Planning an Indoor Pool!

[christos_s]

Hello everybody. I just joined TFP since i am in the stage of planning an indoor pool. After reading a lot of posts in the forum and searching online i have some questions.

1) What type of chlorinacion is better for indoor pools? SWG or convencional chlorine system? I am also interested in not having to check water quality and adjust every day manually. Maybe a combination of SWG and UV? Is it possible to combine SWG with UV+OZON to reduce even more the need for chlorine?

2) Should i use a pool cover to reduce evaporation and therefore heating costs? Some companies i have asked here in Greece say that having higher air temp than the pool temp will be enough in avoiding high rates of evaporation.

3) In your experience, what is a comfortable water and air temp? What about Humidity?

4) The narrower width of the pool is 7.5 ft. Is this maybe too narrow?

P.S. The blueprints are in metric system. Sorry for the inconvinience. To help you out:
length = 31 ft.
max width = 12 ft.
min width = 7.5 ft.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Welcome to Trouble Free Pools, Christos

For indoor pools a SWG is perfect, but also because they usually don't receive the benefit of the sun's UV rays (which help burn off chloramines/contaminates) a UV system is necessary. Ozone is optional but often come packaged with UV systems.

You definitely want a pool cover, even a simple one, to maintain warmth and minimize evaporation. You mention the air will be warmer than the water....I'm not positive how that will affect things.

Many pool owners prefer water to be a minimum of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Some will swim colder, others won't get in unless a minimum of 85.

Humidity in a pool room is more complicated. Ventilation is serious business or you'll be dealing with mold and such. I'll beckon one of the indoor pool owners here to chime in with their experience.

7.5' is a tad narrow, in my opinion, but as long as you can swim in it.....

@Rollercoastr <--indoor owner

I hope you'll keep us in the loop as this build progresses!

Maddie

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I say get a SWG+UV. The SWG will ensure your pool gets the CL it needs and the UV should get rid of any CCs. Read Alternative sanitizers and "chemical free" pools--The Truth! about ozone.

On temps and pool covers I think it depends on outside air temp versus pool room temp and pool temp. Unless you are thinking about an automatic pool cover I would say to wait and see how it works out with your temps. You can always buy the pool cover later.

I like my pool at 85-88F. Room temp I don’t mind colder, but then you have evaporation.

A well designed HVAC system is critical in an indoor pool room. The HVAC system should be independent of the rest of the house.

Good luck on your build. There are other indoor pool owners around here who should comment.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Welcome to TFP Cristos!

I'm by no means an expert: this is my first pool and I haven't yet reached the 3-year anniversary, but fortunately I've been a member of TFP the entire time. I've learned a lot.

Regarding chlorination: My pool was bromine when I got it. I didn't actually know that until I discovered bromine tablets during the processing of clearing the water. Bromine is common for indoor pools, but I decided to switch to chlorine. I had to drain all the water anyway for a re-surfacing project. There really isn't a pool subject that not represented by a TFP expert, but even so, bromine experts are rare and the previous owners struggled with water quality (to say the least!).

I considered installing a SWG, but my pool is lightly-used. When I realized how little chlorine is necessary, I decided that it wasn't a good investment for me. Your mileage will vary of course. I don't mind regular testing and dosing.

The same can be said for a UV system. My pool gets some sunlight. I make an effort to let the water "breath" with the cover off now and then and again, my pool serves light duty. Tests show presence of CC, but not enough to smell or cause problems. Without sunlight and heavier swimmer load, CC can be a real problem in an indoor pool and a UV system could be worthwhile.

I swim in the winter, and that's made me somewhat of a wimp when it comes to water temp. I've swam in water as low as 84º. 88º is nicer, but I notice that my guests congregate near the hot water coming from the returns. I find 90º to be ideal. No-one huddles near the heat, and some guests are willing to stay in the pool for hours.

It's true that when the water is cooler than the air, there are fewer humidity and condensation issues. When my pool is cold (62-72º), it poses no humidity challenges at all. I can keep it uncovered. CC goes to 0, and chlorine consumption goes to nearly-zero. I struggle with the notion that warm water and warmer air has the same effect however.... Very warm air may help with condensation, but there will still be a LOT of humidity in the air and in my opinion, that's not a good situation. When my pool is warm, I keep it covered. That puts a cheap, immediate and effective STOP to any humidity issues. When swimming, I ventilate the pool room. It's cheap and effective, but introduces issues with replacement air, which could be a whole other discussion.

 

[christos_s]

Thank you so much for your replies!
As you can see in the attached chart. The mean min. outdoor temp for winter is 35 F while the mean max. for winter is around 50 F. As you can see we have cold winters in Greece too

Since it will be a constructed from zero pool i think i will plan to have an inground automatic cover and see if i get it immidiatly or later.

The pool will only get sunlight from the front south-facing windows, so i guess UV will be needed to get the extra need to reduce CC. I have a question though, which SWGs are good? I came across Astralpool Elite Conect (Elite Connect | Astralpool) but I do not fully understand all the specs. I only get that it does salt chlorination combined with UV all in one box, I do not know if the sensors are good or they have enough indications.

About the temp of the pool, I think I will have to figure it out by testing different temperatures because in all the indoor pools i have been its not like a had a temperature recorder to get an idea

About HVAC, I have a company that has properly installed systems in Hotel Spas before so I think they will do a great job. And the whole plan is use solar panels in the roof plus a heat pump for warming the pool water and the room. Also, heat recovery system in the ventilation-dehumidifier system.



Once again I thank you so mch for your responses. Cant wait to provide more plans and later photos of the pool room!

 

[kimkats]

I tend to try to stay away from things that come as a combo. Take aTV/DVD player combo. One or the other will go out then the other is not worth having so...............I say get one of each item so they can be fixed/replaced as needed down the road.

 

[ajw22]

I have a question though, which SWGs are good? I came across Astralpool Elite Conect (Elite Connect | Astralpool) but I do not fully understand all the specs. I only get that it does salt chlorination combined with UV all in one box, I do not know if the sensors are good or they have enough indications.

Astralpool products are not sold in the US so most of us here don’t have any direct experience with the. The Aussies do use them.

SWGs are basically all the same. They all the same technology in the cell. Where they differ is in the electronics that control the cell. For an indoor pool you don’t lose CL to the sun and don’t need a lot of generating capacity. Look for a SWG that has parts and support available in your area.

The Elite Connect system that you linked to does UV and water chemistry management. I agree with Kim that combo systems often are not best of breed in all functions. And if one piece fails you can end up needing to replace a complete combo system.

UV systems need to have their bulbs replaced regularly to maintain maximum performance.

We don’t recommend automated water chemistry management systems for residential pools. They are complex with mutiple sensors that need calibration and can fail. When they go wonky how will you know? They can mess up your ater chemistry without you realizing it. So you need to do your own water testing with a test kit to check that the automated system is working correctly. If you are testing the water then adding some chemicals to make adjustments only takes a few more minutes.

Your SWG will take care of the chlorine needs. An indoor pool without water features should maintain a stable pH after about a year when the plaster is cured. If all the equipment is operating properly you should have little need to add chemicals. The main reason to test your water is to discover that some equipment has failed. No matter what systems you have you need to check on the pool and equipment regularly.

My recommendation is get a basic SWG and get a seperate UV system and skip the fancy water chemistry automation stuff.

 

[christos_s]

Astralpool products are not sold in the US so most of us here don’t have any direct experience with the. The Aussies do use them.

SWGs are basically all the same. They all the same technology in the cell. Where they differ is in the electronics that control the cell. For an indoor pool you don’t lose CL to the sun and don’t need a lot of generating capacity. Look for a SWG that has parts and support available in your area.

The Elite Connect system that you linked to does UV and water chemistry management. I agree with Kim that combo systems often are not best of breed in all functions. And if one piece fails you can end up needing to replace a complete combo system.

UV systems need to have their bulbs replaced regularly to maintain maximum performance.

We don’t recommend automated water chemistry management systems for residential pools. They are complex with mutiple sensors that need calibration and can fail. When they go wonky how will you know? They can mess up your ater chemistry without you realizing it. So you need to do your own water testing with a test kit to check that the automated system is working correctly. If you are testing the water then adding some chemicals to make adjustments only takes a few more minutes.

Your SWG will take care of the chlorine needs. An indoor pool without water features should maintain a stable pH after about a year when the plaster is cured. If all the equipment is operating properly you should have little need to add chemicals. The main reason to test your water is to discover that some equipment has failed. No matter what systems you have you need to check on the pool and equipment regularly.

My recommendation is get a basic SWG and get a seperate UV system and skip the fancy water chemistry automation stuff.

I totally get your point about having 2 different simple systems. My main point of having a system like the one I mentioned is to be also able to check it remotely from my phone I.e. if the pumps and swg are working and in what percentage. As far as I have checked, astralpool has these features in almost all of its systems.
I will visit some pool builders around my area this week to get an estimate of the project so I will get back to you with further info ?

 

[ajw22]

I totally get your point about having 2 different simple systems. My main point of having a system like the one I mentioned is to be also able to check it remotely from my phone I.e. if the pumps and swg are working and in what percentage. As far as I have checked, astralpool has these features in almost all of its systems.
I will visit some pool builders around my area this week to get an estimate of the project so I will get back to you with further info ?

You need to separate functionality for giving you data from the automatic water chemistry management. Many automation systems will tell you what it thinks the status of your equipment is and data like water temp and salt level. Problem is they can’t reliably tell you the most important levels of pH and CL.

And the systems may lie and tell you equipment is running when in fact it failed.

So there is no substitute for actual chemical checking with a good test kit and actual observation of equipment operation. Your phone app will not tell you. When the pump is making unusual sounds or water is leaking.

PBs would like to sell you the fancy automated systems since they are high profit for them.