We recently toured a well-respected New York Architect at one of the high-end spa facilities that we have provided our Salt Pure® automated system to, at his request. He was very flattering of the amenities, design, spa pool, and wellness equipment and studios.
When we took him back into the equipment area to see how the pool/spa equipment, heaters and HVAC were designed and installed, he was “gob smacked” at the small footprint that had been allocated to these vital components, and amazed at how difficult it would be for the operator to perform many important PM (pool maintenance) functions, let alone repairs, and equipment swap outs. Even daily operations had been made more difficult, costly, and time consuming due to the space constraints.
This is not something new to us commercial pool guys, and I can’t tell you the number of times I have found that the equipment for a busy commercial pool has been “stuffed” inside a closet size space. One of the more memorable ones was seeing 4 TR140 sand filter enclosed in a scaffold type metal enclosure stacked in 2 layers; just backwashing took a contortionist to get to, and the sand and lateral change must have (and should have) cost an arm and a leg.
Many time we have even found the laundry room cohabitating with the pools mechanical room, and general storage areas.
So, my advice to the architects and designers working on moving “boxes” around a CAD layout; work with an Aquatic Engineer or Consultant to understand, not only what room you need to allow the pool equipment to operate as per manufacturers specifications, and the air flow required, but take into account the space required for day-to-day operations and ongoing PM.