Potential new indoor pool owner

[r7chan]

Hi, I'm not a swimmer, but the house I'm thinking of buying has an indoor pool. Anything specific I should be looking for or asking the owner? On my first visit, he said it was a bromine pool, and that he had a heat pump dedicated to the pool room to dehumidify and manage the air temperatures. The bromine is fed automatically by filling a thermos-like container near a big round thing that I assume is either the pump or the heater. Just want to make sure I don't get into something I'll regret. He said indoor is much less maintenance than outdoor, which is good considering I'm pretty lazy... Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

Indoor pool? Wow.

Less overall maintenance? I guess so. Less trouble? No way.

#1 - Determine if the pool enclosure is an entirely separate building from the house with minimal (ideally: none!) air migration from pool to house. If this is NOT the case, humidity control is absolutely critical, and the pool's HVAC system -- which MUST be separate -- is an expensive high maintenance necessity.

#2 - Open a light switch or receptacle in the pool room (or have an electrician do so), and check for corrosion on the wiring, which will appear as green discoloration on the copper. Remove a wire nut, and check inside for rust. If EITHER of these are present, 100% of the wiring connections in ALL areas subject to pool atmosphere MUST be inspected.

Chemical laden pool air destroys wiring, which in turn, sets buildings on fire.

#3 - Have a competent pool service guy inspect all the pool equipment. He may know little about indoor pools, but he'll be able to tell you what condition the equipment is.

#4 - Have a competent HVAC service guy inspead the pool HVAC system CAREFULLY. Make SURE you have ID'd brand and model, found installation, date and manufacturer's manual. If there is air flow from pool into the house, have him inspect the INSIDE coils of the house HVAC unit.

I'm not kidding about any of this.

The building damage I've seen from indoor pools -- and I've serviced a bunch of them for years -- and from storing & using chemicals indoors would blow your mind. I saw a brand new $500,000 therapy pool and enclosure nearly destroyed the first weekend it was operated due to installation and operation errors. The construction company's utility man was also nearly killed by chlorine gas (generated by auto-feed bleach and acid system errors) when he unlocked the doors on Monday AM.

Frankly, unless you install them in their own independent water and corrosion resistant building, indoor pools require meticulous care. If everything is working properly, it may not be hard or time consuming, but it MUST be routine and careful. And the care and chemistry can be MUCH more complicated that what we get into here, because you do not have solar UV or open ventilation.

[r7chan]

Thanks PoolDoc. Good points, some of which I hadn't thought of. I will ask more questions next time I view the property again, but in the meantime, here are some pics of the pool room. It's an extension to the back of the house, so the wall between the house and the pool is actually the original exterior wall, which I assume would be just as good as a separate room? When looking at the house from inside the pool room, that wall is all brick. Also, the pump/hvac/etc is in a separate shed outside the pool room in the backyard (the door on the right of the first pic below leads to the shed). And in the pic of the backyard, you can see there's nothing above it (the angled roof is above the brick wall, not above the pool). I know they're crappy pics, but does it seem as though the room was designed well enough? Oh, one more thing, this pool is at least 10 years old, and we were looking for rust but couldn't find any. Of course, we didn't look inside any receptacles, but will next time if he will let me.

[PoolDoc]

It looks very nice . . . and may be fine. But damage to the wiring will usually NOT show till you remove covers. On your pool, you can pop the lens off the lights, open the wiring panel, and remove some wire nuts. If you do two at opposite ends of the pool (try to pick then near both suction and discharge air vents) you should get a good sample. Check panels in the pump room, too. I would also recommend opening the light switch on the house side of the entry door, if there is a switch there.

Also, looking at the photos, I was reminded of another failure mode, and your pool is old enough to be affected. It's CRITICAL when designing indoor pools to EITHER
#1 - Make sure all structural components are moisture resistant, and moderately resistant to salt or chlorine,
OR
#2 - Make sure the insulation is on the COLD side of those components, and that they remain at the same temp as pool room air in winter.

If this is NOT done, what tends to happen is that BOTH water & volatile halogen compounds from fume laden moist air condense on cold structural elements. Few architects and engineers understand this, and over time, this problem can cause structural collapse. I believe the YMCA has had several collapses of this sort, include at least one with fatalities.

So . . . check the structure ABOVE that nice white ceiling. If it's treated wood trusses, that's good, but check the fastener plates.

Ben