November 2011
-
Changing Your Hot Tub Water in 4 Simple Steps
-
How to Choose the Right In-ground Pool for You
in Maintenance
Subscribe to POOLlife Now!
Sign up today to get the latest pool articles, recipes and promotions sent straight to your inbox each month.
or
Find a Dealer
Find out where to buy our pool or spa care products near you.
Ask a Pool Pro
Do you have a pool care question? Submit your questions and each month we'll pick one to answer on our blog.
For immediate response, please call our Customer Care Center (800) 222-2348
Related Articles
Maintaining your pool doesn’t have to be a chore. Wireless, digital controls allow you to create an automated schedule and run much of your pool’s maintenance with the press of a button.
“Technology can allow you to do any function you could do if you were right beside the pool,” says Gordon MacGregor, CBP, vice president of sales with Rizzo Pool, a pool design and construction company in Newington, Conn. “It just gives you more ease of operation and control.”
Wireless, digital controls can help streamline your pool maintenance schedule leaving you more time to enjoy your pool. Check out what they can do for you:
Run a temperature
Why wait on the side while your pool heats up? You can set heat controls so that it’s at the ideal temperature when you’re ready to hop in. There are temperature systems available that use a mechanism you place in your pool’s water to gauge the temperature and send information to a wireless receiver that you can keep indoors hundreds of feet away. You can even program your system to sound an alarm when it’s reached your specified temperature.
Guiding light
How many times have you looked out your window in the morning and realized you forgot to turn off your pool lights from the night before? MacGregor says you can program your pool lights—and other components of your pool system like the pump, filter, heater, etc.—to turn on and off with an automatic timer so that you never have to worry about wasting electricity again. An automatic timer can make your pool more energy-efficient and reduce your utility bills.
Cool your jets
Your outdoor spa is a quiet place to unwind after a hard day’s work, so why would you want to waste any relaxation time waiting for jets to power on? You can turn your jets on with a remote while you’re putting on your bathing suit. That way, by the time you slide into the water, it’s already in full spa mode pulsing with soothing currents.
A clean slate
With today’s busy schedules, running your pool’s filter on a consistent basis is a task easily forgotten. However, you can program a digital control to run your filters on a regular schedule so that your pool is always clean when you’re ready to hop in for a swim.
Costs
MacGregor says the costs of automating your pool can range greatly depending on which digital applications you choose.
“It depends on how many functions you are going to be using,” he says. “You can keep expanding on systems.”
Timers for low-voltage lights can cost as little as $20 but the cost of a master control system that includes an indoor touchpad panel and remote control unit starts around $2500.
Keep it simple
The terms “wireless,” “digital” and “technology” might scare you away because they stereotypically suggest complicated systems that are difficult to operate. However, many systems have one-touch programming and control panels with large, high-resolution screens that feature clear commands. In fact, MacGregor says that today’s fast-moving technological world has expanded to even allow you to control your automation system from the convenience of your laptop or phone.
Before you decide how advanced you want your system to be, MacGregor recommends speaking to a pool professional first to figure out what kind of system works best for your yard and pool and which digital applications will optimize your investment.
