Challenge

For many years, property owners of Geneva National Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis., found it difficult to enjoy the outdoor pools at the gated community’s Swim & Racquet Club. Poor water chemistry control in the club’s 119,000-gallon main pool, 47,000-gallon lap pool and 4,800-gallon baby pool left swimmers and splashers with burning eyes, irritated skin and bleached bathing suits. On a number of occasions, the local health department shut down the pools because of improper water chemistry. In addition to the water chemistry problems, the overall condition of the pools had deteriorated greatly since opening in 1991. Fed up, the property owners’ association purchased the club from the original owner/operator and hired a general manager to make improvements for the 2001 summer season.

Initially, the pools were equipped with competitive controllers, but the caretakers found that they did not provide consistent water chemistry control. Nor had the chemical treatment system been coordinated properly with the pools’ source water. As a result, the caretakers were constantly adjusting the rate and type of chemicals going into the pools, leading to chemical overfeed and underfeed situations. This resulted in skin and eye irritation and a potentially unhealthy pool environment. “It was apparent that the previous operator of the pools had great difficulty balancing water chemistry,” says General Manager/Director of Tennis Marty Badt. “In the past, nine different chemicals had been used in the club’s pool operations.” After reviewing the situation, Badt got in touch with Carrico Aquatic Resources, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., who in turn recommended a Strantrol system that provides automatic, on-line control of disinfection and pH levels. At the same time, calcium hypochlorite briquette feeders were installed at Geneva National.

Solution

Geneva National Swim & Racquet Club installed three Strantrol^® System3™ controllers in April 2001.

• The controllers utilize High Resolution Redox^® (HRR) technology to directly measure the rate of oxidation in pool water regardless of the pH, temperature or bather load, feeding only the amount of chemicals needed.

Results

The System3 controllers have taken the guesswork out of chemical feed at Geneva National. The automated controllers respond continuously to actual pool conditions with precise chemical dosages resulting in pool water that is clear, nonirritating and safe.

• During the first season of operating the System3 controllers, there were no complaints of irritated eyes and skin and no health department shutdowns.
• Additionally, the System3 controllers are easy to use and maintain, and only need to be programmed once. Maintenance involves cleaning the feeders periodically and wiping off the sensors on the controllers as needed.
• “The maintenance requirements of our new systems are minimal,” says Badt. “We only had to clean controller sensors one time during the 2001 season. And, the Pulsar units are easy to assemble and disassemble for cleaning about every three weeks.”