Each year Pools by John Clarkson chooses to send some employees to different conventions and trade shows to learn about new products available to our customers. We also use these opportunities to become more familiar with existing products in which we may have used the year before. This year at the Aquatech Society Conference, PBJC spent time with our representative from Endless Pools, discussing their full range of products, including the "Fastlane" which we installed last year. After this trip, I thought it would be good to show how this particular installation worked.We received a call from a Triathlete, who wanted to be able to train for the swimming portion of the competitions in his own backyard. Without having space for an Olympic size pool lane; his best option was to build a smaller pool, with a Fastlane swim system. In addition, to keep the pool heated he needed a heat pump and it was decided an automatic pool cover would help maintain the temperature, lower the amount of evaporation and make the pool safer.
After the design was decided (a ~10' x 20' pool with minimal decking,) we finalized the technical details. With the pool cover, a pit is needed for the cover to roll up in. This detail is not attractive, so a stainless steel tray system is used to allow the coping / deck material to be extended over the pit. The pit design is also interesting, b/c it requires for one side to be extended past the pool shell at a greater distance than the other side. To keep the look visually the same, we extended both sides the same amount.
The Fastlane is required to be mounted to the shell of the pool - with a special mounting bracket - low enough for the cover to go over, but high enough to provide the proper flow. To make this work seamlessly, we used 2 rows of pool tile and lowered the water level. After the installation, the homeowner placed a mirror on the bottom of the pool, we wired in an optional time clock and he was ready to go!
