This summer has been exceptionally busy for the whole industry, including the makers of automated products such as controllers.
These manufacturers report that their products have increased in sales this year, as people build out their staycation spots to make their safer-at-home experiences more pleasant. While they believe the sales increases in automation and technology products have been proportionate to those seen with other categories throughout the industry, at least one believes that the more cutting-edge products are being used and appreciated more.
“We track a lot of data from the number of connections that are made, [when] somebody buys a product and connects to the internet,” says Mark Bauckman, vice president of product development for Fluidra, which has U.S. headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. “We’ve seen a significant increase during the summer — even more than the normal growth patterns. People are definitely connecting their pools more this summer.”
He and other producers believe consumers and professionals will have more to appreciate as these products progress. Here, they give us a preview of what’s to come.
Smart pools
Controls have progressed from time switches to push buttons to touch screens, apps, voice activation and the IoT (Internet of Things).
Each step along the way has made pools easier to use and control. Voice activated systems that work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home take away the need to even push a button, while certain apps are making prescriptions for how to fix water chemistry.
Both these relatively new developments are continuing in popularity with consumers, says Greg Fournier, senior product manager of controls and backyard synergies for Hayward Pool Products in Berkeley Heights, N.J.
But now, manufacturers see these products moving to the next level, toward the smart pool.
“Today, most of our interface is around true connectivity,” says Kevan Cooper, group category leader for IoT and automation for Pentair, based in Sanford, N.C. “You can remotely manage a heater through a mobile app — that’s pretty much what connectivity provides.
“We want to evolve into a smart pool, whereby the pool is able to actually make decisions on behalf of the user, so there’s less time spent managing the pool.”
This would work like smart home devices, such as Nest, which learns homeowner preferences, habits and routines and, after a time, is able to anticipate what the user wants and needs, based on considerations such as time of day, temperature and even an action from the consumer.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if the system knew that ... ‘Hey, Kevin just opened the front door. Let’s turn on his pump,’” Cooper explains.
With the introduction of the Internet of Things into the industry, we’re yet another step closer, he adds. These technologies collect usage data which could be used to create those anticipatory capabilities in a smart system.
“We’re at the embryonic phase,” Cooper says. “Now we have the data, then we have to figure out how to translate that data into technology that does provide that smart pool.”
Like the smart home, the smart pool would work off individual components communicating with and transferring data to each other.
“One of the things I’d like to see are pieces of equipment that build into systems that build into a smart pool, to benefit our pool pros and our homeowners,” Bauckman says. “There are a lot of little building blocks to doing that. Many of those building blocks have been started quite a while ago, and that’s the ultimate goal.”
The increased data that this intelligence provides can affect energy savings as well, they expect. “The more intelligence and connectivity that pool pad has, the better that pool professional is able to make sure it is optimizing energy consumption for that homeowner,” Gauckman says.
A look at cleaners
Robotic cleaners are seeing a growth in app control, Fournier says.
“Most of it is for scheduling or type of cleaning,” he says. But you also have the ability to use your app or remote control to drive your cleaner to where there might be some leftover dirt.”
Bauckman also expects automatic cleaners to incorporate more intelligent features. Additional sensors will make them perform more intelligently, he says, so they can clean areas that traditionally have been harder to clean and provide feedback about how it performed.
In-floor cleaner manufacturer Blue Square is seeing sales growth. However, company President Tim Murphy is looking at the potential for growth.
“Our business is definitely growing — we’re selling in-floor products,” he says of the Chandler, Ariz.-based company. “I do think more builders are jumping onto it. But I think there’s a lot of growth opportunities for it. I would guess approximately 15% of new pools have in-floor cleaners, so there’s such a vast growth projective of how this business can grow.”
Focus on professionals
While developers have obviously focused largely on the end-user benefits of smart and connected features, expect to see more attention paid to how this technology benefits pool professionals, Bauckman says. Consumers may need one set of capabilities from their apps, for instance, but techs want another. Bauckman sees more development on ways to provide for each.
“There are settings and things, maybe on a gas heater or variable-speed pump, that the pool professional doesn’t want the homeowner to access,” Bauckman says.
That also includes more abilities to diagnose problems remotely and quickly — an ability previously just afforded to high-end or commercial technicians. “Before they even need to roll the truck, they’ll know they have the right parts in the truck and are sending the right person to the site,” Bauckman says.
He expects that these cloud-based products will one day integrate back with business management systems, so data from, say, a connected water-chemistry analyzer can be kept in the same place as the company’s business information.
“A lot of our push in the background is figuring out how to get that information to the pool pro so they can make bigger picture decisions,” he says.
For retrofits
But in addition to stretching the automation concept as far as it will go, manufacturers also are working to bring automation to as many homeowners as possible, Fournier says.
For this reason, more products are being developed with the aftermarket in mind. Smaller, simpler control systems that may automate fewer functions are being offered for these jobs, as are individual pieces of equipment that can hook up to the internet, so they can offer some benefits of automation without a controller.
“We’re looking at Bluetooth for pumps, and it has an app so you can control the speeds to turn it on and off,” says Mike Tuttobene, vice president of sales for Waterway, in Oxnard, Calif., which works largely in the aftermarket. “Maybe when you set up your pump, it comes Bluetooth-ready and has an app. Then you can control the speeds, as well as turn it on or off, see if it’s running, maybe check the temperature.”
This could provide an option for those who want some automation but aren’t in the market for a higher-ticket controller.
More control
To ease the management of pools and spas, controllers have taken on more complex functions, says Dave Button, national sales manager for Chemtrol, based in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“Ten years ago, you were able to control a main pump, but you weren’t able to ramp variable-frequency drives up and down,” he says. “UV controllers used to just [allow] an on or off. Now they’re making UV systems that can increase the intensity of the UV light.”
Another example: Some systems can control what percentage a main drain should open. This has as much to do with the individual components and equipment as it does with controllers, Button says. “More pieces of equipment are able to be programmed through the controller because they have the logic, and so do we,” he says.
Evolution of lights
People have also come to associate the wow factor with controllers, as they appreciate the ability to automate lights and waterfeatures.
“I think everybody wants the lighting to automatically change colors,” said Murphy, also president of builder Presidential Pools, in Gilbert, Ariz.
But the capabilities are about to become even more sophisticated, says Jai O’Neill, national sales manager of PAL Lighting, an Australian company with U.S. headquarters in La Habra, Calif.
He expects to offer controllers that allow users and designers to fine-tune the amount of lumens produced by the lights.
“There’s a certain amount of lumens that are required sometimes for designers and architects, who will want a cool white or a warm white, for instance” he says. “We will be able to control the lumens with the remote, where usually the lights are built specifically to those lumens. Now we will have a lumen slide that you will be able to slide through and change the lumens within the light using our drivers.”
