The Hydroxypure pool cleaning system from Waterco is being trialled by a Queensland holiday resort in their swimming pools with tangible and rapid results.
Swimming pools are a big draw card at the award-winning Turtle Beach Resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Four separate swimming areas, including children’s wading pool, an adult’s only pool, lagoon pool, lap pool and four spas add up to large volumes of water, creating a number of challenges for the resort’s maintenance team.
Nick Briscoe, inventor of the Hydroxypure system explained that the pools would often be cloudy, requiring the maintenance team to spend excessive amounts of time in keeping these pools running. The chlorine levels had to be very high to achieve clear water. Additionally, all the water areas were running salt chlorinators, which required regular maintenance.
The children’s pool, consisting of three separate bodies of water – a mushroom waterfall pool, a plunge pool with waterslide and spa, and the entry water feature – was especially cause for concern due to the strong chorine odour. Since the reception area was located between the kid’s pool and the water feature, the strong smell of chlorine was the first thing to be noticed by guests at check-in.
Recognising these issues, Briscoe contacted the resort’s manager, Stephen West, and explained about the Hydroxypure chlorine-free system. Stephen could see all of the benefits of having a chlorine-free pool maintenance system running in the children’s pool, and he was particularly interested in the fact Hydroxypure had the Sensitive Choice endorsement. That the commercial system could be remotely monitored and automated was also seen as an advantage.
However, the resort was initially very sceptical about the system’s efficacy or that it would be approved for use by the local authority (Gold Coast Council).
Briefed on the Hydroxypure system prior to its installation, the Council approved a six-month trial with a strict testing regime. The Hydroxypure system was subsequently retrofitted to the existing pool plumbing system after first completely draining out the pool and water feature, and starting again with fresh water. Additionally, the media filters were all changed to Waterco Glass Pearls to improve filtration quality.
For the six-month trial, Waterco’s Hydroxypure system was installed in the front pool area, which contains the water slide and is the most popular pool area in the resort.
Hydroxypure uses a combination of ozone and hydrogen peroxide to create one of the most powerful oxidisers in nature. It is based on the Peroxone Treatment Process (PTP), a combination of hydrogen peroxide (H202) and hybrid ozone (03). A specially-made control unit maintains adequate levels of hydrogen peroxide within the swimming pool, automatically adjusting its dosing for high bathing loads, hot weather, rain and pool top-ups.
According to Briscoe, both the children’s pool and waterfall now don’t run on chlorine, and the rinse water from the pool’s backwash is used to top up and disinfect the waterfall. A Waterco MultiCyclone and an existing cartridge filter were also installed into the waterfall. The waste water from the backwash cycle on the filters is now being used for the resort’s trees and bushes.
The chlorine odour has been completely eliminated at the resort. The installation of four Waterco MultiCyclones is also saving a large quantity of water while the backwashing frequency and duration have been reduced.
Though the children’s pool at the resort has a lot more traffic than before, the pool is consistently clean and the time spent maintaining the pool is significantly reduced.
Key benefits of the Hydroxypure pool maintenance system include salt-free, odourless water free of taste; only water sanitisation system approved by the Sensitive Choice program of the National Asthma Council Australia; can be installed in new swimming pools or retrofitted to salt or chlorinated pools; highly effective in maintaining pool clarity; and extended life of the pool surface and pool equipment.
