Posted by Marcus Sheridan on Mon, Mar 29, 2010 @ 11:44 AM
One of my favorite parts of maintaining a blog about the fiberglass pool industry is the chance I have to look at the unique designs that manufacturers are coming up with as the industry progresses. Last year, we posted another very successful article regarding the top fiberglass pool designs of 2009 but this year I wanted to break things down even further and take this opportunity to solely focus on the ‘little guys' of the industry and analyze what makes some of these small inground pools (anything less than 30' in length) such a unique design.
Also, I want to point out here that I have looked at all the major fiberglass pool manufacturers (San Juan, Leisure, Barrier Reef, Sun, Trilogy, Hatteras, American, Royal, and Alaglass) in an effort to pick which designs I like the best. (Note** With their current financial and quality control issues, I could not in good conscience consider Viking Pool Products for these awards) I'd also stress that all of these awards are my personal opinion and just because some manufacturers are not mentioned does not mean they do not build a good pool or do not have some nice small pool designs. Again, awards are simply a matter of personal preference, so here goes:
Best Small Kidney Shaped Fiberglass Pool
This award goes to the Picasso model made by Trilogy Pools. I really, really like this pool because of its use of a large tanning ledge integrated into the kidney design. Trilogy is well known throughout the industry for their innovative approach to fiberglass pools and the Picasso is a perfect example of their vision.
Best Small Fiberglass Pool with a Spa Combo
San Juan is well known for their original designs and the Mandalay Bay model is certainly no exception to the rule. With its free-form shape, combined with the fact that it has a separate tanning ledge as well as an attached spa, San Juan packed just about every feature they could in this 12'x28' swimming pool.
Classiest Small Pool Design
The Elegance model by Leisure (14'x27') is certainly indicative of its name. Although the shape is essentially a simple rectangle, Leisure adroitly added a small, rectangular-shaped bump-out step/bench on one of the long sides of the pool. This simple addition added quite a classy feel to the design, making the name ‘Elegance' quite a fitting and appropriate one.
Flat Bottom Pool
Aloha fiberglass pools takes this award with their Palm model, an 11'x25' rectangular shaped pool with quite a large bench spanning the length of one side. If you're looking for a small, flat-bottom pool with a lot of seating, the Palm is a great route to take.
Free Form Design
With its natural curve appeal and large tanning ledge, the Vista Isle (12'x28') by Blue Hawaiian Fiberglass Pool takes this award.
Most Unique Design
Although there are certainly many small fiberglass pool shapes and designs that could be considered unique, I'd give this award to Sun Pools for their 12'x24' South Beach model. This key-shaped design has three unique entry point/benches and certainly has an original feel to its appearance.
So there are my small inground pool awards for 2010. As I mentioned earlier, I happily invite questions and comments below and remind everyone to subscribe to future articles like this one in the upper right hand portion of this page.
Marcus Sheridan, PoolSchool
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Posted by Marcus Sheridan on Sat, Mar 13, 2010 @ 08:43 AM
"What the heck is a ‘ceramic core' fiberglass pool?"...........
This blog post is simply the product of the growing number of emails I've been receiving on a daily basis from literally readers all over the US and Canada who are considering the purchase of a swimming pool. The subject of these emails always vary, so from time to time I choose a particular question to address that strikes my fancy.
As I've mentioned so many other times, the process of buying a swimming pool can be a tricky one, mainly because there is not enough honest information available to you, the consumer, with respect to true value and sales gimmicks.
The Consumer Advocate
Providing such information has always been the goal of this blog and I feel we're accomplishing this goal based on the profound amount of readership that makes me do a double-take every time I see how many consumers are reading these articles. But it just goes to show, if you give people the good, the bad, and the ugly information on any given product; they will in turn recognize the authoritative voice of the source.
But today's article, as I mentioned earlier, is a direct result of a question I received from a very intelligent, informed consumer who was perplexed over certain ‘sales-gimmicks' he was sensing as he researched fiberglass swimming pools. Specifically, he was asking about two particular ‘gimmicks': Ceramic Core Fiberglass Pools and the use of Carbon Fiber in Fiberglass Pools.
Upon discussing with him this topic, I decided it was time that our readers were informed of such a farce and were made aware of what a ‘ceramic' fiberglass pool really is. In general, if a fiberglass pool manufacturer claims to have a ceramic core pool, what they are actually using is a ‘fillite' powder. (Please note the root word). In fact, one such company that produces fillite, Eager Plastics, explains what their fillite powder actually does:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Fillite - 500 powder (EP7707) is a finely-divided, free-flowing spherical powder with a gray-green color. ...Fillite is a glass-hard, inert hollow silicate sphere. Fillite is primarily used to reduce the weight of plastics rubbers, resins and cement, but has been used a variety of filler applications. Other applications include use in refractories, PVC flooring, SBR latex carpet backing, break linings, phenolics, epoxies, cast polyesters, synthetic marbles, syntactic foams, BMC, SMC, FRP, low-density cements, shotcrete, wallboard joint compounds and automative sound dampening sheets.
The addition of EP7707 Fillite provides the following outstanding features:
1. Fine particle size for easy mixing
2. Reduces cost
3. Reduces resin exotherm......
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:
Shell
60% SiO2
30% Al2O3
4% Fe2O3
0.5-4% K2O / Na2O
1-2% MgO
0.2-1.0% CaO
I know this all may appear a little confusing, but if you're into science you'll quickly see that a ‘ceramic core' is actually 60% Silica and 30% ceramic, and that all it's really doing is acting as an inexpensive filler in the case of a fiberglass pool. In fact, Wikipedia defines Silica as:
The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica (from the Latin silex), is an oxide of silicon with a chemical formula of SiO2 and has been known for its hardness since antiquity. Silica is most commonly found in nature as sand or quartz, as well as in the cell walls of diatoms. Silica is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust
I've talked to various fiberglass pool manufacturers regarding this subject and they all laugh about what the product actually is and the fact that its components are available to everyone.
Simply put, if ceramic core (or should we say silica core) technology truly did benefit a fiberglass pool, everyone world be doing it. But the reality is that more than 90% of fiberglass pool manufacturers on the planet have chosen not to use this cheap product. I think it's also important to note that there are fiberglass pool manufacturers that have multiple lines of fiberglass pools, some made with ‘ceramic' and others without. So my question at that point becomes-If the stuff is so great and critical to a quality pool, why wouldn't a company put it in all their products, not just one line out of many?
Other Gimmicks
But this article isn't just about supposed ceramic cores. It's also about ‘Carbon Fiber', ‘Kevlar', and any other scientific words that pops up in the future. Frankly put, all of these hot, ‘space-age' phrases that sound very scientific are only means of semantically tricking a consumer, and thus have no place in the fiberglass pool market, or any other market for that matter. Fact is, if a pool was truly made out of carbon fiber it would cost at least 10 times as much as one without. So as a consumer, if you hear a manufacturer claim they put such products in their pool, I'd make them guarantee it on paper and then I'd make them show these ‘miracle materials' in the shell when the installers cut out the returns and skimmer sections of the pool. Just by doing this, one will quickly see what components are truly making up the pool shell.
True Value
My point with mentioning these items is that fiberglass pool manufacturers need to focus on the important things that genuinely make a pool stronger and better-Quality resins, quality gel coats, and quality workmanship. Any pool manufacturer that can achieve these 3 metrics with every shell they produce should be highly commended and sought after by consumers. And as for those that would rather use marketing gimmicks to create false product realities, I can only hope they'll eventually turn back to the basics and win over their consumers the old fashion way-by earning it.
Marcus Sheridan, PoolSchool
Questions? Please leave your thoughts below.