How to design a safe and efficient plant room

The key to a low-maintenance and enjoyable swimming pool or spa is ensuring there’s a safe and efficient plant room powering it.

Putting a little extra attention, time, and money into understanding the ideal pool plant room layout and various plant room regulations in the UK can therefore go a long way to helping you get the most out of your pool.

To help you develop a safer and more efficient plant room design, the experts at Chemsol explain the UK’s plant room regulations in more detail below, including how to design a pool plant room layout.

What are the requirements for pool plant room layout?

When deciding upon the best swimming pool plant room layout, there are many factors that must be considered. Firstly, within the set space that you have, you need to ensure there’s adequate room for all the necessary filtration and water sanitation equipment, pipework, pumps, and more.

On top of ensuring all this vital machinery can fit into this dedicated space, there should also be enough room to allow for easy access to each component. This will help to make ongoing scheduled maintenance much easier and safer – especially if any parts require repair or replacement.

In terms of choosing the best location for your pool plant room, you should try to ensure the plant room is located less than six metres away from the pool and, preferably, towards the deep end of the pool to support the efficiency of pool water circulation and pipework suction.

When creating a swimming pool plant room layout, you should also bear in mind any future plans of expansion to make this process both faster and easier.

What other plant room regulations should be considered?

Alongside creating a safe and effective pool plant room layout, there are many other important regulations you should consider during the design stage.

For example, it’s crucial that the room is fitted with slip-resistant floors which comply with safety standards to help prevent accidents during pool plant room maintenance or repairs.

You may also want to explore the UK’s plant room door regulations that provide more detailed guidance regarding the safest pool plant room door, from a fire safety perspective.

Their guidance recommends opting for either a self-closing door or keeping the door locked shut. They also suggest checking the door for damage or large gaps at least every three months.

What are the ventilation requirements for plant rooms?

Keen to prevent machinery in your pool plant room from over-heating? According to government ventilation regulations, plant rooms should be fitted with purge ventilation.

This refers to either manual ventilation (such as an opening window or door) or mechanical extract ventilation systems (like electric fans) that are designed to control ventilation of rooms at a relatively high rate to help dilute pollutants and water vapour.

These plant room ventilation regulations dictate that air from the room should be extracted directly outside at least four times per hour. Ideally, this would consist of both low level and high level ventilation to help meet more specific plant room ventilation requirements.

Do plant rooms need to be insulated?

In many cases, plant rooms will need to be insulated. Not only can this insulation help to minimise condensation, corrosion, and heat loss, but it can also be essential for reducing noise pollution.

This type of sound insulation is therefore particularly useful for preventing any machinery noise from negatively impacting the pool users’ experience.

Contact the experts in pool plant rooms

For more professional tailored guidance relating to plant room regulations in the UK or support with creating the best pool plant room layout for the space you have available, please don’t hesitate to contact our experienced team.

We have years of invaluable experience helping both private and commercial Chemsol customers to design and install high-quality pool plant rooms. On top of creating effective pool plant rooms, we’re also experts in pool and spa design, installation, and maintenance.

No matter whether you’re eager to ensure your design abides by all the relevant plant room regulations or you need a helping hand with creating the most effective pool plant room layout, rest assured, we can help.

To learn more about our pool plant room design and maintenance services, simply get in touch today. You can either discuss your requirements with one of our qualified pool engineers by calling 01492 582 888, emailing us at info@chemsol.co.uk, or filling in and submitting our convenient online contact form.