Your Pool Can’t Wait to Talk to You!

By Alvaro G. Mendoza / Published August 2024

Do you remember what you were doing in 1991–92? Some commercial pool owners and their service providers remember the humble beginnings of what is now one of the hottest trends in aquatics—remote monitoring and control of pool equipment.

     Remote monitoring is a simple concept in which a facility connects its pool equipment room to the outside world, allowing true two-way communication between equipment and operators/managers. It is not new as mentioned above, but it is truly a technology that has become better with age, one that has come of age as the world becomes more complex, and one that can help condominiums through the long, hot summer season.

     Why has getting connected to your equipment room become important? There are several reasons.

     First is the increased pressure on facilities to maintain safe and irritant-free pool water. This ranges from the prevention of chemical spills or accidents to the protection of patrons from cryptosporidium, legionella, and other well-known diseases, that are more prevalent during the hot weather and are a byproduct of improper chlorination.

     Next is the pressure to operate code-compliant facilities. No matter how exclusive your development or how many security checkpoints one must clear to enter the property, you operate a public pool in the eyes of the law. As such the facility must comply with strict state and national codes regarding water chemistry, flow, and filtration. The tolerance between too much and too few chemicals in the water can be a few parts per million, or the equivalent of a few inches in 17 miles. The typical facility is required to check its chemical levels manually at least once a day, but then what happens to the chemical levels from visit to visit can vary wildly depending on bather load, weather, and chemical feed rates.

     Third is that the availability of on-site pool experts is diminishing. It is getting tougher and tougher to hire and retain pool chemistry experts. Leading companies can train and certify your existing maintenance team to handle your in-house chemical program, or you can hire an outside service provider, but there are well-documented deficiencies in both strategies. Left unchecked, this problem can expose the facility to severe liability.

     All it takes to get connected is some affordable equipment and connection to an existing “open” Wi-Fi network or cellular modem that provides a Wi-Fi signal. The benefits are substantial.

     There are four major effects of remote monitoring, control, and communications on the quality of the facility:

• Remote monitoring, optimally in real-time, from a wide variety of mobile devices
• Full two-way remote control of any connected device (pumps, filters, heaters, chlorinators, and water fill)
• Digital log keeping down to one-minute increments, with the ability to easily review and store logs for up to five years
• Escalating alert notification of any out-of-range parameter until the issue is resolved.

     Getting one or two of these is nice, but the real goal is to achieve all of them. Only then is the facility fully protected against accidents and liability.

     While remote control has been around since 1992, it did not become a full solution until 2006 when a leading manufacturer came out with a new line of interactive chemistry controllers. The ability to communicate took a quantum leap. At that time many hundreds of customers got connected and started monitoring their own facilities; and monitoring programs expanded exponentially, providing monitoring, remote control, and “cyberservice.”

     A few years later major innovations were developed, including phone apps that allowed customers to be in constant contact with their pools on property, across town, and around the world from their ever-present handheld devices.

     Even a few years after that advance gigabit speed and proprietary connection protocols were introduced, which provided much desired layers of security for connections and data (requested by some, but absolutely required by the most discerning public or military facilities). Extensive one-year on-board data storage was added, as were tremendously simplified ways for controllers to connect to any local open network, whether wired or wireless. There are other simple communication solutions for facilities where the IT department completely locks down all internet traffic.

     What can you accomplish when you’re connected? Here are just a few of the most popular benefits reported by condominiums around the U.S.

• Receive an alert when chemical levels are out of range, thus preventing the spread of disease and their associated legal challenges.
• Receive proof of all major parameters via 24/7/365 logs, thus protecting the facility from frivolous liability claims.
• Monitor and control your pool filters and get alerted when the strainers need cleaning or the filters need to be backwashed.
• Receive alerts when a pool has developed a leak or is using too much water. The alternative is to receive a water bill much later and pay whatever ridiculous amount is requested.
• Monitor and control your pool pump remotely, saving energy and assuring the proper code-required flow rates are being maintained, while receiving alerts when they’re not.
• Monitor and control pool temperatures at target levels, preventing complaints and issues while maintaining control over runaway heating expenditures.
• Monitor and control energy consumption of all equipment and receive alerts of budget-busting energy costs.

     Today it is simple to have the advantages of the four major benefits of aquatic remote control and communications mentioned above, complete with proactive reports delivered to you on a schedule including graphs on all parameters, controller calibrations, test kit readings, and more… wow!

     What started out as a nice “feature” for a few customers to assure high standards at their facilities has transformed into a “must-have” industry requirement to be able to handle the crazy pace of today’s litigious society. Leading-edge condominium management companies and service providers are implementing communication control systems into their service strategy and are streamlining service and optimizing their efforts to provide the best customer service and patron satisfaction, with the least amount of manpower.

     We’d like to say we’ve finally arrived at the end, but many are already working on the next step.

     Jump on board… “Your Pool Can’t Wait to Talk to You.” 

Alvaro G. Mendoza, CEO

Aquafinity, Commercial Energy Specialists (CES)

     As CEO, Alvaro oversaw CES, AES, Knorr Systems, Int’l (KSI), and Duffield Aquatics, joining forces as Aquafinity to provide complete water control nationally. With over 175 years of combined industry leadership, Aquafinity helps facilities take total control of your pool operation for affordable, crystal-clear water with guaranteed results. Programs are custom tailored and consist of controls, treatment and filtration hardware, software, training, service, supplies, remote monitoring, alert notification, and ongoing training and support. Pioneering expertise in self-funding sustainable modernizations help save power, gas, water, chemicals, and labor while providing safe, compliant operations. For more information, call 888-299-2782 or visit www.Aquafinity.com.