The future of chemical automation: with wireless Internet access now available from controller manufacturers, customers' pools and spas can be monitored anywhere in the world from a laptop or PC

Pool & Spa News, Oct 1, 2004 by Robert Hedrick

In the past, chemical automation has been treated as just another part of pool or spa equipment. Its ability to report and compare complete pool room data from multiple bodies of water over long periods of time hasn't factored into the total equation.

This is changing. In the future, controller manufacturers must move out of the age in which the chemical controller is just a piece of pool room equipment. The age of the "dumb chemical controller" is ending and being replaced by "intelligent" chemical controllers that are capable of sending complete pool room data to the user via the Internet.

Technical advances in chemical controller technology and wireless Internet connectivity have made the chemical controller a "business management tool." It not only allows pool service or management companies to become proactive with their customers, but also creates positive effects on the bottom lines of their financial statements.

Going proactive

Intelligent controllers now can monitor all chemical readings in a pool They automatically take a water test up to 72 times a day using optical technology combined with liquid test reagents. If the chemicals are out of balance, the controller will automatically e-mail, fax, call or page the user or his/her service or management company. It also will post on the Internet data-management part of the controller an alert that the pool needs immediate attention.

The intelligent controller has the ability to measure the levels of liquid chlorine and acid in the storage tanks. It can be set up to notify the management company, service company or pool manager when one or two days' supply is left in the barrels.

Again, the controller will send an automatic alert via e-mail, fax, phone call or page, and posts the information to the Internet database. It states that the customer's pool will run out of chemicals within the time set in the controller. This allows the management company to dispatch a delivery truck to fill the tanks, so the customer never knows he or she was almost out of chemicals.

It will not be too long until this need to deliver chemicals is sent to a "standard" daily routing program via the Internet. It will automatically place the pool that needs chemicals into a daily schedule for delivery.

This means that the pool management company or manager knows about a "potential" problem ahead of time. It allows the management company to be proactive by handling the problem before it becomes one. This results in increased customer retention and company profits.

With bidirectional communications to the controller, you can perform calibrations, adjust the pH or ORP, put the pool into a backwash cycle and change the temperature. A technician can monitor the pools under his or her care via the Internet from a laptop or PC. No longer does the technician need to drive 50 miles to the pool to find out that the only problem was calibration.

When a technician receives a call from a customer, it's a simple matter to pull over to the side of the road and use a laptop to check on the status of the pool. In many cases, the problem can be fixed without going to the home or equipment room.

Water management

In the future, pool retail stores and management and service companies need to look at moving into the water management side of our industry. In other words, they need to manage water quality by taking full control of equipment located at their customers' pools, and provide effective chemicals and tech services.

Many companies now own controllers and place them at their customers' facilities. They also provide a complete water management service, including chemicals; the controller; and weekly, biweekly or--monthly visits to the facility at one monthly charge on a yearly contract basis.

Information central

Set up on your own "secure" Web site associated with each of your controllers. You can keep information on an unlimited number of pools, spas or waterfeatures by name, location and serial number of the controller installed. Management companies, service companies or pool managers also can include customer databases.

Any pool readings such as pH, ORP, temperature, water flow and the like will be sent automatically up to 72 times per day directly from the controller to the database on the Internet. It's accessible only by the person setting up the database.

The database stores readings from individual pools, such as the amount of chlorine and acid used, pH and ORP readings, temperatures, and flow rates. It also logs temperatures when the heater or pump goes on or off. All this data is downloadable into Excel spreadsheets.

With this type of pool room control and data availability, the manager can efficiently and remotely control the pool equipment. He or she also can evaluate potential problems before they occur.

When the manager logs into this database, all the pools that are under contract will show up on the screen. A light next to the pool name will be either green, yellow or red to show that it is OK, or needs checking or immediate action. When the manager clicks on the pool, all data regarding the pool, such as pH, ORP, temperature and chemical levels, will be displayed