Hello el gato and All,

Planning a new in ground backyard swim pool with Endless Pool or other brand current generator.

No deep end .... just approximate 4 feet depth with a bit of slope to drain and pool size about 5m wide by 12.5m long.

Does the niche you have for your unit work OK?





Any suggestions?

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

 
We have a fastlane which is the endless pool current generator for a swimming pool. I purchased the clock/speed afterwards and our system is about 5 years old.

The only way to change current speed is to use the control fob, similar to a garage door opener. One button is on/off and two others are faster and slower. I am not savvy enough to know how to make one but I have long thought that someone could create a system where one could program a workout. For instance, 10 minutes at 2 min per 100 yards as a warm up, then the main set and such.

As it is, I have to stop swimming and toggle up the pace. I use a wall clock to measure time and the endless pool readout to measure speed.

I see this as an opportunity for improvement from Endless Pool or someone else.


.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

Endless Pool does offer Bluetooth program control from an iPad app. You design the swim set and it will automatically change the current/pace. It requires a new control board but might be just what you are looking for.
I would be happier with a better way to log my swim sets. As it is, I set my Garmin to pool swim and have my watch beep every 5 minutes. I adjust the current at that time and then calculate how many sets I did at each pace for an overall pace for the session. I also record my heart rate.

Hi Neal,

That niche design is exactly how I'm planning to integrate the Fastlane into our pool, with the pool coping coming over the top of the Fastlane unit to help conceal it a bit. Unfortunately, I can't tell you whether it works OK or not yet, as our "pool" still looks like this at the moment:

Ahhhh, I totally forgot about the iPad app. I just watched a video demo of it on Youtube, and it actually looks pretty darn cool for creating workouts. Now the only challenge is how to log the WO, as I don't think the 935 will capture distance even if it does capture HR. What would be ideal is if the EP app would automatically upload the completed WO to Strava and/or Training Peaks when finished.

Edit - or better yet... it could output an ANT+ signal so I could *SWIM* in Zwift!!! Jordan, are you listening? ;-)

I wanted to post a quick follow-up to this thread. We're getting close to wrapping up our back yard remodel. The pool itself is finished and I've had a chance to swim in the Fastlane a few times now. Absolutely awesome! Here are a couple of shots of the unit in the niche in the pool wall as we were filling the pool. With the final steel frame and Ipe decking covering it, it's barely visible. The Fit@home app is great for programming interval workouts. I'm just manually entering them in TP/Strava until I figure out a better way to log them. I wish the fit@home app could export a completed workout to TP/Strava, sort of how Zwift does. Overall though, the Fastlane has far exceeded my expectations so far.

Hello el gato and All,

Thanks for the pics ... we are refurbishing an old pool (16 ft x 34 ft) and filling in the deep end (Was about 12 feet) to make it 4 ft deep overall ... and we plan to add a space like you have on yours to hide the Fast Lane.

Your pool looks great!

We will be looking at a similar setup.

Any afterthoughts?

Our pool project will take awhile though ..... as we are working on some other projects first.

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Thanks Neal,

What I'd say is spend a LOT of time thinking about what "bells and whistles" you want in your pool. Very easy to add now... very difficult to add later. Some of the extras we added:

- Paramount in-floor cleaning system. We have a lot of oak trees around the pool so this really helps keep the pool cleaner.

- automated chlorine/acid monitoring/injection. Makes managing pool chemistry much easier and because the chlorine level is constantly monitored/maintained vs. dumping in a bunch of chlorine every few days, you can maintain an overall lower level of chlorine in the pool.

- Built in pool cover. The cover rolls up into a vault behind the wall that the fastlane unit is mounted to. This was a bit of an engineering challenge to design a steel frame that could span 13' to cover the vault without deflecting, but it turned out awesome. With the Ipe decking on it, you can't tell that the cover vault or the Fastlane are there.

- fiber optic celestial lights. If your pool deck area is an area where you'll entertain at night, these things are absolutely stunning. The pool will be a conversation piece for anyone that sees it.

Our pool is a bit smaller than yours - 13' x 28' with a large spa on one end. The pool itself goes from 4' to 6.5' deep. I like having the Fastlane in the deep end, but I'm sure it would work just fine in a 4' deep pool.

-John

Gotta admit - that pool you installed looks SWEET!

This is a nosy question here, was curious what the range of $$$ is involved in constructing something like that. Feel free to be vague and just give range guesstimates if you're not comfortable sharing the details - I already know from other threads that it's not unusual to spend $20k to install a new one with a lot fewer features than yours.

Thank you. We're thrilled with it already, even though we're still a few weeks away from all the associated construction in the back yard being finished.

The price of the pool was a LOT more than $20k. If you add another zero to that you'd be getting warmer. First off, we have SF bay area construction costs to deal with. Second, the back yard is a sloping hillside, so the whole layout had to be engineered for seismic safety (the joys of living in CA). We had to put in retaining walls to level the area, which had ~20 piers drilled 13' down into bedrock. Then the pool itself had another 12 piers drilled 13' down to anchor it. We keep joking that when the next big one hits, our pool is what's going to keep the house from sliding down the hill.

Wow. I'm even more impressed. I actually live in the Bay area too and can no way afford that type of a project!

Kudos again