What is a Natatorium Study?

Our core service is conducting natatorium facility studies. If you attend or operate an indoor swimming pool with air quality challenges, this article may help explain why our service exists. It may also help you decide if it's right for you.

Indoor Pool Evaluation

Essentially, our natatorium study is an evaluation of an indoor pool facility. Think of it like an inspection or audit, where we look for anything in the facility that could contribute to poor indoor air quality. Some of the common examples are duct locations, hanging banners that may obstruct airflow, and the size and design parameters of the pool dehumidification unit (PDU). We look for common design problems, and also the positive advantages your facility might have.

Our service gathers relevant information and packages it together in a report to facility owners and a professional engineer of their choosing. This report is generally enough for a facility owner to make an informed decision on how to proceed. It outlines options, describes the challenges with each option, and generally demystifies the process of fixing the air quality issue.

In short, it gives a mechanical engineer a running start. It gives them the groundwork for fixing the problem because we know what to look for in a natatorium. We recognize issues that may look totally normal to the untrained eye. We have evaluated over 300 natatoriums that struggled with indoor air quality, and yes, most of them share quite a few things in common. But every facility is unique.

We help mechanical engineers

As we mentioned in an article we wrote a while ago, mechanical engineers face a dilemma when designing indoor pools. On the one hand, the HVAC system–and its airflow pattern–carry the most responsibility for indoor air quality problems. Without a good airflow design, air quality problems will persist.  But on the other hand, not much information is known about how to properly design indoor pools. The vast majority of indoor rooms do not contain swimming pools, so the design considerations are extreme.

Since there are so few natatoriums in existence, most engineering firms have never worked with an indoor pool. And if they have, probably only a few. But natatoriums are the only thing we do. We are not engineers, but we know what information engineers need to design a successful system. We identify and explain that information so the engineer can design a successful remedy to the indoor chloramine problem.

Facility-specific solution

Every natatorium is unique, but most of them share common traits and problems. Solving an indoor air quality puzzle requires a site visit with photos and videos, measurements, and facility-specific data. Once that is gathered, we work with a professional engineering firm we have done countless natatorium reviews with. They look over our report and polish it, making sure we did not miss anything.

The final product is a report that points out factors that need to be addressed, so that the solution is specific to that exact facility. 

We also list out secondary options that can help. We try to offer a "good, better, best" set of ideas, though that depends on the facility. Some natatoriums have plenty of options, whereas some may only have one or two.

Conclusion

Fixing indoor natatoriums can be expensive. Do not throw money at a problem that has not yet been properly diagnosed by experts who know exactly what to look for.

In the medical field, there are general practitioners, specialists, and surgeons. We are a natatorium specialist. We are not engineers, but we know exactly what information they need to design a solution right for your facility.