Pool slide location for SR Smith Typhoon

[ulrichsd]

Hi everyone! My pool is 40x20' (not including stairs) concrete pool and has an 8'deep end. My deck is 8' on the fair side and 5' on the near side and deep end

I was thinking abot getting the SR Smith Typhoon, which their website says has a 4'x11.5' footprint. In the picture I drew int the two spots that seem like it might fit:

#1 would be on the side
pros: 8' deck and slide faces shallow end where everyone sits
cons: takes up deck space and would have to slide the chairs down

#2 would be on the deep end
pros: leaves more space in the wide deck area and a little more out of the way
cons: in the way of my solar cover roll (I think I could find a way to move it since it has wheels) and deck is only 5' (though I'm planning to add pavers to make that deck area larger soon.

Does anyone have this slide and would recommend it?
Any suggestions based on where you have your slide?
Any things I'm not thinking about regarding placement?

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Justify]

Why not to place the slide on the opposite side? People slide down, swim to the opposite (far) side to the pool ladder, then go around deep end back to the slide stairs.
That's how we placed our slide. We have SR Smith Turbo Twister and it goes into deep water. Much more fun in my opinion. The stairs are actually in the corner where the deep end deck and side deck meet. This way, the slide faces the deepest point od our pool.

 

[ulrichsd]

Why not to place the slide on the opposite side? People slide down, swim to the opposite (far) side to the pool ladder, then go around deep end back to the slide stairs.
That's how we placed our slide. We have SR Smith Turbo Twister and it goes into deep water. Much more fun in my opinion. The stairs are actually in the corner where the deep end deck and side deck meet. This way, the slide faces the deepest point od our pool.

Thanks for the info! My concern with placing on the opposite side is that the deck on that side is only 5 feet so the slide would take up most of the concrete making it difficult to walk around. In the deep end, it is also only 5 feet but I have room too put in pavers to extends the deck.

How far do you come off the slide in the water? I was looking at the turbo twister as well, it looks similar but is a little bigger so it requires more space. Both of these look like they enter the water at an angle when installed parallel with the pool, so in the deep end it could be situated more in the middle but angled toward the ladder?

Thanks!

 

[Mdragger88]

My friend had a similar slide & positioned it just after the shallow end began to slope into the deep end - when small kids went down there were no problems but if a big kid or even worse an adult went down & turned the wrong way several came close to hitting the bottom & they had a few grazes luckily it was never anyone’s head.
my vote Is the deep end

 

[Justify]

The side deck is 5' and the deep end deck is 8'. The slide stairs are positioned about 1'6'' from deck edge.
I would have preferred if they installed it closer to the coping/pool edge, but the slide still throws us into the deepest point of the pool (it is vinyl liner so the sides are sloping into deep "well", but we never hit the slopes).
You can see there is no room to walk around the slide without stepping on the grass. Maybe you could put stepping stones on the rocks that are between your deck and the fence? But Typhoon is smaller so it probably gives you enough space even on 5' deck.

 

[proavia]

I'm pretty sure slides come with a water entry safety area specification. I would check with the manufacturer and your local governing body to see what the exact requirements are before deciding on placement or slide style. I also suggest you check with your insurance carrier for any additional requirememts they may have.

 

[BestJoeyEver]

My friend had a similar slide & positioned it just after the shallow end began to slope into the deep end - when small kids went down there were no problems but if a big kid or even worse an adult went down & turned the wrong way several came close to hitting the bottom & they had a few grazes luckily it was never anyone’s head.
my vote Is the deep end

I think you'll find that slide is not installed according to the manufacturer specifications. If someone was to get hurt, you're going to have a hard time with insurance with an improperly installed slide.

 

[BestJoeyEver]

My pool is laid out much like yours. I'd 100% put it in spot 1, if for no other reason than you can walk around it. I mean yeah you could put patio stones to go around it, but how awful is that going to look?

 

[ulrichsd]

Wow, great to wake up and have so many responses and suggestions!

My friend had a similar slide & positioned it just after the shallow end began to slope into the deep end - when small kids went down there were no problems but if a big kid or even worse an adult went down & turned the wrong way several came close to hitting the bottom & they had a few grazes luckily it was never anyone’s head.
my vote Is the deep end

When I mention "side vs deep", since this is an old pool (50 years and restored) that was designed for a dive well, the shallow end is only about 10 feet long before it starts to taper to the deep end. Where the slide would go on the side (option #1) the depth would still be about 7-8 feet deep.

The side deck is 5' and the deep end deck is 8'. The slide stairs are positioned about 1'6'' from deck edge.
I would have preferred if they installed it closer to the coping/pool edge, but the slide still throws us into the deepest point of the pool (it is vinyl liner so the sides are sloping into deep "well", but we never hit the slopes).
You can see there is no room to walk around the slide without stepping on the grass. Maybe you could put stepping stones on the rocks that are between your deck and the fence? But Typhoon is smaller so it probably gives you enough space even on 5' deck.

Thanks for the picture! The more I can visualize, the more it helps. It looks like your pool is 16' wide? So you come off the slide about 8'? Wow, that is quite a launch! Yes, the typhoon is about a foot smaller in height and has a smaller footprint. We could potentially put in pavers in the rock area, but I don't think it would look great and would definitely be narrow with the fencing

I'm pretty sure slides come with a water entry safety area specification. I would check with the manufacturer and your local governing body to see what the exact requirements are before deciding on placement or slide style. I also suggest you check with your insurance carrier for any additional requirememts they may have.

SR Smith lists the requirement for the slide as 3 feet depth at the wall and 4.5' minimum depth in the landing area. Both locations I listed would be far deeper than that minimum. I checked and Sate Farm does cover slides and I already have additional insurance that I added when we bought a house with a pool.

I think you'll find that slide is not installed according to the manufacturer specifications. If someone was to get hurt, you're going to have a hard time with insurance with an improperly installed slide.

Yes, we will install according to specifications and both locations would meet those depth requirements. My drawings are not to scale we would definitely leave the required spacing.

My pool is laid out much like yours. I'd 100% put it in spot 1, if for no other reason than you can walk around it. I mean yeah you could put patio stones to go around it, but how awful is that going to look?

Yes, it does have the most space which is nice! About 5 years ago we restored the pool and replaced the decking, obviously very expensive, so I scaled down the deep end deck with the plan to eventually down the road add pavers to extend the deck there. So if I were to put it in #2 spot, I'd plan to go ahead and put down pavers this summer.

The slide orientation (left turn) would be the same for both 1 and 2, so I could always buy it, set it up, and see how it looks in each location before attaching to deck.

I attached pictures for both the depth requirements and a second image with the two slide orientation positions. In picture I've seen it both ways. I think if i were to go with #1, I'd install it like the picture on top, with slide edge parallel to the coping and the slide ladder angling away towards the pool ladder. If I were to go with #2, I'd install it like the middle picture, with the slide ladder parallel to the ledge and the slide entry angling toward the pool ladder (but the slide would be in the middle of the pool far enough away to give clearance and meet the safety distance requirements).

Thanks again everyone! Appreciate and open to any other suggestions or personal experience!
Scott

 

[ulrichsd]

Thinking of some other ideas, another option would be to get the Turbo Twister and put in the far deep corner, kind of like in the picture.

Justify, I know you own this slide so you might have a better idea if this would work. Obviously, i wouldn't be able to tie into the return pump, so I'd have to use a garden hose, which the manual says a garden hose attachment comes with the slide.

I do think from a visual standpoint, it is probably going to look the best being on the deep end side...

 

[Justify]

Our pool is 18x36. I have it in my signature
I think the Turbo Twister in the corner would work but wouldn't it obstruct the solar cover reel? We have autocover so not sure how these reels work. If you position it like it is on the SR Smith picture the exit won't be parallel to the pool edge (I don't think it's a problem, I am just pointing it out because on the picture it looks like it is parallel).

Also, two reasons why I wouldn't go with the option #1 in your original post:
1) I like to have 'play and splash' area somehow separated from 'sit and relax' area. In our case, deep end is 'play and splash' area. We have pool house with bar in the opposite corner of the pool and our main sitting area is by the shallow end (patio that's connected to our house).

2) I want to have all pool (but especially the deep end) view unobstructed from where I sit.

 

[Justify]

Also, if you get Typhoon and position its body (not the exit) parallel to pool edge as shown on the footprint, you will actually have enough room on 5' deck to walk around even without adding stepping stones/pavers. From the footprint, it looks like the slide only takes about 3' (measured from the pool edge), so gives you 2' space to walk around.

 

[ulrichsd]

Our pool is 18x36. I have it in my signature
I think the Turbo Twister in the corner would work but wouldn't it obstruct the solar cover reel? We have autocover so not sure how these reels work. If you position it like it is on the SR Smith picture the exit won't be parallel to the pool edge (I don't think it's a problem, I am just pointing it out because on the picture it looks like it is parallel).

Also, two reasons why I wouldn't go with the option #1 in your original post:
1) I like to have 'play and splash' area somehow separated from 'sit and relax' area. In our case, deep end is 'play and splash' area. We have pool house with bar in the opposite corner of the pool and our main sitting area is by the shallow end (patio that's connected to our house).

2) I want to have all pool (but especially the deep end) view unobstructed from where I sit.

I have come around to your line of thinking 100%, I think #1 is out, even though most people sit down in the shallow end, I don't like blocking lines of sight from the deck chairs. Plus I think it will just be more aesthetically appealing along the deep end of the pool.

I wish I had an autocover but the solar cover reel has wheels, so I can always move it to the shallow end and roll it away when it is off and we are using the pool. I just had a heater put in so we'll probably use the cover less anyway. Once it falls apart, I may just save the $100+ and not replace it and add that money to paying the gas bill

Also, if you get Typhoon and position its body (not the exit) parallel to pool edge as shown on the footprint, you will actually have enough room on 5' deck to walk around even without adding stepping stones/pavers. From the footprint, it looks like the slide only takes about 3' (measured from the pool edge), so gives you 2' space to walk around.

I'm not sure that's exactly correct. The diagram shows 2' and 8-1/8" from the edge of the pool to the center of the slide and add an additional 1' and 1-5/8" from the center to the edge, and that would be 3' and 9-6/8" from the pool edge to the edge of the slide. I'm not really sure I can push it closer to the water to give it more room, because I will a foot of space between the edge and slide mounts (similar to how yours is mounted) so that the winter cover (attached with spring anchors) will fit. The specs say minimum 4' width (with the exit angled to the pool), so I think that is pretty accurate, but if you tilt it so the slide edge is parallel to the concrete, it is over 6'.

Thanks again!

 

[ulrichsd]

I ordered the turbo twister today, I will post pictures once it is installed. Looking online, the best price I could find for the typhoon was around 2800 with shipping, and this one was 3400 with shipping, so I decided just to go with the bigger slide since it wasn't a huge price difference.

I ordered the gray right turn, so it should hopefully look something like this when completed. From reading, it seems like it is going to be best to run a return from the pool pump, so looks like some trench digging is in my future

Thanks!
Scott

 

[ulrichsd]

The slide was delivered Tuesday and I got it installed on Friday. Took 2 adults about 4 hours. I'm very happy with how it turned out and the kids love it. The arch is plenty tall to walk through, so I pushed it about 2 feet from the edge of the deck so you can go either under or around it.

Right now it is running off a garden hose until I can get a line installed to the pump. The lower hose flow is fine for the kids (3, 7 and 9) although the older kids would I'm sure prefer more water/faster ride. But running the hose 4 hours, my water level is rising quickly

Thanks to everyone again for the suggestions and advice!
Scott

 

[VinceL]

We have the Typhoon slide installed at the end of the pool. I had it installed as part of the original pool build., and you can see from the picture that the decking is extended around the slide.

I would have liked to get the Turbo Twister, but given the relatively small size of our pool (16 x 37), I figured the Turbo Twister would be a bit too much. The Turbo Twister looks nice on your pool.

We have an EcoStar VSP for the pool and spa. I wanted to be able to run the filter at the same time as running the waterslide. So, I had a separate single speed pump installed for the slide. That pump feeds into a T with each leg having a valve that controls the flow to the slide and to a pool return.

 

[ulrichsd]

We have the Typhoon slide installed at the end of the pool. I had it installed as part of the original pool build., and you can see from the picture that the decking is extended around the slide.

I would have liked to get the Turbo Twister, but given the relatively small size of our pool (16 x 37), I figured the Turbo Twister would be a bit too much. The Turbo Twister looks nice on your pool.

We have an EcoStar VSP for the pool and spa. I wanted to be able to run the filter at the same time as running the waterslide. So, I had a separate single speed pump installed for the slide. That pump feeds into a T with each leg having a valve that controls the flow to the slide and to a pool return.
View attachment 145046

Wow, that pool is beautiful! The lighting creates a great ambience. I was between the two slides and just figured we'd get the bigger one since we have the space. The kids like it (for the first weekend at least) but I'm sure they would have enjoyed the typhoon as well.

Curious why the filter can't run if the pump is connected to the slide? My pump is single speed and not variable and I have a sand filter.

 

[VinceL]

Wow, that pool is beautiful! The lighting creates a great ambience. I was between the two slides and just figured we'd get the bigger one since we have the space. The kids like it (for the first weekend at least) but I'm sure they would have enjoyed the typhoon as well.

Curious why the filter can't run if the pump is connected to the slide? My pump is single speed and not variable and I have a sand filter.

Thanks for the compliment on our pool, ulrichsd.

We have a Hayward Prologic system which I have programmed to filter the spa for a couple of hours early in the morning, then filter the pool for later in the morning, and then run the spillover from the spa to the pool in the afternoon. If I used the same pump for the waterslide, then the waterslide would have to run during one of the regularly scheduled cycles. With the separate pump, I can run the waterslide independently of the filter. So, it's a matter of convenience rather than a physical requirement.

 

[Justify]

@ulrichsd Beautiful and picture-perfect setting! Congrats on your new slide!