Pool Check-in Procedure?

Our system works like this...
Pool passes are sold at the office at the beginning of each summer. The passes have the names of all occupants of each resident and the lot and phase number. These passes are then kept at the pool in an index card fashion. We have a "pool attendant" who then checks the names on the index cards upon entering the pool area. If your name isn't there, you don't get to enter. As far as I know, this system has been used for years and seems to work well. We generally have the same people each year who work at the pool and they know the "usual" customers.

Hi Rob,

We have an unattended pool, no lifeguards, so we have a security access system. We have one gate to the pool, so we installed a fob access system. Each family is issued a fob with it's individual identity recorded in the computer that controls the system.

The system works pretty well, especially since we also have security cameras to record activities. The fobs only work during the predetermined hours that the pool is "open", so it's pretty much eliminated late night partying. If the cameras record someone who looks very young accessing the pool without a parent, our age for unaccompanied use is 14, we can check the computer to see who's fob was used and send the owner a letter about the child. Same with people bringing their dog to the pool or a dozen friends.

Of course it's not perfect, someone can always give their fob to a friend to access the pool, but that rarely happens.

It's also pretty cost effective. The system cost less than $ 4,000, including the fobs. The fobs are pretty expensive, about $ 8 each, so the fobs cost us more than 50% of the total cost.

Not sure how your pool is set up and if such a system would work for you, but it might be worth checking out. While the cost of labor goes up almost every year, the cost of technology goes down, so it might be a big savings for your HOA.

Of course, you could have "googled" this yourself just as quickly as I did.

Hi Lucious,

The way it was explained to me is that the word fob describes the small decorative weight that was attached to the chain of a pocket watch back in the days when men wore vests and kept their pocketwatch in the small vest pocket.

A fob looks like a smaller version of the remote control that you have on your key ring for unlocking the car doors. The fob had no buttons or batteries in it, just a microchip imbedded with information. We have a fob reader attached to the gate at the pool, it's smaller then a pack of cigarettes.

The reader sends out a radio wave to read the information in the fob when someone holds the fob within 12 inches of the reader. If everything is correct, then the reader sends a signal to unlock the gate for 30 seconds so the person can enter.

It works quite well, no moving parts to wear out. If someone losses their fob, it can just be deactivated on the computer so no one else can ever use it. The computer records every access attempt so we would know who used the pool at a particular time if there was a complaint. The access system doesn't allow entry after closing hours so the number of late night parties have dropped a lot. It cost about $ 4,500 for the 400 fobs, a computer, the software and changing the lock to electric from manual, but has been overwhelmingly well received by the membership.

Is 30 seconds long enough for everyone? Too long?

We currently have a card-key system that leaves the gate unlatched for something like 90 seconds. Last summer we had a lot of problems with rowdy teenagers from outside of the neighborhood who would hang around the pool and follow somebody else in. We tried to ask people to make sure the gate was latched behind them, but that 90-second timeout was too long for people to wait. We tried to get the timeout shortened, but the company that was servicing the system told us that it couldn't be done. It was really a poorly designed system, so I wouldn't be surprised if what they say is true.

We are in the process of having our pool access/security system replaced, probably with a full computer controlled system as has been described here. One of the questions that has come up is that latch delay. Some feel that if the unlocked time is too short, people with disabilities will have problems with it. If its too long, we'll be back to the old problem with the kids tailgaiting others into the pool. There should be a reasonable middle ground. Maybe a per-user time setting?