Latham Pool Builder Academy-Camp Penuel

KafkoPool Products has once again participated in the Latham Pool Builder Academy.  The pool builder academy was organized to give pool builders from around the country an opportunity to receive hands on experience and instruction as they participate in the entire process of building a vinyl liner pool. 

When Latham International first introduced the pool builder academy, it was held in the yard of a homeowner that had purchased a pool and agreed to have the academy at their home.  Several years ago, Latham decided that the pool builder academy provided the perfect opportunity for them and other companies to give back to the community.  Now, each pool builder academy is held at the location of a charitable organization that would really benefit from having a pool.  The entire pool kit, automatic cover and circulation and filtration equipment are donated for the cause. 

This most recent pool builder academy was held Sept 25-29th in at Camp Penuel in Ironton Missouri. Camp Penuel is a Christen camp that provides over 1500 inter-city kids each summer the opportunity to spend a fun filled week at camp. 

While at camp, these kids experience the beauty of the outdoors as they participate in water sports on Lake Killarney, going on nature hikes, singing songs around the camp fire, playing team sports, and reading.  Camp Penuel gives these youth an uplifting environment, away from the city streets that they came from, where they can learn more about themselves.

Now, thanks to the pool builder academy, the youth that come to Camp Penuel will also enjoy swimming in a new swimming pool.

We are proud to give back to the community and will continue to do so semi-annually for every Pool Builders Academy we host.

Albion Liner Tech Talk

An interesting article from one of our customers regarding liner fading.

In the many thousands of liners we process each year at WW Adcock the vast majority give many happy years of service.

Failures or problems are in low single digit %. However as you can imagine even 1% of 1000 liners is 10 liners, 2% 20 liners etc., so we are probably subjected to more issues  than the average builder/service company.

Today I was conducting a measure class for Adcock personal and here is a photo.
The damage you see here is something we encounter 3 or 4 times a year.

It is 4 years old. This is why this liner is damaged:

This pool has two skimmers, both located at the deep end. The main drain and the skimmers are plumbed together so the pump suction pulls through them all.

The homeowner loads up the skimmers with 3" chlorine tabs. They only run the pump for a few hours per day because of the cost of electricity.

The chlorine tabs then dissolve without the pump running. The heavy chlorine solution then sinks down the skimmer pipe and out through the main drain grate. You can see how bleached the liner is right at the edge of the grate. There is also some PH wrinkling that is hard to see. This is because high concentrations of chlorine has a very low PH and will cause the liner to absorb water and expand, hence PH wrinkles.

So for the cost of running a pump. A typical 1 hp pump uses 746 watts per hour. Average electricity rates are 10 cents a kilowatt hour. So this pump running 24 hours.... uses just shy of 18 kw hours x 10 cents = $1.80

The pump would cost $324 to run 24 hours a day for 6 months. If you only ran it for 8 hours a day you would save $216. The ruined liner cost approx $3500 to replace and lasted 4 years. In four years they saved $864. Net cost of saving electricity was $2636 for a new liner.

I really felt bad for the lady homeowner because she was very nice. My recommendation to her was;

Run the pump more or put in a two speed pump and run it on low half the time or plumb in a chlorinator. Without these precautions the replacement liner would also suffer the same fate.

Actually when building pools, is it a much better idea to have separate main drain and skimmer lines to stop this problem and also down the road it helps to isolate plumbing leaks.

If you have any head scratching liner failure questions we would be glad to give you an honest assessment and if we use your problem for our Tech Talk we shall give you a liner for half price.

PS There is still the possibility that the chlorine has also damaged the lines below the skimmer, especially if it was plumbed with flex pipe which will fail with high chlorine concentrations. In which case I would have to re-do the math above!

Nigel Leach
Director of Package Pool Sales
WW Adcock
Philadelphia PA

We thank Nigel for this helpful information.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Regina W. from Snellville, GA the lucky Grand Prize winner of our $10,000 Pool Makeover Sweepstakes.

Thousands of entries were submitted by homeowners nationwide for a chance to get a cool new look for their pool, and Regina was chosen.

Thank you to all who participated!

Pool Game - Dolphins Race or Relay

If there are just two players, this game is a race. With four or more players divide into teams and make it a relay.

Each team has a beach ball that the players must move from one end of the pool to the other by pushing the ball with their noses and forehead. If they touch the ball with their hands or any other part of their body they must go back to where that took place and start again.

When the player reaches the end of the pool the next player will do the same until one team is the winner.

Good swimmers can play by swimming in the deep end of the pool or the length of the pool. For a game with non swimmers, play in the shallow end.

ICC-ES Certified

Building Permits just got easier with Kafko.  The ICC evaluation service (ICC-ES) ensures that building products meet code requirements.  A nonprofit public-benefit organization, the ICC-ES does technical evaluations of building products, components, methods, and materials.  All Kafko manufactured products have been tested and approved by the ICC-ES.  These products include:

• Kafko Steel Panels
• Kafko Multiflex Polymer Panel System
• Kafko Titan Polymer Pools
• Kafko True-Fit Vinyl Liners
• Kafko Wet Steps
• Kafko Safety Covers

How does this certification benefit the builder and consumer?

• Building inspectors look to the ICC-ES evaluation reports for evidence that the products and systems are code-compliant.
• Inspectors #1 choice for approving building codes are ICC-ES certified products.
• Builders can receive a standardized branded pool blueprint coded with the ICC-ES report #, stamped and signed by a state licensed engineer!
• Even though the entire permit process is streamlined, final permit approval is up to the discretion of each municipality's code official.  ICC-ES certification takes much of the burden of permit approval off the inspector.

Contact your local Kafko Builder or regional distribution center to find out more about ICC-ES Certification.

Pool Game - Sharks and Minnows

The game starts out with one person selected as the shark and the rest as the minnows.

Designate one end of the pool as the minnows’ starting point and the other end as the minnows’ goal.

The shark starts in the water at the minnows’ goal, the minnows at their starting point. The minnows must be touching their starting point. The shark then shouts: "Sharks and Minnows, one two three, fishies, fishies swim to me!" after which the minnows may begin to swim to their goal.

The minnows do not need to leave right when the shark calls them over. Minnows can leave their starting point anytime after the shark calls them over. A minnow may return to their starting point at any time during play and be safe from being tagged while touching their starting end.

If the shark manages to tag a minnow, the minnow is out of play and becomes a shark in the next round. After all the minnows have either reached their goal wall or been tagged, the shark(s) swim to the opposite side of the pool from the minnows and the cycle starts again.

The game is played until all of the minnows have been tagged, then the last person tagged becomes the shark who starts the next round.

Here are some optional additions to these rules:

• Instead of tagging, sharks must hold some part of the minnow's body for three whole seconds before they become a shark
• No underwater tag: sharks can only tag minnows when some part of the minnow is above water
• Minnows can call "Early bird!" and start swimming to their goal before the shark has called them across. This can be prevented by the shark calling "No early birds!" at the start of the round.

Pool Game - Marco Polo

Marco Polo is a form of tag played in a swimming pool. It is a simple game that can be played with two or more players.

To play, One player is chosen as "It". That person closes his or her eyes, or is blindfolded, and counts to a certain number (usually 10 or 20). While the “it” person counts, the other players scatter around in the pool.

After counting to the pre-determined number, the “it” player tries to tag the other players, using only the sound of their voices to find them. The player who is "It" shouts out "Marco" and the other players must respond by shouting "Polo", which "It" uses to try to acoustically locate them.

When the “it” player tags another, that player becomes the “it” person and the game starts over again.

During the game, if "It" thinks that someone has climbed out of the pool, he or she can shout "fish out of water", and if anyone is out of the water they become "It". If someone sits on the side of the pool with their legs in the water, "It" can call out "mermaid on the rocks", or "fish out of water" and that player becomes "It".