In recent years, automation has made its way into numerous things in our lives and revolutionized them. From smartphones to smart home appliances to smart lights, automation has taken comfort and convenience to greater heights than ever before, and now, it is slowly but surely making its presence felt in the swimming pool market.
Automated pools, popularly known as smart pools, feature a variety of technological upgrades to an existing residential/commercial pool setup. Armed with these upgrades, owners can now rest easy when it comes to maintaining and operating their swimming pools.
Before we go on to talk about the advantages of converting your existing pool into a smart pool, let’s take a look at some of the most critical elements of a swimming pool that can be automated.
1. The pool pump
Conventional pool pumps can significantly increase your energy consumption, particularly if you keep them running for a long time. However, cutting down on pool pump usage is not a solution if you and your family use the pool regularly.
Pool pumps are responsible for circulating water across the entire length, breadth, and depth of a swimming pool and they play key roles in maintaining water temperature consistency and also preventing the growth of bacteria and algae.
A great way to cut down on both energy consumption and the work required to operate a pool pump is to upgrade to an automated pool pump. You can control your automated pool pump from your smartphone, which means that you don’t need to be physically present near the pump to operate it.
2. The pool cleaning system
Your pool’s cleaning system is responsible for flushing out microorganisms along with dirt, dust, and debris from your pool. However, if you’ve been using a conventional cleaning system, chances are that your pool hasn’t ever been thoroughly cleaned.
Most conventional pool cleaning systems circulate water only in the upper level of the pool. While this may leave the top end of the pool free from contaminants, the same can’t be said for the bottom end.
Automated pool cleaning systems, on the other hand, are installed at the bottom of the pool and they feature a system of nozzles that start cleaning from the bottom and make their way up towards the top end, ensuring a thorough cleaning. When not in use, the nozzles are invisible, which ensures that your pool stays attractive. Just like an automated pump, an automated pool cleaning system can be controlled remotely via a smartphone.
Robotic pool cleaners are available for purchase as well. Although they are quite expensive, they are loaded with features and can work their way around the entire pool, leaving every inch of it devoid of potentially harmful substances.
3. The chlorine levels
Chlorine is a vital chemical that no swimming pool can do without, as it forms hypochlorous acid, an acid that kills disease-causing germs and bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. However, manually maintaining chlorine levels is a difficult task for swimming pool owners as it requires testing their pools’ pH levels and then appropriately adding the required amount of chlorine.
Manually adding chlorine is a risky business, as too much chlorine can trigger certain health issues such as bouts of asthma, coughing, rashes, and pain in the nose and throat. On the flip side, too little chlorine can make pool users vulnerable to a host of harmful microorganisms.
Intelligent salt chlorinators can monitor your pool’s pH levels automatically and have the ability to dispense just the right amount, ensuring that your pool is safe for swimming. Like other automated pool technology, these chlorinators can be controlled via an app on your smartphone.
The advantages of smart pools
- Remote operation: When it comes to a conventional pool, all the aspects of operating it has to be handled by the owner by being physically present in the pool’s vicinity. However, automated pools can be operated remotely. So if you want to dive into your pool as soon as you get home from work, you can get it ready before you leave your workplace through a smartphone app.
- Facilitates energy savings: Traditional pool appliances such as pumps and cleaning systems are notorious for the amount of energy they consume, but automated solutions are known for consuming a fraction of energy that their predecessors did. If you leave one of the appliances on and forget to switch it off before leaving for work, you can simply use your smartphone to turn it off. All in all, automated pool solutions reduce energy costs and are also more environment-friendly than traditional systems.
- Time saver: If you’ve got a big swimming pool, then you’ve got your work cut out for you if you want to ensure optimum maintenance. Instead of spending hours on maintaining your pool on your weekends, you can let the smart pool devices take over the maintenance duties, leaving you free to spend quality time with your family both in the pool and out of it.
- Increase in home value: A home with a swimming pool commands a much higher price than a home without one, but a home with a smart pool is one that potential buyers will be ready to invest a ton of money in. So upgrading your pool makes a lot of sense not just in terms of making pool use and maintenance easy, but also in terms of increasing your property’s value. Trust us, it’ll come in handy if you ever decide to sell your home in the future.
Are they worth the hype?
Smart pool upgrades were incredibly expensive when they first came into the picture a few years ago. However, as the years have passed and more companies have started producing automated pool solutions, the ever-increasing competition has resulted in the prices going down. Even though smart pools involve a greater initial investment than setting up a traditional pool, their long-term benefits outweigh the expenses. So yes, smart pools are definitely worth the hype.
As new technologies enter the fray, you can expect prices of existing technologies to decrease even further, making it easier for homeowners to transform their traditional swimming pools into smart pools. Hear more from our experts over at Newcastle Swimming Pools for more advice on smart pools, inground pools and more!
