Inground Pool Alarms - Mounted vs. Removable

Hi,

We've recently moved into a home with an in-ground pool, and are looking into pool alarms as we have small children (well, one is 3 years old and the other is due in the next two weeks...).

We've homed in on the Swim Alert (by MG International), which is mounted to the pool deck and must be set to swim mode when the pool is in use, and Poolguard PGRM-2, which must be removed during swim time. I like the idea of an automatically resetting alarm (Swim Alert), but am concerned about a mounted device becoming a trip / injury hazard during swim time, especially for guests.

Looking for guidance on the general mounted vs. removable alarm concept, as well as anyone's experience (good / bad) with these alarms in particular.

Thanks in advance!!

I have no experience with pool alarms, but having done service work for 30+ years, I have way more experience than I would like with all sorts of other alarms. And one thing they ALL have in common, is that they fail. Most commonly, they fail by alarming when they shouldn't but they also sometimes fail to alarm when they should.

When alarms fail ON, too much, people turn them off. But on the other hand you can never count on any alarm to always given the warning it should.

My point is, an alarm can be a supplemental safety. But it can't be primary.

If at all possible get a fence. If the pool is right next to the house, try to make the doors that access the pool self closing.

And, teach your 3 year old to swim AND to use the steps, ladder whatever. My own sons don't remember learning to swim, and they grew up not really understanding that you could stand on the bottom in some pools, because the pools we used were all deeper than their height when they were young.

I installed an alarm on my IG pool, after an unfortunate incident where someone got into my pool during the night. It is not either of the models that you mentioned, I think the one I had is now discontinued. Mine was permanently mounted, but it attached to the ladder railing, so that it wasn't in anybody's way when using the pool--I just taught the kids to make sure they grabbed the ladder railing rather than the alarm post that was attached to it. I turned it off while we were swimming, and turned it back on when I turned the pool pump off at night. I put it on the pool because I had a large outside dog that couldn't swim, and a sleepwalking older child. It did give me some peace of mind; however, I have two very large bullfrogs that swim in the pool at night and they set it off in the middle of the night at least 2-3 times a week.

We put an alarm system on the house shortly after adding the pool alarm, and that took care of the sleepwalking kid. After the dog died, I quit using it altogether because the frogs made it a real PITA to keep setting it every night and scaring me to death when it went off. So..if the permanent one mounts to the ladder, it won't necessarily be a tripping problem, but if you live in the country like I do, you may very well have a good number of false alarms, which lead to a temptation not to set the alarm anymore.

I agree with Pooldoc, though--your kids need to be taught to swim as soon as humanly possible, and taught where the steps are to get out. Having a pool alarm is a great thing, but the ability to swim is what will keep your kids afloat until you can respond to the alarm. It's very easy to get complacent when you have an alarm on the pool, and that's not a good thing.

Thanks!

I definitely agree on him learning to swim ASAP, we've already been working on what we can in the bathtub (blowing bubbles, wiping water out of your eyes vs. rubbing, etc) while we wait for the weather to warm up. We do have door alarms from the house to the pool, and the yard is fenced in, but the pool itself is not fenced off within the backyard. An in-pool alarm would be a supplemental / extra alarm for us, as really nothing can substitute for a sharp supervising eye.

We've been talking about putting the deck-mounted alarm next to the ladder as well to minimize the trip hazard, but need to do some closer analysis to make sure the ladder is far enough away from filter system returns and the alarm would still be able to "see" everywhere in our kidney-shaped pool.