Professional Pool Operators of America (PPOA) serves and supports swimming pool and waterpark operators in the US and now the developed world. We are dedicated to the betterment and national recognition of professional pool operators who excel in this profession. PPOA publishes the Pumproom Press, the nation’s only newsletter exclusively for certified pool operators, which focuses on the technical challenges pool operators face.
Surf the PPOA website for the latest information on technical issues such as advanced water care, mechanical-system maintenance, automation, and bather comfort and safety. Also, you will find information on management classes, seminars, and information on joining PPOA!
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The following article first appeared in Splash, the official and very popular magazine of the World Waterpark Association. It begins with fundamentals well known by most PPOA members, but proceeds to bust a number of popular myths that have been misleading operators since the Romans invented filtration…
Filters, everywhere in our environment, allow little stuff to pass through and keep the big stuff out. They’re in cigarettes and coffee pots, automobiles and air conditioners. They appear as window screens, fish nets, and accordion-pleated rolls of paper. Filters are so critical to the function of swimming pools and water features that a room has been named in their honor. No matter how important we think these appliances are, however, filters are often assigned virtues well beyond their capabilities. It’s important to know what they will do and what they won’t; with reasonable expectations we can get the very most out of them ? or into them ? and leave sanitation, oxidation and other miracles of pool care to different devices.
First, let’s look at some FACTS: Read more »
A PrP Note to Members and Guests:
We at the PPOA are snowed and slow, yet we’ve worked hard on the latest Pumproom Press. And, again, we want to give it to you. But this will be the last freebe PrP since getting them by mail or website is what the “active” members pay the $25 a year for. In the future, active members will enter the website “members only” section with a simple password – your member number and your zip code – and you’re in! Those member numbers in our paid-up database will be the only ones to unlock the key, as you’ve already guessed. Hey, as you read the new Pumproom Press #44, pay attention to pages 7 and 8, after reading the 10 steps, of course; you’ll see a few reasons why we’re going to minimize printing and mailing in the $$ future. Kent Williams, Exec. Director.
Download Prp 44 in zip or pdf format 
How pool covers save more energy than all other efforts put together! Where do pool-blanket energy savings really come from? This question is the most significant yet least understood concept when pool owners consider the use of pool-blanket systems. In the simplest terms, swimming pool blankets stop evaporation. It’s only incidental that they insulate to a small degree. Insulation, the property usually attributed to blankets, contributes about one percent of the energy savings when used on pools during off hours (a little more when used on outdoor spas). Evaporation retardation is overwhelmingly the larger contributor, up to 50% savings on energy usage!
Without delving into the physics too deeply, a brief “scientific” explanation helps our pool operator to understand the significance of evaporation: Water, that master-standard chemical, requires just one “calorie” (a heat-energy unit) per milliliter (cubic centimeter) to raise its temperature exactly one degree Centigrade. Conversely, it loses one calorie as the temperature drops one degree. However, vastly increased amounts of energy are either given off or required to be “taken in” for changes of state – that’s the transition between the vapor, liquid and solid “states” of water. For the shift from liquid to vapor, the energy required is called the “heat of vaporization” – 540 calories per mL. It takes five hundred forty times as much energy to vaporize any quantity of water than it does simply to raise that same quantity of water one degree Centigrade! That’s a killer of a statement. Read it again… Read more »
Quality Pool Job Matches School’s Vision By Tami Stokes
Instilling a Vision
Sometimes a swimming pool is just a pool—a recreational outlet or a venue for competition and aerobic exercise. Sometimes, though, a pool is a little bit more. At Echo Glen Children’s Center, in Snoqualmie, WA, the indoor pool is not only a recreational facility, but an integral part of a greater vision to promote the personal responsibility of its residents.
Echo Glen is Washington State’s juvenile detention center. Its endeavors to create quality rehabilitative programs have resulted in an effective canine training program and multiple humanitarian efforts. Residents are encouraged to participate in these service activities that allow them to look within themselves and identify with others. The rewards of their work enable them to see a future outside the center.
The center’s swimming pool, similarly, provides an on-site incentive and rewards program. Used strictly for recreational purposes, this indoor pool is an effective motivational tool. Residents look forward to earned opportunities to take part in swimming, playing, and relaxing in the facility. Read more »
