Welcome to PPOA

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!

Are you interested in becoming a PPOA member? It only takes a few minutes and you will be part of a growing community of aquatic professionals who have already joined PPOA. Visit the Membership Information page and sign up today.

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Here is an example of the tech articles you will find on this website:

 ORP and Oxidation:

By Kent Williams, Professional Pool Operators of America

Oxidation/reduction potential… We’ve all heard the term, but what does it really mean? We’ll see that it is, essentially, a relative measure of the desired “work value” of our pool sanitizer  and a pretty darn’ good one at that. But first, let’s dissect the term itself.

“Oxidation” is pretty clear, so is “potential”, but what’s that other word, reduction? It’s not very important to us, actually — having to do with electron exchange and implying a chemical process pretty much the opposite of oxidation. The name of the technology wouldn’t be complete without the R, so we’ll use it to and remain correct. (The phrase “redox potential” is also used, still embodying both reactions in the name.)
One can simply imagine the ORP of a solution to be the measurable “oxidation potential” or the potential within an active solution to do chemical “work”.

We talk a lot about oxidation in the pool business. ‘Seems that, while sanitation comes along for the ride, it’s oxidation that we really have to work for. We frequently relate oxidation to burning, however biological/organic oxidation is actually not combustion at all, with the source of oxygen being water, not the molecular gas. Biological oxidation, found in animal digestion, is a stepwise reaction which releases energy in manageable amounts, consuming and/or converting organic material into proteins and sugars and other useful stuff. In a pool, the goal is to render organic contaminants invisible and non-offensive, with the primary resultant being carbon dioxide. One of the most complicated areas of chemistry, oxidation in water produced by a halogen (chlorine, bromine and others) results in the clear and sanitary water we want; however, conditions can exist which encourage the formation of ineffective, sometimes offensive halide compounds as well as other, even less desirable, “products of incomplete oxidation” such as trihalo-methanes – mentioned elsewhere in this article. The object, then, is to optimize the use and the control of the chlorine or bromine, the ozone, peroxide, chlorine dioxide, monopersulfate or whatever it is we manage to add to the water for those important oxidation duties. And this is done by measuring the quality of the process, not the quantity. Nothing beats ORP for this job!

ORP is measured in pool water using a sensitive voltmeter and a platinum electrode. The voltage across the pure platinum tip and a potassium chloride/silver chloride reference cell is measured in millivolts (thousandths of a volt) and, miraculously, can be directly related to efficacy, or “work value” of any sanitizing/oxidizing product present in the water. Unstressed, un-treated water reads a background potential of a few hundred millivolts (mV.), while the generally accepted (German DIN-Standard originated) range for effective sanitation (with chlorine or bromine, typically) is 650 to about 850 mV. Values much below 650 mV. become unsafe, whether in pools or in drinking water preparation. Oxidation suffers proportionately as ORP drops below that magical 650, and turbid water can show up right on cue. Read more »

Pumproom Press # 44

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

Covers save $

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 »

Echo Glen quality

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 »

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