Self cleaning pools are quickly becoming the norm. Home owners want to invest less in maintaining their pools as well as raise the value of their homes. However, do self cleaning pools really work?
In-floor cleaning pools have been around for a while but it is only recently that home owners saw the need for them. In truth, owning a private swimming pool is costly in terms of hiring a maintenance worker and purchasing cleaning chemicals. A self-cleaning pool eliminates the need for both, lowering cost of maintenance.
How it works
In-floor cleaning pools are designed to replace the old fashion swimming pools. The difference between the two is in how the pool circulates its water within a given time frame. For older models, the inlet feeding filter is located at the top. The skimmer that sucks water out of the pool, through the filtration pump and back into the pool again, is also at the top.
While this worked to circulate water in a pool, it was far from being effective. Since both inlet and skimmer are located at the top, water only circulates at the top while the bottom remains stagnant. By doing so, it creates a disparity in water temperature with the top part being warm and the bottom part cold. In addition, poor water circulation means the cleaning chemicals do not mix well with the water. This means that the bottom part does not get cleaned which creates a new ground for germs and bacteria to thrive.
Self cleaning pools do the exact opposite. They are designed with the water inlets located at the bottom of the pool. As the skimmer filters out dirty water from the pool, the inlets at the bottom bring in fresh treated water from the filtration water. All water in the pool is evenly treated and circulated.
Self-cleaning vs Conventional pools
In-floor pools take a shorter time to circulate all the pool water. While conventional pools will take up to 8 hours to replace their water, self-cleaning pools do so in less than 4 hours. With water evenly circulating in the pool, you no longer have to dread those cold spots found at the bottom.
Furthermore, as all the water is drawn in and out of the pool, it gets efficiently cleaned. This reduces the need to go back to the water with a long brush to clean debris at the bottom. You only have to empty the filtration baskets and you are done.
Self cleaning pools have great advantages over older pools. They are cleaner, take less time to circulate water, and are warmer to swim in.
