zodiac Premium, a new and improved website to connect with their dealers faster, easier, and provide the needed resources to make our customer’s lives better. I look forward to 2012 and expect another amazing year which includes new products, excellence customer service, and even better dealer support.      

Zodiac truly believes hiring the best employees is the key to their global brands and I can tell you first hand, I totally agree. They host dealer training and social events all year long. As a Zodiac Premium authorized dealer, I have had the opportunity and extreme pleasure to attend many great training and social events hosted by Zodiac. The last event I attend was part of the ClubP dealer program in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. This was an exceptional and rewarding trip that allowed me the opportunity to socialize with many of the great employees that Zodiac employs along with other dealers, such as my self.  I know they will continue to provide their dealers with the best products and services available, that is why I am very pleased and truly honored to be able to work with Zodiac Pool Systems.

Sincerely,

Johnny Davis

Royal Swimming Pools Inc

Zodiac Trip 2011

Royalswimmingpools.com

Royalswimmingpools.com is proud to announce some our new products and services added to make 2012 the best yet. We have added our new customer support online modular that will insure better and faster customer service and expanded hours during the busy season. We continue to look for ways to improve the look and feel of our website this year and will bring many new changes and features.

We are expanding our inground swimming pool kit line which will include more sizes and shapes in both Steel and Polymer. If you are looking for a certain shape or size inground pool kit and we don’t have it listed please contact us and we will customize one to fit your needs. We continue to add the latest and greatest that the pool and spa industry has to offer.

Do you need a pool or spa part that you can’t find locally? We have over 24,000 parts in stock ready to ship, and most parts are delivered within 2-3 business days to most areas. We are continuing to add new parts to handle all your pool and spa parts needs. We carry a full line of parts for Cleaners, Lights, Filters, Pumps, Heaters, Skimmers and much more. Almost any part that you will need for your pool can be found in our popular swimming pool parts look up. Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, Waterway, American Products you name it we have it. We also have many hot tub spa parts too.

If you have ever sat in a sauna, then you are aware of the awesome sensation of the heat in your nose and over your body.  What you may not be aware of  is all of the health benefits of using one.  Pain relief, weight loss, exercise, detoxification, stress relief, and skin care are just a few on the list.  The heat is the magic. Heat causes blood vessels to expand, which allows oxygen to be carried to injured parts of the body. In turn this speeds up the healing process. It also causes the heart rate to increase up to 70%. That’s the same as a long brisk walk! If your anything like me, I would MUCH rather sit in the comforts of a warm sauna with my mp3 player than out in the elements walking. Heat therapy also loosens the muscles, so you can relax as if you were getting a massage. When you begin to sweat, dead cells are removed from the surface of the skin causing a clean & clear complexion. No matter what age or walk of life you come from, there are countless benefits you can enjoy by owning a sauna.