Thoughts on 'proper' pool temp?

Triathlon Forum
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A new YMCA opened about 2 blocks from my apartment in NYC. It’s a really nice pool, full competition set-up with all the trimmings (sans scoreboard). The problem is that the pool has been running at what I think is an unsafe temperature. Today’s temperature was a balmy 86 degrees. My personal data collection has the average at about 85 degrees. The YMCA supports a diverse clientelle from the serious to the not so, both young and old. I have suggested to the YMCA that 80-82 degrees would be a good comprimise, suitable to the both lappers and the waders. That got me to thinking about what the ‘proper’ pool temperature might be for swim training. I can tell you that at 86 degrees, it sure doesn’t feel safe. I can feel my skin radiating with heat after 3-400m and my heart rate feels unusually elevated. (The pool is 25m with 7 lanes, a 9.5ft deep end with gradient bottom: 3.5ft to 5.5 ft before drop-off to 9.5ft) Any thoughts would be great.

Snug as a bug in competition pool,

-adam duncan

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I never liked swimming in anything over 80, but i always enjoyed jumping into warmer water a bit more. I have swum 2 hour practices at a non-temperature regulated public pool that commonly reached the high 80’s in the summer afternoons. It was hot and i was always dizzy, and i puked just about every practice, but i lived. That said, push for 80, factor in all the bodies and the kiddie piss, and that will put the temp at 82.

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Thanks, Ben. Good point about the bodies and kiddie pee raising the temp a couple of degrees. I hadn’t factored that in.

-adam

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82-84 is the standard compromise temp. Competitive swimmers prefer 78-80, the old timers prefer 86+. So shoot for 82-84 and all should be able to live with it. If it stays hot, just deal with it as you would outside on a really hot summer day…hydrate big time and adjust your pace a couple of sec per 100. But from your description, it sounds like the pool is hotter than 85!

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I find mid-80s bearable provided the air is well-ventilated and cool, and I admit it’s kind of nice first thing in the morning and, for general-use pools, when I take the kids swimming. But once warmed up, I’d rather have something closer to the 79F pool of my youth. How regimented is the schedule at your pool? If it’s lap swimming first thing in the morning and families and senior-citizen water aerobics later in the day, for example, could they start the day at a cooler temperature and warm it up as the day progresses? Just a thought.

Question for those fortunate enough to have endless pools: what temp do you keep your pool at?

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I swim both in the morning and after work. The crowd seems pretty mixed at both times, but I thougt the same thing. Why not have the temp cooler from say 5pm to 7am, and warmer from 7-5pm or something like that. My question is, how long does it take to alter the temp of a big pool 1 degree? It may not be practical to move the temp around given the sheer size of the water. (ie. if it takes 4 hours to move the temp from 80 to 85 degrees, that’s probably not a practical solution.)

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I don’t have issues with warmer pool temps, but I do with cold ones. Lost my taste for cold water in the military. I have shown up to summer, early morning pool workouts with a shorty wetsuit on. I’m a total, 100% cold water wimp. Thank goodness for neoprene. The warmer the pool, the better (within reason).

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I have been swimming at Y pools for a couple of years now. I have never been a competitive swimmer, so keep that in mind. However, I have spoken with the Y staff and they told me the reason for the 85 degree temps. One of the Arthritis organizations “certifies” pools for Arthritis classes and one of the requirements is specific temperatures for the air and water.
As for changing the temp, the pool I mainly swim in was re-filled after some work and they forgot to turn on the heater system. The water was about 70-72 on Monday and wasn’t back up to regular temperature until Wednesday night. So changing the temp during the course of the day would require something along the lines of a nuclear reactor.

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One thing you have to remember, YMCA pools are used not only for lap swimming, but also for kid’s swim lessons and adult aerobics classes. The non-swimmers tend to like the water temp higher.

Also, most Ys will follow the American Arthritis Association’s guidelines for pool temperature - which is a lot warmer than lap swimmers prefer.

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The geezers are there more often and they complain more loudly than you do.

American Swim Coaches Association says 78 - 80. We were talking abot pool regulations yesterday, I’m reasonable certain that you can’t have a reional or higher meet in USA swimming if the pool isn’t at or below 80 degrees.

We had this same issue at the pool i use. ASCA recommends 80 or below, the water aerobics association recommends 84 to 86 and the arthritis association recommends higher than that.

We have warm water pool for the arthritis so the battle is between the water aerobics and the swimmers. I have pushed hard and we have come to 81 - 82 as the compromise. i check it every day. I am the swim coach and won’t hold a workout in water warmer than 82. We will be all technique that day, it sucks but th emembers know why and usually make their feelings known.

For my part I also won’t workout in water that warm. Although I have considered hammering anyway and when it’s time to toss the cookies just do so in the water and have the pool close for two days. Do it a few times and they might get the picture; although it’s quite a hard thing to do just to make a point.

I think it all quite silly, I get the arthritis part, those folks don’t do anythign hard enough to work up heat in their bodies. But for water aerobics they can get in cold water, they will be cold for abou 45 seconds if the coach is good. But if the water is too ot, there’s nothing you can do. It will always be too hot, too cold lasts for just a minute.

In your particvualr case it’s a shame, if they built the pool with lanes and what not, why thenmake it not suitable for swimming. If you are making a pool for water aerobics, do that, save the money for the lane lines and such.

The optimum design for a new setup would be a warm water kiddie/arthritis/physical therapy pool, a second well for water aerobics and a 5 lane 25 meter pool for swimming.

One of these days I’m going to go ahead and build one. i think I read it will run about 250,000 just for the construction.

Use the “asca recommends 80º” as ammunition in the argument, it might help.

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78 degress is my ideal temp. Though I think air temp./condition is almost more important. A perfect pool temp but the air is steaming hot, it’s probably a lot worse than a warm pool and cold air.

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Thanks, Kevin for the awesome response. That was exactly the information I was looking for. Hopefully I can make a reasonable case to powers that be at the pool for a lower temp. You are correct, however, that the elderly folks are surely going to complain louder and more often that I will. As for designing a new pool, my thought was this: Why not build a plexiglass divider that can essentially partition the pool into different segments. That way you could create different temp zones in the pool. Artificial thermoclines of sort.

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When i swam competitive, (I am only 18, so it was only up until a year ago), i considered a fast pool to be about 68. Definately the ideal temp. But i think all YMCAs keep their pool at least 82-84, it must be in their rule book or something…Thats where mine is at, but i have nowhere else to train, so i guess 84 is where i will train. if you find a way to make them change, ost back, i’d love to hear it.

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I’ll definately post the outcome of my conversations with the YMCA. I suspect that we’ll agree on 80-82 degrees, but the reality will end up somewhere from 82-84 degrees. A less than I deal outcome for distance swimmers, but certainly better than 85-86 degrees. 68 degrees sounds incredibly refreshing to me, but it does make me wonder about exposure limits. The human body loses heat at a pretty rapid pace when you start to get that low. At around 56 degrees, an untrained swimmer succumbs to exposure in less than 1/2 hour.

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I like my pools cold. I’m talkin’ 64-70 odd degrees here. The Masters club I used to swim with used two pools, both of which ran 84-86 degrees. It was nasty, and I’m sure I could have pushed a lot harder if the temp had been 10degrees cooler. But there’s that whole “don’t puke in the pool” thing, so you have to regulate your efforts to a degree… :wink:

Of course it didn’t help that we got in immediately after kid’s swim class, which is one of the reasons they kept the temp so high. (It was also one of the reasons we had a cancelled practice every few weeks, due to an “accident”)

When I was at university, they kept the pool nice and chilly but kept the dive tank really warm. It was a nice compromise.

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I’m with you on the cold temp thing. Definately helps. The real issue is that these pools are trying to serve so many purposes. This is especially true here in Manhattan where pools are a reasonably scarce commodity. There are just so few pools where it’s purely swim training or competition.

:slight_smile:

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They have to keep the pool at a set temperature. I know to adjust a pool a couple of degrees costs a ton of money

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Ha!! i was reading through this thread and then saw demerly’s name and thought what the hell? You just answered a guy that has not logged on in 9 years!!!

Best pool temps are 78 to 80 for hard training by the way…

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This thread will be 10 years old in 12 days!

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You dug up a 10 year old thread?..and I’m keeping it alive, oh boy…

When I worked in the facilities at a college, they hosted old person pool aerobics through an agreement with the city parks department. If I remember the maximum legal public pool temp was upper 80’s and through the agreement with the city they had to keep the pool at 84-86 degrees. The swim team hated it, but the old people won out.