Commercial Fibreglass Nozzle Plate Pool Filters from Waterco

"We've always been impressed with Waterco's high-quality commercial range, their level of service, and their price range."

• A low-chlorine filtration system for a learn-to-swim school in New Zealand
• Waterco's nozzle plate filters increase the lifespan of filter media
• Air surrounding reduces backwashing and water consumption

Hilton Brown Swimming was founded in 1973 by Hilton Brown, a former competitive swimmer who represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966. There he enjoyed success in the 220-yard backstroke and earned a Bronze medal in the medley relay.

Starting with a learn-to-swim program in Auckland, Hilton Brown Swimming now operates seven swim schools throughout the upper North Island. The latest is Hilton Brown Hobsonville, a state-of-the-art facility which includes a fully heated, 20-metre pool purpose-built for teaching people how to swim.

Poorly filtered and sanitised pool water can lead to serious health concerns, such as skin infections, eye irritations, and respiratory difficulties. And for an established and respected brand like Hilton Brown Swimming, unhygienic pool water can undermine decades of goodwill and hard work.

"While this new facility doesn't have massive bather loads - they're growing all of the time - their goal is to provide high-quality water for their swim staff and students," says Project Engineer Matt Pickford from pool builder H20 Engineering. "Hilton Brown Swimming is not only committed to providing quality learn-to-swim programs but also creating a healthy environment for everyone."

Managing costs - power, water and chemicals - was also a key consideration when choosing the appropriate water filtration solutions.

To help the Wapotec pool water treatment system remove contamination from the water and get the most out of the filtration plant, Matt says Waterco's Commercial Fibreglass Nozzle Plate Filters ensure uniform flow for both filtering and backwashing. This guarantees maximum performance through the media bed.

The nozzle plate system introduces pressurised air directly into the bottom of the filter media. This provides vigorous agitation and filter media expansion required for an effective air/water backwash, leading to reduced backwashing times and water consumption. This saves up to 25 per cent of backwash water.

"You really need nozzle plate filters, so you can air scour the filters from backwash and remove all the coagulated material from the filter media," Matt explains. "That is a very important part of the process for long-term reliability and performance.

Normally with any strong coagulant, such as aluminium sulphate or polyaluminium chloride, filter media only last about 12-18 months if you don't use an air scourer on the filters.

"Whereas with nozzle plate filters, you introduce air every time you backwash to break up the media and release all of the congealed material into the backwash," he says. "We've got Waterco Nozzle Plate Filters on another council complex with three pools - which does get a hammering - and they have been producing really good water quality for around three years."

With the pool currently operating at .8-.85 free chlorine and almost zero chlorine combined - at 32 degrees - there is virtually no chlorine or chemical odours.

"We've always been impressed with Waterco's high-quality commercial range, their level of service, and their price range, which together make it a very appealing product to recommend and install," says Matt.

Since installing the system in April 2018, the facility has received positive feedback from the teaching staff, who Matt says have noticed a big difference between Hilton Brown Hobsonville's pool and the other ones they've taught in.

"They haven't had any eye or ear irritations," he says. "In fact, they've said they feel the same getting out of the pool as to when they got in, despite being in the water for 3-4 hours."

For more information, visit www.waterco.com.au.