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Hi Laurie
I hope you are well and no doubt flat out as always. I was interested in your endless pool. I am designing my next canine rehab centre here and been wanting to get a pool onto of my UWT for many years. I have looked at so many designs but shipping out this sort of pool or swim ex just makes it too expensive with no after sales service etc. i have wondered and compared normal jets, no jets and this sort of paddle wheel or uniform resistance and wondered what difference or use would be and how to justify the use of this sort of technology financially. no doubt you have been thru same journey. most dogs i see are pretty high care so really need assistance to swim not just for fitness purpose. I was hoping pulling back on vest and swimming towards exit would give enough resistance but really keen to hear your thoughts on whether you think you need this technology to be effective?
there is a fastlane pool here and i can buy the component i think similar to this resistance and add to a shipping container pool is the size i am looking at 6m with uniform length.
no doubt you get drained by questions from people in the industry as i do too but i appreciate your experience on this one and your decision making for this pool when you have time!!
thanks!
B

Hey B!

Sorry for my tardy reply! Just busy (what’s new?!!!)

So… part of the impetus for us to get this technology was the ‘name brand’ and ‘novel’ concept of it. And we liked that it was self contained and (if we ever had to), could be moved.
The current has been good for strengthening and to stimulate a swimming effect. However, I recall years ago seeing a ‘thing’ they use in aquariums to create a current for the fish to swim against, and something like that would likely work.
Check out amazon or some of the high end salt water fish tank or aquarium supply places to see if you can find a current generator. The one I remember seeing had a magnet attachment - so you put the current generator on the inside of the pool, and on the outside of the tank, the other end with the electrical components went…. and they magnetically connected.

Ours is about 15 or 16 feet long (about 4.5 meters) and 7 feet wide (about 2 meters), which seems to work well BECAUSE we have the current to swim against.
The sales guy seemed to emphasize the fact that it was a ‘current’ and not a ‘jet’… but I’m still unclear about why the current is better. I think it might just make for a more uniform resistance.


We are seeing both fitness & rehab patients. Some of the rehab ones are those that have hit a wall with UWT but need some kind of long term therapy. The fitness ones, we direct towards the current and then hold them there for a period of time (until the look like they are beginning to fatigue, and then we turn them around and give them a rest by holding them near the back of the pool until their heart rate comes down a bit. I do think the resistance helps. It’s more ‘normal’ than swimming against a pull… although we still hold back on the life vest for the strong swimmers.

The ‘getting in and out’ has been the most challenging part. We didn’t have the space for a long gradual ramp. We HAD purchased an inflatable ramp, which worked okay for getting out, but was really not great for getting them in. My husband made steps, which work great.

Already we are being challenged by the filter issues. On swim days we change the filters twice. HOWEVER, just last week, we had an airlock report. Long story short, hair was still getting into the intake. So, we will be turning off the breaker (and all motor movement) whenever we change the filters in the future, so there is no ‘sucking’ in of water and hair at all.

Oh, and when using a ‘metal container’, we were told we pretty much had to use Chlorine. Bromine + a current + metal can create an electrical current / electrical charge. Not sure what you had planned… but just proactively passing along that info!!

I feel like I rambled. Does this give you the info you need?

(BTW, I’m going to post it on the Forum as well to see if others have thoughts.)

Cheers,

Laurie