Spa Lifts Recalled by S.R. Smith

SR Smith has recalled nearly 1,900 pool lifts, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated in a press release last month.

The lifts come from the company’s Splash! and PAL Hi/Lo and Spa lines. They are most commonly used in municipal and community swimming facilities or hotels.

The Canby, Ore.-based pool products manufacturer is recalling 1,800 Splash! lifts manufactured between January 2013 and September 2015.

Also affected are approximately 40 lifts from the PAL Hi/Lo and Spa lines: PAL Hi/Lo lifts with model numbers 250-0000, -0005, and 005K; and Spa model 275-0000 with manufacturer dates between December 2014 and September 2015.

CPSC stated that the lifts were being recalled due to inadequate welds in the base plate or mast. In at least two incidents, the lifts fell over — one occurred with an individual in the seat. No injuries have been reported.

Owners of recalled lifts should stop using them immediately and contact the manufacturer for a free replacement base or mast assembly, CPSC said.

To find out if a specific unit is included in the recall, users can check the base of the mast to find the model number and manufacturing date. The names “Splash!” and “PAL” also are printed on the base of the lifts.

As of press time, SR Smith had not responded to requests for comments.

SR Smith can be reached by phone at (888) 497-9290; email at splashpalinfo@srsmith.com; orwww.splashpalliftinfo.com/ to learn more online.

*Information provided by Aquatics International*

Reducing Swimming Pool Heat Loss

Are you suffering from heat loss in your swimming pool?

Here are some of the major primary energy losses from swimming pools:

Evaporation is the primary mode of swimming pool heat loss, accounting for approximately 70% of the heat lost from both indoor and outdoor pools (Figure 1) . The remaining heat losses are generally from radiant heat for outdoor pools and ventilation for indoor pools. 

Evaporation dominates pool heat losses because each gallon of water that evaporates removes 8,300 Btus of heat from the pool, whereas heating the gallon of replacement water to the temperature of the pool requires only 8.3 Btus per degree Fahrenheit of temperature rise—or between 80 and 200 Btus per gallon for the typical heat gain required. Evaporation from indoor pools generates an additional energy penalty because the ambient air must be dehumidified or replaced with fresh air. 

The best way to reduce evaporation losses is to cover the pool when it is not in use. Pool covers block evaporation as well as radiant losses, and they can provide some insulation from convective losses. Achievable savings from pool covers depend on how long the pool is covered and on local conditions that affect how evaporation is taking place, with reported savings of 50% or more compared to the energy required for heating uncovered pools.

For outdoor pools, evaporation losses are driven by the ambient temperature, humidity and average wind speed. Windy and arid environments cause faster evaporation and greater energy losses. 


Additional Energy-Saving Ideas 


Pool owners are also encouraged to invest in other energy-saving measures to further reduce their pool operating bills. For additional energy savings, here are some ideas for more efficient heating and circulation systems:

• Air-source heat pumps cost more than gas heaters, but with a reported coefficient of performance of 4.3, they can pay for themselves in 1.5 to 2.5 years. 

 • Condensing gas boiler pool heaters offer efficiencies above 90% compared to their conventional counterparts, which have efficiencies in the mid 80s. 


• Solar thermal pool heaters are the most cost effective use of solar energy in most climates. 

• Variable-speed drive control allows pool circulation pumps to be ramped up and down with demand to achieve pumping energy savings of up to 50%.

Information provided by Madison Gas & Electric Company

HammerHead Pool Cleaners- What's the difference between a Resort Unit and a Service Unit?

Service Units

The service units are designed for pool to pool service route work. The popular Service-21 is now the industry standard for a self-contained cleaner. Instant cleaning means no set-up times, no pumps to prime, and no valves to set. You'll work faster and easier than ever before.

Ready to mount on your truck or trailer, the Service-21 can cut your cleaning time as much as 50% and that can mean hours off your day. Also available is the Service-30 with the larger head and a longer cord (60').


Resort Units

The resort units are designed for maintenance work where the unit will be left on site. The popular Resort-30 is the choice of YMCA, hotel, condo, resort, military and water park pool managers nationwide. Resorts units are NOT compatible with the truck-trailer mount system.

The Resort-30 can cut your cleaning time by as much as 50%. Also available is the Resort-21 with a smaller vacuum head.

Click Here to See All Available HammerHead Units

What are Chloramines?

When any type of chlorine is added to water, it forms hypochlorous acid (HOCl - the most powerful killing form of chlorine in water) and hypochlorite ion (OCl-), a relatively weak form of chlorine in water. The percentage of HOCl and OCl- is determined by the pH of the water. As the pH goes up, less of the chlorine is in the killing form and more of the chlorine is in the weaker form. The combined total of HOCl and OCl- is the measure of free available chlorine. Free available chlorine is the active, killing type of chlorine that we want in the water.

Chlorine molecules can combine with ammonia and nitrogen compounds in the water to form chloramines, sometimes also called Combined Chlorine. By combining with ammonia and nitrogen, a chloramine loses much of its sanitizing power. Chloramines are 60 to 80 times less effective than an uncombined free chlorine molecule.

Chloramines are formed any time ammonia and nitrogen are in the water. Some of the ammonia and nitrogen compounds are introduced into the water by swimmers and bathers in the form of perspiration, urine, saliva, sputum and fecal matter. An active swimmer sweats one pint per hour, while the average person sweats three pints per hour in a heated spa. Ammonia and nitrogen compounds are also introduced into the water by rain, especially Acid Rain. Each drop of rain has some dissolved nitrogen from our atmosphere and from automobile emissions. Many lawn products contain both nitrogen and ammonia and phosphates, all very bad for pools, can raise your chlorine demand, and encourage algae growth.

Chloramines, or combined chlorine smell bad, they are eye and skin irritants, and they get in the way of free chlorine trying to do it's job. When a pool smells strongly of Chlorine, what smells is not free available chlorine, but Chloramines . When testing for Free and Total Chlorine with a DPD or other capable pool test kit, the level of combined chlorine molecules in your pool can be detected. The formula is quite simple. The difference between Free Chlorine reading and the Total Chlorine reading is the Combined Chlorine reading. Anything over 0.3ppm should be treated to bring the level down by removing the Chloramines from the pool.

Chloramines can be removed from the water by the following three methods:

• By adding a mega-dose of chlorine. Usually 3 to 6 times more chlorine than a normal dose is added to the water, or the level of chlorine is raised to 5 to 10 ppm and held there for 4 hours. This is called super-chlorination. To remove chloramines, the ratio of chlorine to ammonia must be at least 7.6 to 1. If this ratio is not obtained, then more chloramines will be produced. A threshold of "breakpoint chlorination" must be reached where total oxidation takes place. This "shock" to the pool will rip apart the molecular combinations, and destroy chloramines. Swimmers and bathers should not enter the water until the level of chlorine has dropped to 3 ppm or less.

• By adding a non-chlorine shock to the water. The most common chemical used for this is potassium peroxymonosulfate. This "shocking" requires the addition of one pound of shock for each 10,000 gallons of pool water. The same threshold of breakpoint oxidation must be reached when using non-chlorine shock. So, feel free to add a little extra, just to be sure.

• By adding ozone to the water. If an ozone generator is installed on a pool or spa, then oxidation of the ammonia and nitrogen compounds will take place whenever the ozone system is operating. The longer the system operates, the more the ozone can destroy the ammonia and nitrogen. Although most ozone systems operate only when the pool or spa pump is operating, there are 24 -hour systems available which will continuously oxidize ammonia and nitrogen as they enter the water.

• Remember, when you smell a strong chlorine odor in a pool - and your eyes are red, it's not because there is too much [free] chlorine in the water, but too much Combined Chlorine. Free chlorine by itself does not smell, nor sting the eyes. The solution to this is to add a whole lot more chlorine, to reach breakpoint chlorination, where the molecular combination of chlorine and nitrogen [or ammonia] will be removed. At least for a while.

An alternative for treating your pool water is Sphagnum Moss. Sphagnum Moss was first commonly used during World War I for wound treatment.

Sphagnum Moss provides the following for your pool:

• Clarifies water.
• With normal biocide levels, prevents eye and skin irritation, hair discoloration, reactive airway 
• disease, and "chlorine" smell.
• Stabilizes pH.
• Absorbs positively-charged ions.
• Inhibits bacterial and algae protection.
• Inhibits biofilm formation.
• Removes scale from water surfaces.
• Inhibits corrosion.

Effects of Sphagnum Moss on Scale:

• Observations in PoolNaturally Plus treated pools and spas demonstrated removal of staining and scale of pool surfaces and reduced scaling in heat exchanges.
• Laboratory studies show the ability of moss to inhibit and remove scale and maintain soluble Ca levels.

For more information on the use of Sphagnum Moss please click here.

Information provided by:

*Michigan Pool News: 

http://www.michiganpoolnews.com/2014/01/ymca-uses-moss-for-water-purification/

*University of Maryland-Sustainability

 http://www.sustainability.umd.edu/documents/SSCC/Presentations/Sphagnum%20Moss%20for%20Swimming%20Pools.pdf