How Swimming Pools Work

1. Introduction to How Swimming Pools Work

Conceptually, swimming pools are pretty simple -- they're just big
basins of water. But on a hot summer day, a swimming pool can
seem like the greatest invention known to man. And as it turns
out, there really is a lot of cool technology at work in your
average pool -- much more than you might expect.

In this article, we'll find out how pools are built, and we'll take a
look at the plumbing system that keeps the water clean and
chemically balanced.

Pool Basics

Swimming pools come in all shapes and sizes, but nearly all of them, from the backyard personal pool to the
water park wave pool, work in the same basic way. They use a combination of filtration and chemical
treatment to continually clean a large volume of water.

An apartment complex pool, mid-construction: It looks like a big hole in the ground, but it's really much more.

A typical swimming pool needs seven major components:

 A basin
 A motorized pump
 A water filter
 A chemical feeder
 Drains
 Returns
 PVC plastic plumbing connecting all of these elements

The basic idea is to pump water in a continual cycle, from the pool through the filtering and chemical
treatment systems and back to the pool again. In this way, the pumping system keeps the water in the pool
relatively free of dirt, debris and bacteria. Some pools also include heaters in the mix, in order to keep the
water at a certain temperature.
2. Types of Pools

The main difference between different types of pools is how the basin is constructed. There are several
different pool styles, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

 Above-ground pools are the cheapest construction option, as well as the easiest to build. Most above-
ground pools are made from prefabricated kits, which even an amateur can put together (though most
people go with professional installers). First, the installers level off the ground to form a flat building surface.
Then they assemble a perimeter track, which supports the outer wall (made of metal, plastic or wood). Next,
they spread sand in the pool area and lay the plumbing. Finally, they secure the vinyl liner over the pool
walls, fill the pool with water, smooth the liner and fasten it into place. As soon as they hook up the pump
and filtering system, the pool is ready to go. The main disadvantage of this sort of pool is that it's less
durable than other designs, and generally less attractive. It's also less permanent, which can be a good thing
-- it's relatively easy to disassemble the pool and move it to a new location.

 Fiberglass pools are made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic, which has been molded into a basin
shape. To install the pool, a construction crew digs an appropriately sized hole, lays the necessary
plumbing, adds some sand filler and lowers the preformed pool structure into the hole. Then they level the
pool, hook up all the plumbing and backfill in the area around the pool. Usually, the pool is surrounded by a
concrete deck structure.

 Vinyl-lined in-ground pools are a lot like above-ground pools, structurally, but they look more like
conventional in-ground designs. The construction crew digs a hole and assembles a metal, plastic or wood
frame wall around the hole's perimeter. As in an above-ground pool, the crew lays sand along the bottom of
the hole and secures the vinyl lining to the structural wall. These pools are a lot cheaper than other in-
ground designs, but not as durable. Typically, the liner needs to be replaced every 10 years or so.

 Gunite pools are the most popular design in much of the United States. To build one of these pools, the
construction crew digs a hole, puts the plumbing in place and assembles a framework grid with 3/8-inch
steel reinforcing rods (rebar). The rebar rods are spaced about 10 inches apart, and secured together with
wire. When the grid is in place, the crew sprays a heavy coating of gunite, a mixture of cement and sand,
around the rebar. The sprayer unit combines dry gunite mix with water just before spraying -- this produces
the wet concrete material. The crew trowels the gunite smooth and lets it sit for a week or so before applying
a smooth finish to the rough surface. The most popular finish is called plaster (actually a mixture of cement
and marble sand), but a lot of people finish their pools with special concrete paint. Gunite pools can also
have tile, exposed aggregate or even fiberglass finishes. Gunite pools (and their cousins, shotcrete pools)
are highly durable, and they can be built in any shape or size.

 Poured-concrete pools are similar to gunite pools, but they're a lot harder to build. Instead of spraying
concrete material around a rebar framework, concrete is actually poured into conventional wooden forms.
With the rise of gunite methods, poured-concrete pool construction has mostly fallen by the wayside. In
masonry block pools, the walls are constructed with concrete blocks.

While these pool designs are quite different, they all rely on the same basic plumbing and filtering systems.
In the next few sections, we'll see how these components actually keep the pool going.

3. Pool Drain Systems

Floating Pool

An in-ground swimming pool may seem like a solid, unmovable structure, but it is actually sort of like
a boat-- it can float in the surrounding ground water. When the pool is empty, the ground water
pressure can actually push the structure up out of the ground. This is one of the reasons why pools
are filled with water year-round -- there needs to be roughly equal pressure on each side of the pool.

Most modern in-ground pools have a special hydrostatic valve near the main drain to guard against
damage from ground water pressure. Basically, if the ground water pressure is great enough, it will
push up on a small float, which opens the valve. When the valve opens, ground water flows in and
equalizes the pressure.
We've already seen that the water in a swimming pool needs to circulate through a filtering system, to
remove dirt and debris. During normal operation, water flows to the filtering system through two or more
main drains at the bottom of the pool and multiple skimmer drains around the top of the pool.

The main drains are usually located on the lowest point in the pool, so the entire pool surface slants toward
them. Most of the dirt and debris that sinks exits the pool through these drains. To keep people from getting
their hair or limbs caught in the plumbing, the drains are almost always covered with grates or antivortex
covers (a cover that diverts the flow of water to prevent a dangerous vortex from forming).
 The return port

A typical vacuum port

A pool vacuum cleaner

4. Pool Pump Systems

Pipes from the main drain, skimmer and vacuum ports lead to the pumping system.

To most of us, a pool is, more or less, a big hole in the ground. We don't see most of the expensive
machinery in a pool system, because it's usually tucked away in nearby pump room. But this is the stuff that
really makes the pool work.

The heart of the pool system is the water pump. In a typical pump system, an electric motor spins an
impeller inside the pump housing. The impeller drives the water from the various drains through the filter and
back out to the water inlets.

Just before it flows into the pump, the water passes through a metal strainer basket that catches leaves and
other large debris that might clog up the pump.

The strainer basket sits right in front of the pump.

The strainer basket, removed for cleaning

Next, the water flows into the filter (or, in this setup, one of two filters). In the next section, you'll find out what
happens at this point in the system.

5. Pool Filters

Dual sand filters

Specially made filter sand

The filters in this system are high-rate sand filters. Sand filters consist of a large tank, made of fiberglass,
concrete or metal, containing a thick bed of special-grade sand, which has a squarish shape.

During filtering operation, dirty water from the pool comes in through the filter's inlet pipe, which leads to the
water distribution head inside the tank. While gravity pulls the water down through the sand, the tiny sand
particles catch any dirt and debris. At the bottom of the tank, the filtered water flows through the pick-up unit
and out the outlet pipe.

Over time, the collected dirt and debris in the sand slows down the water flow. Pressure gauges at the filter
inlet and outlet give the pool custodian an idea of the blockage level inside. If gauges show much greater
pressure on the inlet pipe than the outlet pipe, the custodian knows there's a lot of collected debris in the
sand. This means it's time to backwash the filter. To backwash, the custodian adjusts a number of valves to
redirect the water flow. He or she closes the return pipe leading to the pool and opens the drainage pipe,
which lead to the sewer system. He or she adjusts a valve at the filter to connect the pipe from the pump to
the outlet pipe and connect the drainage pipe to the inlet pipe. With this arrangement, water from the pump
pushes up through the sand, dislodging the dirt and debris. At the top of the filter tank, the dirty water flows
out through the inlet pipe and into the sewer.
 To redirect the water flow for backwash, the custodian turns large handles to adjust plumbing
valves.

In place of a sand filter, some pool systems use a diatomaceous earth filter or a cartridge filter. In a
diatomaceous earth filter, water from the pool passes through filter grids coated with diatomaceous earth, a
fine powder made from the chemically inert, fossilized remains of sea organisms called diatoms. In a
cartridge filter, dirty water passes through a filter made out of polyester cloth or corrugated paper. Instead of
backwashing, you simply remove the filter and hose it off. After a few years (or as many as eight years), it's
time to discard the old filter and put in a new one.

In most regions, the law dictates that all the water in the pool (or more accurately, the equivalent volume)
must pass through the filter in a certain amount of time -- typically between 30 minutes and six hours. For
the apartment-complex pool pictured above, that means pumping 167,000 gallons (630,000 liters) of water
through the filtering system every six hours!

The pump and filter system is also connected to a well or municipal water line so fresh water can be added
to the pool. This is necessary to replace water lost to evaporation, backwashing and "splash-out" (water that
splashes on the deck or is carried out on people's bodies and swim suits). When it's pretty hot out and
there's heavy swimmer activity, this 167,000-gallon pool could lose 300 gallons (1,100 liters) or more in one
day.

6. Pool Chemicals

An automated chlorine feeder hooked into the pump and filter system
A pool's filter system does the heavy lifting in keeping the water clean, but it takes chemistry to do the fine-
tuning. It's important to carefully manipulate the chemical balance in pools for several reasons:

 Dangerous pathogens, such as bacteria, thrive in water. A pool filled with untreated water would
be a perfect place for disease-carrying microorganisms to move from one person to another.
 Water with the wrong chemical balance can damage the various parts of the pool.
 Improperly balanced water can irritate the skin and eyes.
 Improperly balanced water can get very cloudy.

To take care of pathogens in the water, you have to introduce a disinfecting agent that will get rid of them.
The most popular pool disinfectant is the element chlorine, in the form of a chemical compound such as
calcium hypochlorite (a solid) or sodium hypochlorite (a liquid). When the compound is added to the
water, the chlorine reacts with the water to form various chemicals, most notably hypochlorous acid.
Hypochlorous acid kills bacteria and other pathogens by attacking the lipids in the cell walls and destroying
the enzymes and structures inside the cell through an oxidation reaction. Alternative sanitizers, such as
bromide, do basically the same thing with slightly different results.

Chlorine is typically prepared in liquid, powder or tablet form (though some professionals use gaseous
chlorine), and it can be added to the water anywhere in the cycle. Pool experts generally recommend adding
it just after the filtering process, using a chemical feeder. If it's added directly into the pool, using tablets in
the skimmer boxes, for example, the chlorine tends to be too concentrated in those areas.

One problem with hypochlorous acid is that it's not particularly stable. It can degrade when exposed to
ultraviolet light from the sun, and it may combine with other chemicals to form new compounds. Pool
chlorinators often include a stabilizing agent, such as cyanuric acid, that reacts with the chlorine to form a
more stable compound that does not degrade as easily when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Even with a stabilizing agent, hypochlorous acid may combine with other chemicals, forming compounds
that are not very effective sanitizers. For example, hypochlorous acid may combine with ammonia, found in
urine, among other things, to produce various chloramines. Not only are chloramines poor sanitizers, but
they can actually irritate the skin and eyes and have an unpleasant odor. The distinctive smell and eye
irritation associated with swimming pools are actually due to chloramines, not ordinary hypochlorous acid --
a strong smell usually means there is too little free chlorine (hypochlorous acid), rather than too much. To
get rid of chloramines, pool custodians have to shock treat the pool -- add an unusually strong dose of
chemicals to clear out organic matter and unhelpful chemical compounds.

Chloramine formation is related to the second major element in pool chemistry, maintaining the right pH in
the pool.

Light It Up

These days, most swimming pools are built with underground lights, partially for aesthetic appeal but mainly
to let night swimmers see what they're doing. In one common underwater lighting design, an incandescent
light bulb is sealed in a water-tight fixture, which sits inside a niche embedded in the pool wall. The insulated
electrical wire runs into the fixture through a special seal, keeping water away from the conductive elements.
The wire runs back to the house (or wherever the power source is) through a long tube, which is filled with
water most of the way. There is enough extra wire in the tube that you can pull the entire fixture out of the
niche and up above the water level when you want to change the bulb.

Some people use fiber-optics to light their pools, instead of embedded incandescent fixtures. In this system,
the actual light source doesn't have to be underwater, so you can skip the whole bulb-changing, water-proof
electrical-component issue entirely.

7. Pool pH Levels

The water's pH is a measure of its total acid-alkalinity balance -- the relative proportion of acids and alkalis
in the water (check out Chem4Kids: Acids & Basesfor a description of acids and alkalis). Simply put, water
that is either too acidic or too alkaline will cause undesirable chemical reactions. If the water is too acidic, it
will corrode metal equipment, cause etching on the surface materials and cause skin irritation. If the water
is too alkaline, it can cause scalingon the pool surface and plumbing equipment and can cloud the water.
Additionally, both high acidity and high alkalinity alters the effectiveness of the chlorine. The chlorine won't
destroy pathogens as well if the water is too alkaline, and it will dissipate much more quickly if the water is
too acidic.
On the pH scale, zero indicates extreme acidity, 14 indicates extreme alkalinity and 7 indicates a neutral
state. Most pool experts recommend a pool pH between 7.2 and 7.8. To raise or lower pH, a pool custodian
simply adds acids or alkalis into the water. For example, adding sodium carbonate (soda ash) or sodium
bicarbonate (baking soda) will generally raise the pH, and adding muriatic acid or sodium bisulfate will
lower the pH.
Maintaining the proper balance of chemicals in the pool is a continual process, because any new element --
oils from a swimmer's body, a shot of chlorine, stuff that falls in the water -- shifts the water's total chemical
makeup. In addition to pH, pool custodians also monitor total alkalinity, calcium hardness and total
dissolved solids.
When you consider all the chemistry and machinery involved in swimming pools, it's clear that they really are
remarkable pieces of technology. It takes a surprising amount of work and ingenuity to build and maintain
these summertime staples.