Owning a swimming pool is fraught full of risk – but it sure is a whole lot of fun, especially out here in the Texas heat. Cooling off with a dip in the pool is practically a rite of passage, but sometimes the dip you take is unintentional. Drownings are an unfortunate, albeit regular occurrence during the summer months. Protecting both your children and guests should be the number one priority of any pool owner.
In Texas, a pool is considered an “attractive nuisance,” which means that children in particular are drawn to them, but fail to realize their inherent danger. Failure to properly fence off your pool, or make other attempts to secure it may result in premises liability lawsuits. Typical homeowners policies vary from $100,000 limits to even $1 million. Unfortunately, if someone is injured in or around your pool, you may be paying much more than that. So if you have a pool, it would be wise to consider upping your limits or purchasing an umbrella insurance policy.
There are a lot of different ways to keep your pool safe. Supervision saves lives; so do fences and locking pool/spa covers. You can supplement these measures with a pool alarm.
A pool alarm is a device installed in or around your pool that will alert you if anyone enters the pool or gets too near the perimeter. Several type of pool alarms are available, depending on your needs.
Parents of young children or with pets that can’t swim might be interested in a wristband pool alarm. These alarms can be attached to a child’s wrist or a pet’s collar. They send a signal to a base receiver that will alert you when the wrist enters the water. But be careful, it can be set off by any interaction with water, like playing in the sprinklers, or even washing their hands. It also does not work in salt water.
You could also try out a floating pool alarm that can be attached to a ladder or allowed to float free in the water. It uses beams of light to measure surface waves. These can be a bit on the sensitive side though, so you would want to adjust it so that it measures waves only on a larger scale.
Submerged pool alarms are also a good choice. It sits on the edge of your pool with a downward arm in the water that measures displacement and underwater waves. This type of alarm tends to give off less false alarms than the floating alarms.
If you have an above ground pool then you might want to consider a sentry-type alarm, which is a combination motion detector/heat sensor. The advantage to this type of alarm is that any object without a heat profile cannot trip it.