What is a plant room and do you need one?
Considering building a new pool in your backyard, or revamping an existing swimming pool to support the ongoing success of your business? Don’t neglect the vital plant room planning, equipment, and design!
An essential but often forgotten about part of putting in a new pool is the plant room. The key to keeping your pool water in pristine condition, every reliable pool construction company will understand the importance of a high-quality pool plant room.
Fortunately, for those who aren’t aware of the purpose of benefits of a pool plant room or a plant room in general, the knowledgeable and experienced team of plant room designers and engineers here at Chemsol is on hand to help.
Regardless of whether you’re searching for a straightforward plant room meaning or are wondering whether your small swimming pool even requires a dedicated plant room, we explain everything you want to know about pool plant rooms in this comprehensive guide.
What is a plant room?
Put simply, a plant room (also known as a mechanical room or boiler room) is a space dedicated to the storage of equipment used to supply a building service.
Plant rooms vary greatly in scale and contents depending on which services they provide and whether they’re installed to supply a commercial or residential property.
Wondering ‘what is a plant room in a house’? A plant room in a house can include everything from ventilation and electrical equipment to water filtration systems and gas pipework.
While many UK homes don’t have a plant room, these residential plant rooms are typically found in basements to help with both accessibility and maintenance.
When referencing plant rooms with regards to pool systems, however, these rooms typically contain all the circulation, sanitation, and filtration equipment required to keep the pool water in clean, usable condition.
Pool plant rooms can also hold ventilation and humidity control equipment which helps to maintain the quality of the air in indoor pool rooms.
These rooms are often more extensive in commercial premises, like leisure centres and waterparks that often need to maintain several pools at once, but they can also be found in private homes.
Why are plant rooms important?
Plant rooms, in general, are important because they provide a dedicated space for the storage of crucial equipment like cylinders, boilers, pumps, and control boards. These rooms are specifically designed for this purpose to ensure easy access for maintenance, servicing, and replacements.
With regards to pool plant rooms, their primary purpose is to hold equipment that maintains the pool environment. From filtering the water and balancing the chemicals to ventilating and heating the space, plant rooms are essential for delivering both a safe and enjoyable swimming experience for all users.
As a result, plant rooms are vital for both organisation and safety purposes. Regardless of whether you want to maintain the condition of your swimming pool, vitality pool, or spa, a plant room is a non-negotiable addition that requires significant planning alongside regular servicing and maintenance.
What should be in a plant room?
The contents of a plant room are largely dependent on what services you require, but pool plants rooms tend to contain all relevant electrical and mechanical equipment. This tends to include filtration and water sanitation equipment, ventilation and heating machinery, pumps, pipework, pool chemicals, and cleaning equipment.
Here at Chemsol, we offer our clients a wide range of high-quality and long-lasting pool plant room equipment and systems. From fully automated swimming pool plant rooms to skid-mounted systems, allowing us to cater to the individual needs of every homeowner, spa, school, or leisure centre.
To help you determine which type of pool plant room system might be best for you, we explore the three main options available at Chemsol below.
Alternatively, if you’d like to learn more about which pool plant room equipment is necessary for meeting your specific requirements, please feel free to contact our helpful team today.
Manual plant room management
If you like to take a more hands-on approach to maintaining the quality of your pool, then a manual plant room might be the best solution. These entry level systems are typically installed in residential properties and are used to manage the treatment of water in small home swimming pools.
These basic systems are often compact and suitable for swimming pools and spas that aren’t used all the time. They can also be skid-mounted (where the required machinery is mounted in a frame or onto rails) to prevent them from taking up too much space unnecessarily.
Thanks to the simplicity of these pool plant room systems, they can be delivered pre-built with just minimal plumbing required to ensure an effective installation. Quick, easy, and more affordable than automated plant room systems, this manual approach is ideal for homeowners with small swimming pools that aren’t constantly in use.
Semi-automated plant rooms
Sitting somewhere between a fully automated system and a manual plant room, semi-automated plant rooms require more manual labour than completely automated systems, but still allow for the straightforward and efficient treatment of pool water.
As a result, semi-automatic plants rooms are typically installed by individuals and organisations that have medium-to-large size pools which receive more frequent usage. Despite needing some manual input, plant room operatives will have more time to focus on their other duties with a semi-automated system in place.
Typically, users will upgrade from a completely manual system to a semi-automated plant room as the automatic controls can ensure both accurate and consistent water treatment. If you find yourself struggling to maintain the quality of the water or using your pool more frequently, you may want to consider making this labour and time-saving upgrade.
Fully automated plant rooms
Completely automated pool plant rooms are ideal for commercial swimming pools and spas in high demand, such as health clubs, leisure centres, school swimming pools, and even large-scale waterparks.
Unlike the manual and even semi-automated alternatives, fully automated plant rooms have plenty of additional advantages – namely, giving you precise yet effortless control over the water quality by automatically optimising chemical treatments in the water.
Maintaining a fully automated pool plant room is therefore much easier and even more cost-effective as only minimal manual labour is required. Despite being a more expensive option to purchase, this fully automated plant room system means you can save both time and money on manual labour as there’s no need for daily pool maintenance.
If you’d like support choosing the right type of pool and pool plant room for your home, business, or institution, please feel free to contact our knowledgeable team today. With more than 22 years of invaluable experience in this industry, our expert team have fitted countless pool plant rooms across the UK.
Who needs a plant room?
Unless you have a natural swimming pool that is filtered using a biological system rather than chemicals, anyone with a pool or spa will require a plant room.
Indoor and outdoor pools need plant rooms, however, indoor plant rooms typically include more equipment to support proper ventilation, dehumidification, and heating.
To ensure every pool is well-maintained no matter the size, function (residential or commercial), or type of pool or spa, it’s crucial that you invest in the right plant room equipment.
There are many different types of pool plant room systems, each one with their own benefits and areas of consideration.
How often should a plant room be inspected?
Plant rooms are not only essential for ensuring users can enjoy being in their pool or spa, but they also help to keep them safe. As a result, the regular servicing and inspection of all equipment should be carried out at the appropriate intervals.
As explained by HSE (Health and Safety Executive), the regular and proper maintenance of pool plant equipment is necessary for the safety of employees and pool users.
Pool plant operatives therefore have a responsibility to maintain these systems according to the designer’s or manufacturer’s instructions.
These instructions should specify the ideal inspection intervals for each piece of equipment and pool operatives should abide by these recommendations. To ensure these plant room inspections are being carried out correctly, these instructions also state the degree of competence and qualifications individuals servicing the plant room should possess.
For example, according to PWTAG (Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group) guidelines, any gas monitoring systems (that are used to detect and alarm users regarding toxic chlorine gas or chlorine dioxide gas leaks) require regular inspection.
Both the relevant sensors and electronic equipment should be inspected every six months by either a trained pool maintenance technician or the manufacturer. Furthermore, these PWTAG guidelines also state that the sensor should be either replaced or serviced every two years, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Any services, calibrations, or replacements carried out should also be recorded and kept for future reference. If you’re unsure when the last pool plant room service was conducted, it’s always best to contact a professional to check that your equipment is in good, safe condition before using your pool or spa.
When to overhaul your plant room
A pool plant room overhaul, also referred to as a plant room renovation or refurbishment, involves the complete revamp of a plant room.
These pool plant room overhauls can be paramount to improving efficiency and accessibility because old technology is replaced with new systems, and the layout of the room is adapted to suit the user’s needs or wants (such as less manual input).
When it comes to deciding when is best to overhaul your pool plant room, you should consider how often the pool or spa is in use as well as how often it’s serviced and maintained.
If you’ve kept your pool room equipment well-maintained and don’t heavily use your swimming pool, then you’ll be able to postpone your plant room overhaul a little longer.
In general, however, experts recommend that you consider a pool plant room overhaul every three to five years, but the more maintenance and servicing you carry out, the more time you’ll have between overhauls.
At Chemsol, we’ve enlisted a team of qualified engineers to undertake complete plant room refurbishments across the UK on projects of all shapes and sizes. Alongside full pool plant room overhauls, we can also carry out partial refurbishments as well as supplying and installing new equipment based on your specifications.
If you’d like professional guidance regarding the best way to improve the efficiency or automation of your pool plant room, please reach out to our team. We can provide our clients with tailored plant room overhaul solutions that don’t compromise on accessibility, but still meet your exacting requirements.
Contact Chemsol today
For exceptional swimming pool and spa plant rooms that are thoughtfully designed, environment-conscious, compliant with current legislation, and supported by our office customer service team (should you require servicing, maintenance, or repairs), don’t hesitate to get in touch with Chemsol today.
As one of the leading providers of swimming pool engineering services in the UK, each one of our pool plants rooms is manufactured using the latest technology and equipment to ensure you can take a luxurious dip in a pool with drinking water quality.
Designed and built in strict compliance with SPATA (The Swimming Pool and Allied Trade Association), BISHTA (The British and Irish Spa and Hot Tub Association), and PWTAG, you can rest assured that all our pool plant rooms not only meet these high industry standards, but exceed them.
To find out more about our pool plant room services, please feel free to give our professional team a call on 01492 582 888. Alternatively, we also welcome email enquiries sent to info@chemsol.co.uk as well as queries sent in using our convenient online contact form.
No matter how big or small your pool plant room project might be, we want to hear from you!