I think 77-80 is good. Low 80s is fine. I went to the pool the other night and they had signs on the door as you walked in to pay stating, as a warning, pool was 77. I think pool temp is normally set at 84 so they were letting people know it was chillier than normal. I noticed 77 being cooler but not "shock to the system" cool when I jumped in. 1 length down the pool and I never felt the coolness again. So for me, 77 was a good temp.

The world governing body for swimming, FINA, sets the range for pool swimming competition at 25-28* C, or 77-82.4* F. I did not see an air temperature rule but my understanding is that most indoor pools try to keep the air around 80* F.

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83. Anything colder and I wear my Desoto wetsuit

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Ha! Looks like you'd put on a wetsuit at the same point that I overheat in a Speedo.


For workout pools, I think 80-82 is best for workout and 78-80 for competition.

The ideal temp would be set to STFU and get in the water. At least that's what I assume it is because any time I asked growing up that's what the coaches said.

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If you're working hard and it's indoors (no wind) Mid 20c is great, i find if its over 27c it can be too warm depending on the weather ( I swim outdoors most of the year).

If the indoor pool was connected to a leisure area it could well have been over 30c, the indoor leisure pool i work at is 32c, way too hot for lap swimming.

X2.

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Eternal discussion. Lot's of people do not like warm water.
I love warm water. My pool (outside) has 30°C in winter. I do not heat up, also not after some swimming.
I hate it when it is summer, then it has only about 26°C. On the other hand, a couple of seconds after I jumped in I get used to the temperature.

High 70s F is ideal.

Swam once in an outdoor pool in August during a hot summer. Jumped in the deep end and thought that was warm. It was low 90s easy. Then swam across to the shallow end where sun heated the water more. It was probably around 100F. I think I did 30x50y that day on 60s and got the hell out of there. It was sooo damn hot.

I too love warm water. Anything under 85 is cold to me. The pool I swim at is around 80 and it's cold to me. It's fine once I've done a few minutes of swimming but I'd prefer warmer.

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During the swim season I keep the pool at 78.. during the off season we bump it to 80 to keep the community of older swimmers happy. Personally I overheat in water over 82-84ish. I don't even attempt intervals if the water is any warmer.

As others have mentioned, 78 is competition temperature and you need to warm up and swim hard to stay warm. 80 is ok, it might feel chilly when you first jump in if you are warm. 82 is about my max for working out. I wear a cap to try to protect my hair, and some days I can taste sweat coming out when I stand up. Anything over that and I get lightheaded and have to back off.

If the water is over 80 and you are complaining about being cold, swim faster (harder) and don't take as much rest.

I think it is really cool (no pun intended) that most of us can tell within a degree or two what temp the pool is. Our local pool is 82-83 if its 84 it definitely feels warm. 80 feels cool. Now the day the pool heater broke and it was 71 that was chilly.

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78-82 is pretty good. Air temp should be about same as water temp. Air Movement and air change rate should be fairly high to keep relative humidity under control, below 60% ideally. Good systems have heat recovery chillers that dehumidify air and heat the water simultaneously and ventilation is controlled on demand. Lots of up front cost, but a huge reduction in energy use.

Unfortunately, multi-use pools try and keep it >83 for those that are older with arthritis. I find that as long as it's under 85F and air temp is under 82F and well ventilated, it's tolerable.

I swim open water a lot in part for this reason. Nice cool water. Wetsuit with 65-70F water and cool air temps is about perfect. Gets warm in a WS above 70F.

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There is a point where hot pool water starts to inhibit performance.

I wouldn't want to do a hard workout with short rest in water temperatures over 85.

In Tucson my local pools are usually 90+ F for June, July and August.

At that temperatures- one can sprint 12 yards and one can swim very slowly for longer distances.
The body shuts down immediately if you try anything else.

Was the temp ever too hot? I assume people were complaining about the cold.

It's a difficult situation as most pools are multi use. The temp that is comfortable for a swim workout is too cold for recreation. The temperature that's comfortable for recreation is way too warm for swim workouts.