How to replace a swimming pool light

Most swimming pools come with pool lights, for night swimming and to lend ambience to a pool and its surroundings. However, just like any other light bulb, pool lights also have the tendency to burn out and require replacement. This will require a slightly different procedure compared to changing a regular light bulb. Some pool lights, after all, are installed in areas where they are very close to water, which may result in electric shocks for swimmers. Changing pool lights properly demands expertise.

Image Source: lerablog.org

Here is a short guide, detailing a few helpful steps that must be followed when one changes a pool light:

Turn off – First off, turn off all the lights at your electrical box or circuit breaker. Just to make sure, use a non-contact voltage sensor to check for possible current, even if the switches are in the “off” position.

Image Source: todayshomeowner.com

Remove the single screw – Pool light casings are usually secured by a single screw at the casing’s topmost part. Check for the type of screw used in the casing. Screws used in these casings may be slotted or Philips-head.

Pry, pry, pry – Using a flat-head screwdriver, carefully pry the casing, with the light bulb inside, out of its outlet. Most casings have a loose tab near the bottom to make this easier.

Image Source: wikihow.com

Pull out of water – Uncoil the cord, and pull the entire casing out of the water, being careful not to open the lightbulb within.

Remove the lens – Once the entire thing is in a relatively dry place, remove the lens covering the bulb. Depending on how old the casing is, you might have to unscrew a few more screws, or pry open a few more metal tabs, in order to get to the light bulb.

Replace the bulb – Upon removing the lens, you are now free to replace the light bulb as you wish. Then, simply put everything back in its place, and place the casing back into its outlet.

Blue World Pools provides pool lighting options for a variety of indoor and outdoor pool setups. To find out more tips for practical pool lighting maintenance, visit the company website.

REPOST: Learning to swim: the incredible joy of jumping in

Swimming is a fun and engaging activity, especially for children. But what's in swimming that kids particularly love? Jane Greene Pettersson shares her insights in this article from The Guardian.

(Leaps and bounds … jumping in could reintroduce that essential element of fun for swimmers of all ages. Photograph: Peter Beavis/Getty Images) Image Source: theguardian.com

When children learn to swim, they do everything through play. Adult learners, all tension and technique, could do with taking a leaf – and a leap – out of their book.

Most children seem to love jumping into the water – the children I teach would spend the whole swimming lesson leaping into the water if I let them. It is unusual, but the other day one of my adult pupils surprised me by asking about jumping and even diving into the water. He is a new swimmer. He's only been learning for a few months so this was brave of him. I think he probably meant "sometime in the future – when I can swim properly". But it got me thinking. I started to wonder what it is the children love about it.

When children learn to swim, perhaps when they learn anything, they want to play all the time. For adults, learning becomes a serious business. It's all about technique and getting it right. When I was a child, we spent hours jumping, diving, getting things off the bottom of the pool, holding our breath for as long as possible, daring each other to leap off the highest boards, flipping backwards into the pool, racing one another until we started to shiver with cold and had to get out. It was through all this playing that we learned to really swim and feel confident and safe in the water.

One little boy that I teach told me that when he jumps in the water is all fizzy, and I realised he was talking about the thousands of tiny bubbles that explode on to your skin when you enter the water forcibly. I started to realise that learning to jump in might be good for the adult learners too – but first I needed to try it out for myself.

Luckily the pool where I swim myself has a deep end. The campaigners who fought against the pool being closed also fought to keep the depth. Management wanted to fill it in. A shallower pool means less water to heat, which is cheaper. Like many pools we have lost the diving boards, but we do still have the luxury of deep water to swim in.

Next time I went swimming I walked straight to the deep end, held my nose and jumped in. It was a surprising sensation, one that I had almost forgotten. The change from air to water is so sudden. You feel and hear the splash as you enter the water and the noisy pool environment is instantly replaced by the muffled silence of the water. Just as my little pupil pointed, out I could feel the tiny bubbles bursting on my skin, and as I had my goggles on I could also see them sparkling around me. As soon as you are submerged, your body starts to feel lighter as the water gently catches you. My instinct was to start paddling my way up to the surface but then I stopped and let the water take over. I wanted to see what would happen if I did nothing at all. I felt myself being lifted towards the surface and within a few seconds my head popped up out of the water. I found myself laughing and I immediately wanted to do it again. When my friend arrived at the pool I told her about my experiment and she wanted to try too. We jumped together. When we came up we were both laughing. We decided to do it again, this time holding hands. We felt like children.

Next time I saw my adult pupil who had started all this in the first place I told him we were going to have to go to a deeper pool so he could try it for himself.

We went to the new pool and after swimming for a few minutes I reminded him why we were there. He climbed out of the water looking nervous. I told him that the only thing he needed to worry about was jumping far enough out not to hit the side of the pool and if he should happen to reach the bottom of the pool to bend his knees on landing. I had already checked out the depth and knew that it was deep enough to jump, but not so deep as to be terrifying. When he was in the pool, he could just about reach the surface of the water if he stood on tiptoe. As we stood on the side looking at the water I offered to hold his hand and jump together. He looked slightly horrified and took a step backwards. I am not sure whether it was fear, embarrassment or a sense of just wanting to get it over with but he gathered his courage, stepped forward, and jumped into the water, for the first time ever. When he came up to the surface he was laughing and said, "I'm going to do that again."

And he did, many times. We have started work on diving. He is not quite Tom Daley yet, but at the age of whatever he is, anyway, quite grown up, he is not only learning to swim but has discovered the incredible joy of jumping in.


Blue World Pools is a leading provider of above ground swimming pools, which can be easily installed in home yards to provide instant swimming fun for children and people of all ages. Check out affordable and kid-friendly swimming pools on this website.

YouTube: Winterizing PART 1 - How to close a swimming pool for the winter.

This video reminds above ground pool owners why they should close their swimming pool for the winter and "winterize" the water with pool chemicals.

REPOST: Should young boys be banned from women's swimming pool change rooms?

Because a chain of pool centers in Sydney Australia recently instituted a new rule banning children from going into shower rooms with their parents of the opposite sex, popular website Lifehacker.com.au wonders if this should be the case in all swimming pool establishments.

A chain of commercial swimming pool centres in Sydney has introduced a new rule banning young kids from accompanying their parents into different-sex change rooms. Kindergarten-aged children are now required to shower and change by themselves in the gender-appropriate room. Do you think this is an acceptable regulation or has society gone completely bonkers? | Image source: Pool kid picture from Shutterstock via Lifehacker.au

Last month, Aquabliss School of Swim erected signs telling parents that kindergarten-age children are old enough to shower and change on their own. The company made the decision after receiving two complaints from customers who were made uncomfortable by the situation. Not surprisingly, the new rule has caused a storm of controversy with parents taking to social media en masse to voice their displeasure.

The company is now seeking advice on the matter from the government body Swim Australia. (There are currently conflicting reports as to whether the signs have been taken down, with some parents claiming they were simply moved inside the change rooms.)

In any event, the company seems to be sticking by its decision, with a spokesperson telling the Daily Telegraph that they will do what “the industry feels is best.”

We’re not sure why Aquabliss School felt compelled to take such drastic action after receiving only two complaints. The company has separate swimming centres in Lane Cove, Roseville, Pymble, Normanhurst, Thornleigh, Seven Hills and Wenona, so the number of complaints is pretty minuscule in relation to its size.

Like most parents, I often take my daughters swimming solo so my partner can have a break (or, as is more often the case, clean up the house). While my local pool does have a parents’ change room, it’s usually occupied at the exact moment my kids are in desperate need of the loo.

Personally, I think forcing any parent to send their children into a public toilet unattended is just plain wrong. Apart from the obvious “stranger-danger” factor, the presence of slippery, cement floors could also lead to serious accidents; especially if your kids are half-monkey like mine.

Plus, it’s sure to add a lot more pee into the water which isn’t something any of us want.

Blue World Pools is a leader in the custom-designed swimming pools industry. Visit its website

 for more information.

 

YouTube: Kids, don't try this at home.

Video source: YouTube

REPOST: Taking the plunge: vision for new Thames swimming pool revealed

River Thames may become home to a swimming pool in the future.  Architects working on this project reveal their vision in this article from the London Evening Standard.

Architects have unveiled their vision for a swimming pool in the Thames.

They believe the river will be clean enough for leisure use once Thames Water’s proposed supersewer is completed in 2023.

Cool pool: How the Thames Baths might look by Blackfriars Bridge. Image Source: www.standard.co.uk

The idea, encouraged by the growing popularity of “free swimming” in landmarks such as the Serpentine and Hampstead ponds, is being revealed at a London As It Could Be Now exhibition at the Royal Academy.

It is inspired by the popularity of the Thames as a swimming destination after the arrival in the capital of the first sewers.

Innovative design: Plans show the structure of the proposed baths. Image Source: www.standard.co.uk

When Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s sewer was completed in 1875, floating baths opened at Charing Cross.

Now Studio Octopi architects have suggested “reclaiming” part of the river beside Blackfriars bridge to create a floating 25m pool and plunge pool within the river, with floating pools on wooden and steel struts overhead.

It would allow people to swim in the Thames without being buffeted by currents or wash from boats. Rock cages, known as gabions, would be used for the walls of the river-level pools, while the elevated pools would be refilled at high tide with Thames water.

Free swimming: The floating pond would provide a leisure spot for outdoor swimming enthusiasts. Image Source: www.standard.co.uk

The foreshore of King Edward memorial park in Shadwell basin has also been earmarked as a potential site.

The Thames Baths project has been drawn up by Studio Octopi with Civic Engineers and Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects. Chris Romer-Lee, co-founder of Studio Octopi, said it was not about producing a “buildable scheme”, but “opening up people’s imaginations”.

He added: “When Bazalgette’s sewer was completed, everyone took to the water. When the supersewer is completed, the level of water quality will increase substantially.

“Why can’t that open up possibilities for Londoners to get increased access to the waterfront?”

Serving its customers for over 25 years, Blue World Pools is a renowned company of expert pool builders. Visit this website for more information.

REPOST: Days and nights on the tiles: Google staff to get rooftop pool and track

Many Internet conglomerates have come and gone, but Google has showed Europe it is there to stay.  The multinational corporation recently got the green light to build its UK headquarters in London. This article on The Guardian briefly describes the building plans, which include a very large rooftop swimming pool.

Image source: The Guardian

Google looks set to be given a thumbs-up by Camden planners for their not-at-all-over-the-top new London HQ opposite Guardian Towers in King's Cross. The blueprints are for what they breathlessly describe as a "groundscraper", apparently a word for a skyscraper on its side. Google, never one to underestimate its importance in the world, has dubbed the construction scheme, "Project Queen". Property Week, the trade magazine, has more (behind paywall). Lucky Googlers may not have their 20% free time off any more to develop their own projects, but out of hours they will be able to use a rooftop swimming pool, rooftop running track, various gyms and a "Muga". That's a multi-use games area for those who haven't had the privilege.

Google's swimming pool will be one of a kind.  Blue World Pools builds customized in-ground and above-ground pools for a range of clientele.  Visit this website for more information.