Safety Considerations

Safety remains our top priority, and we encourage you to consider some of the following ways to ensure that your pool remains as safe as possible.

Think in terms of “Layers of Protection”
At Glengate, we think in terms of “layers of protection” – to keep every family as safe as possible. The first layer is always adult supervision, but we encourage pool owners to build additional safety features into their pool design, including: barriers, automatic pool covers, door alarms, water level sensors, and more. Just because the code does not require a barrier with an automatic pool cover doesn’t mean you shouldn’t incorporate one! Learn more about layers of protection.

Know your Property
Each family, and each property, is unique and will require their own layers of protection. Some things you might think about include: Do you have young children or pets that don’t know how to swim? How far is your property from your neighbors? If close by, do your neighbors have children, pets, or frequent guests with children? Do wild animals such as deer, skunks, or bears live in your area? These animals are often drawn to water and risk drowning in your pool.

Maintain your Cover
Swimming pools are a great source of joy and memories for homeowners, and having a safe, secure pool ensures peace of mind. When relying on an automatic pool cover to provide a layer of protection to your home, we recommend working with a qualified pool cover company and scheduling regular maintenance to keep your cover in good working condition at all times.

Design Opportunity

Whether our clients are interested in a landscape free of barriers, or if they prefer to incorporate a fence for privacy or safety reasons, we’re excited by the chance to continue thinking innovatively about pool environments.

Explore New Barriers
A beautiful fence can be both functional and sophisticated, adding elegance to a property while also providing privacy and safety for its inhabitants. From glass fences to fences hidden behind beautiful hedges, and more, our designers are skilled at incorporating pool barriers seamlessly into our designs. However, this new rule allows us to be even more creative, playing with fence height and spacing to provide a level of protection with a lighter, airier feel and less visual interruption.

Organic Transitions
The reduced requirement for pool barriers allows us to define landscapes in new ways. Whether you’re looking for uninterrupted views, or more natural, organic transitions between outdoor spaces, we’ll work with you to create an environment tailored to your lifestyle.

Glengate's Commitment

While the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code has been adopted by several other municipalities, it is still new to Connecticut. Over the coming months, Glengate’s in-house experts will be working hard to ensure we know all there is to know.

Town-level Modifications
Town governments have the authority to impose more stringent regulations than the state requires. As local towns familiarize themselves with this new rule, our experts will be monitoring any additional elements each individual town may consider.

Additional Training
Our Pool Care Technicians are all knowledgeable about the automatic pool covers we install. Over the coming months and beyond, we will continue to deepen our understanding of safety covers and learn new troubleshooting techniques so that our technicians are able to help open or close a malfunctioning cover until the pool cover company can address the underlying problem.

Layers of Protection
From fencing options and automatic safety covers, to pool alarms and sensors, our teams will continue to recommend several layers of pool safety to all of our clients.

Learn more about Pool Design, Build, and Renovation at Glengate

How to Choose the Right Spring Bulbs

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Extend Your Outdoor Season Into Fall

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How to Choose the Right Spring Bulbs

How to Plant a Stunning Fall Container

Extend Your Outdoor Season Into Fall

The post Is My Pool/Spa Safe? appeared first on Glengate Company.

-Bob Russell, Partner, Glengate Company

Glengate was considered unique and even a bit “odd” in the 70’s through the 90’s in that we combined design, construction and service under one roof. Only in recent decades have several other local companies attempted to build to a similar business model; in so doing, they, like us, have discovered how challenging this is.

I’m not going to sugar-coat our story… it takes a very special team of people, lots of hard work and plenty of endurance. I can say that it has absolutely been worth the journey.

By the late ‘90s, economists began to observe and write about a shift in US marketplace- towards “a service economy.” As if to punctuate this, companies like Lexus emerged and seemed to grab significant market share “overnight” through a “service first” approach.

While most companies were trying to keep up with this change or were re-tooling; Glengate found itself on a leading edge of this particular marketplace learning curve. We had been perfecting a “One Vision, One Company” approach for years and what Lexus did in Greenwich simply punctuated this for me- we knew we were on the right track. (It also helped that one of our clients was the service manager at Lexus Of Greenwich and he didn’t mind sharing their business model with us.)

By the 90’s we were employing a one-price comprehensive service agreement and thought in terms of “clients for life.” Our target clients- the “high-end, residential home-owner,” greatly valued their time and were actively looking for service providers who made it easy to do business with. We heard this clearly in our marketplace and decided to respond with the best answers. At the time there were only a few companies thinking this way so there was plenty of space to step in to!

By 2004 our design, construction and service teams had made major strides towards integration and our highest company value was providing our clients with a great experience that had a beginning and no end. 

Dependability is often the first thing on your list when making a purchase as grand as a pool. Beautiful pools require beautiful engineering and licensed service technicians to keep them in top form.

Pools in the Northeast are typically open for 5-6 months and closed for 6 to 7 months. In spite of this, the owners of both of the pictured pools will tell you an intensive service plan is worth it.

Our job is to think about such details so a pool/spa owner doesn’t have to. Your pool should be a backyard retreat not a source of frustration, ever.

We engineer our pools and spas to be “low maintenance” and “easy to use.” Low maintenance is the best maintenance. Service is designed and engineered into every Glengate pool and spa. 

When considering a project, look for a company that has integrated all three disciplines: Design, Construction and Service. 

Pool or Spa Quick Checklist:

• Environmentally Responsible:
  • Automatic Pool/Spa cover.
  • Variable speed pumps.
  • LED lighting.
  • High-tech sanitization. 
  • Efficient filtration.
  • Engineered hydraulics.
• Necessary Safety Features:
  • Divided suction points/ Anti-entrapment covers.
  • Layers of protection.
• Easy To Use:
  • Remote Controls/ Smart Device App (turn your phone into a remote control.
  • Great design. 
  • Glengate Guaranteed Service.
• Engineered to Last:
  • There are no shortcuts worth taking. 
  • From soils and drainage to structural steel and concrete. 
  • Limit buried plumbing when you can.

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The specific products in short supply include:

1) “Tri-chlor” tablets.

2) “Dichlor” chlorine powder. 

Both products are mainstays for a large portion of pool owners and have been in use for several decades.

Reasons given for the shortage include: 

• Soaring chlorine demand due to building boom including increased demand for PVC.
• Soaring demand for chlorine-based sanitizers- a result of the world- wide pandemic.
• Manufacturing disruptions including a key chlorine manufacturing facility destroyed by fire.
• Supply chain disruptions exacerbated by trade wars, international travel restrictions and other workforce social distancing measures.

In our pursuit of perfect water, the reduction of chlorine has always been one of our goals, consequently we find ourselves out ahead of this challenge with some very good alternatives. 

The Salt/Chlorine Generator: This technology became popular in America in the early 1980’s. It came and went like a fad because there were some bugs; AND since traditional chlorine was plentiful at the time it was quickly abandoned. 

Around 15 years ago, salt/chlorine technology came roaring back. The new units had some nifty self-diagnostics and controls that the early ones didn’t, this made them more appealing to pool owners and technicians alike. There were still things we would learn about the impact of salt in a swimming pool or spa but it seemed “salt pools” were here to stay; over the next 10 years we converted  approximately 1/3 of our pools and spas to these systems. What could possibly go wrong?

The first to re-think and abandon salt/chlorine generators were Builders. About five or ten years into this renewed love affair with salt/chlorine systems pool builders and masons began to change back to traditional erosion feeders. The main reason behind this was an increase in salt-related warranty claims- here’s some of them:

1) Salt stains. Remember the white stains on your winter boots? As it turned out, salt left the same sort of stains on decks – especially at high-traffic and high visibility areas such as pool entries. When water evaporates, salt is left behind and if deck material is porous, it can leave a stain that is nearly impossible to get out. Over time, salt stains were also appearing on tiles.  

2) Pitting of masonry– The popularity of certain pool deck materials often depends on how cool it is when in full sun. Deck materials that are cooler in full sun tend to be lighter in color and a bit more porous. Pavers and lighter-colored stone rated for our climate zone tend to resist pitting but not entirely and staining is still a problem. As it turns out, the harder and denser stones like granite and bluestone seem to tolerate salt water best. Softer and cooler stones like limestone do not do as well in the Northeast climate where freeze-thaw cycles can damage stones. Limestone is also vulnerable to salt damage. 

3) Water Chemistry– Salt/chlorine generators create some challenges that normal fresh water pools/spas does not have- at least not to the same degree. It takes a skilled service person to prevent scale and maintain pH.
Another challenge is electrolysis. Salt water conducts electricity better than fresh. All pools have some measurable “stray current” which can be detected using a millivolt meter. Keep in mind that a millivolt is one-thousandth of one volt. Not a problem for bathers per se’ but a potential problem for metals in contact with pool or spa water, especially if the pool is not properly grounded and bonded.
A zinc anode is included in the pool plumbing for this reason because stray current is attracted to the softest metal in the circuit. Anodes sacrifice themselves while protecting other metals and are usually replaced every year. Without an anode the stray current and resulting electrolysis would attack the next softest metal which is typically any copper or brass. Even stainless steel can become pitted if next in line.

Reasons To Use A Salt/Chlorine Generator: We certainly are not trying to talk you out of using a salt/chlorine generator, only offering information that will help you avoid any problems when you do.

Chlorine has always been manufactured from salt. This is how bleach is made. The chlorine shortage is not due to a shortage of salt on the planet – it’s a manufacturing issue. We expect things will be back to normal at some point, perhaps by 2022. In the meantime, we recommend all pool owners have the means to manufacture their own supply of chlorine. Your expert pool professional will either teach you how or will handle it all for you.  

We also recommend you have a back-up traditional chlorine feeder in your system. Modern pools come equipped with variable speed pumps. Pair your salt chlorine generator with a VS pump and rather than set a timeclock to “on/off” set your VS pump to fast and slow.

If you have an automatic cover on your pool, consider making your salt/chlorine generator “smart” so it turns on and off when reaching your pre-set parameters.

At this time, Salt/Chlorine generators are the best way to go when chlorine runs out!

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