Today I was swimming along having a great workout in an indoor pool at a YMCA, the whistle blows, and we have to get out because of lightening. Is this a YMCA thing? I’ve searched all over and there have been no reported issues with people in indoor pools being harmed by lightening. There was only one reported case of someone touching a pump pipe and getting shocked. Come on YMCA there is a slight risk but there is also a slight risk of walking on the wet pool deck and we do that all the time. So if there is a real risk in the pool because the pool is connected to plumbing why did they let me take a shower? Silliness I tell you. I think lightening is a great way for the lifeguards to take a nice extended paid break. Does anyone else have to leave the pool because of lightening?
The Lifetime Fitness Pool in Parker CO had the same rule - we even had to vacate the pool hall and stand in the locker room… As a devote Non-engineer!!! It never made sense to me either.
Sounds stupid to me. Since electrons repel each other, it’s only the exterior surface of an object that gets electrified by a strike (see the “Faraday Cage” below).
Pools/lakes/fields are dangerous during a lightening storm because they are barren and flat, making you the tallest object (obviously this is a moot point inside a building). All that being said, there is a small risk due to being part of the grounding path when in an indoor pool. Not sure anyone has actually died while in an indoor pool from lightening, but it’s in lots of State and YMCA codes out of an abundance of caution.
I just ran into this at Life Time in Skokie IL…pissed me off to no end! I went there after work at 10 at night and they closed the lap pool. I didn’t notice of course unitl I had already changed and headed out to the pool area. they told me I could wait for thirty minutes and see if they had the all clear to reopen but I just headed home with my tail between my legs. Had I waited it would have been a roll of the dice. The girl at the desk told me that they have a “Lightning Meter” that can detect lightning up to three miles away, and if it says there’s lightning somewhere then I’d have to wait even longer…so that was why I just opted to call it quits.
My regular pool kicks us out too. They claim the indoor pool deck is not grounded. Also claim it is a state law that they have to close the pool in a thunderstorm. I crash the pool down the street when they kick us out. Not an issue there for some reason. (maybe it is grounded - must admit I don’t know WTF that would have to do with getting electrocuted…gounding would be the worst thing possible.)
Navy pools here in Norfolk close if there is thunder/lightning until 20 minutes after the last rumble of thunder.
Sounds like it is a standard rule - NYSC tosses you out also. I asked one day and the manager told me, in a very condescending tone, that a lighting strike could travel through the metal pipes into the pool drains and energize the pool. I then asked if she was also shutting down the showers, water fountains, and urinals for the same reason. That was when I was told to “just go do something else” as she walked away.
The lifetime in vernon hills IL closes the pool down if there is a storm 6 miles out. One lightning sighting equals 45 minutes down. all they need is to hear the word lightning and everything shuts down. It is so flipping stupid. Has anyone here ever hear of somone being killed from a lightning strike in an indoor pool? Please chime in. There has to be hundreds/thousands based on the response from the lifeguards. It has to be an insurance thing.
Our outdoor pools are on the flight path for Eglin AFB, so unless there’s like visible lightning from the pool deck, the default assumption tends to be that the loud rumbling is jet noise because, well, it almost always is that. Which actually takes a little getting used to, but if they swim team kids two lanes over aren’t getting out, I assume I’m going to be okay as well.
Nope…it can be storming big time and our local YMCA doesn’t shoo people out of the pool. I never understood this at all…the base pool at Ellsworth AFB would kick people out of the pool when lightning was within 5 or 10 miles, and then you had to wait until there hadn’t been any lightning for like 20 minutes or something before you could get back in. I’ve always wondered if there has ever been anyone killed or hurt in an indoor pool by lightning, or if this is some weird urban myth.
Spot
Well, boys and girls the National Lightning Safety Institute says it is a no go. Look it up. No matter what the stats say, or what you think with your logical minds, when a national safety institute makes a recommendation, pool owners listen, and would be crazy in America to not follow their guidelines.
Now some of the problem is who makes what rules at a given pool? Hardest call a pool manager can make. When you cancel lessons, lap swim or swim team, everyone is pretty chapped. Well maybe not some of the workers and swim team kids. But the problem is it would become a legal issue and they would lose badly if something did go to court, and it would.
We have had this discussion before on ST, and they have been closing indoor pools for the 45 years I have been around them. They are not likely to change the closing policy anytime soon is my guess.
Loved your question. Disappointed but not surprised at her reaction - too many people just parrot info that is probably wrong and hate being questioned about it.
Lightening? As in, reduction of weight? Such as, for your loafers? 
Oh, you meant lightning.
When lightning hits a Y, it hangs out naked in the locker room for an hour, then blow-dries its junk.
PS - not that I’m an expert, but - pretty much every pool anywhere I’ve ever been, closes down for at least 30 mins when lightning is in the area.
The world is full of stupid rules.
Techincally, you shouldn’t take a shower either… and… you shouldn’t was dishes either… or, do anything where there is a potential connection between plumbing, water and your body. While the contact area is more limited with a shower than a pool… the chances of a good ground are still there… but, with a somewhat lower probability of being fatal.
BTW, if you think you can’t get electrocuted from washing dishes… well… ask my sister… it happen to here back when we were growing up… and, yea… she hit the kitchen floor when it snag her. My siblings and I were young and thought it was pretty funny. We didn’t know what happen until she came to and told us the water coming out the faucet that shocked her…and, she didn’t remember hitting the ground.
“but - pretty much every pool anywhere I’ve ever been”
So that’s like one pool…
PS I was going to suggest they install a dimmer switch…
WTF ? Never heard of that for an indoor pool. I have swam at tons of different pools (most indoor) all over Canada and some in the US and have never heard of pulling people out for that, outdoors it makes sense.
I posed this question at my local Y the last time they kicked us out.
“So you kicked me out of the pool. How come you didn’t kick the fatties out of the hot tub? Or how come you are letting people shower?”
They looked at me like I had grown a third arm.
I got nailed while talking on the phone. So yea, stuff like that happens.
They used to close the indoor pool at the University of Miami whenever there was lightening but last year changed the policy without making any announcements and don’t kick people out anymore. I feel like people will sue for just about anything so its not good policy to due things on a ground of legal protection if there is no evidence of danger.
“I posed this question at my local Y the last time they kicked us out.”
If you have any problems at a Y… the best person to contact is the director… OR even BETTER find a board member and tell them… board members are typically members just like you and are very accessable. Just don’t expect instantious change… but, if your concern is legit then most likely something will be done.