Salem Gymnastics and Swim has been in operation for decades, and like everyone else, was thrown a huge curve ball back in March when the pandemic overran our daily lives. Beth and Kenny Morphis and their staff of overachievers looked ahead and figured that swim school patrons were going to gravitate to the cleanest and safest faciliites. They had built a “great” swim school facility 4 years ago as a popular service to the patrons of Salem Gym – a leader in gymnastics training for over 40 years.
But “great” is not good enough for the Salem team, and they worked with Andy Broido of Swim Consultant, and CES to bring their aquatic facility to the next level. With a great foundation in equipment and design, it didn’t take much. With a helping hand from local water quality leader – Mike Gibbons from Duffield Aquatics, the team approach provided terrific results in a short period of time.
Specifically, the Salem team tweaked and/or upgraded the Controls & Communications, Water Testing, Filtration, Chlorination, Facility Cleaning, and UV system to bring the facility to 2020 standards.
At the heart of the upgrade were new BECSys5 control systems on the popular Main Pool and active Baby Pool. These systems not only provide pinpoint control of water chemistry 24/7/365, but brought a whole new level of remote control, data logging, and communications. The system is monitored in real time from CES’s Jupiter Monitoring Center, and all logs are maintained in 1-minute increments including chemistry levels, feed events, flow rates, temperature, and more. Any out-of-range parameter automatically alerts the Salem team, WELL before the readings could fall outside of an optimum range, and corrective action is taken immediately. The pumping flow rates are being automatically monitored, and the next upgrade will provide direct control of the flow rates as well.
With an enhanced emphasis on safety, the Salem team wanted to be assured that their water testing was as accurate as possible. So they invested in a SpinTouch digital tester that gives them certified accurate test readings for up to 11 water parameters in 60 seconds… with no color biases or errors. Additionally, every time they test, the CES TRC™ program automatically alerts the combined team of the test results (in real time), and details any tweaks that need to be made to the chemistry. This is proof of testing, communication, and safety at its finest.
The chlorination system was upgraded to an “All-in-One” Infinity tablet system that not only provides perfect levels of chlorine, but also adds vital additives including calcium, bicarbonate, and even stain prevention to
keep ALL aspects of the water as pristine and safe as possible… and does so WITHOUT adding any stabilizer, which impedes the oxidation process.
The filters were already in great shape, but the team wanted to move toward a drinking water-grade solution. The conversion was relatively easy with the use of AFM™ Activated Filter Media, made from recycled brown and green glass (thanks to all the Scottish beer drinkers), which has received accolades for providing great water savings and fine filtration down to 4 microns, while preventing bio-fouling of the media due to the activation process.
The Sentry UV system was updated with the newest lamps and ballasts, and is working to peak performance providing dual spectrum protection with both Sanitation (254 nM spectrum) and Oxidation (185 nM spectrum). This is a sister system to ones that have achieved NSF® certification for 99.9% inactivation of Crypto and other organisms.
Even the facility cleaning was kicked up a notch. The staff cleans the deck and all the swim aid and toys after each session using the WysiWash system that assures a clean and sanitary facility with a simple spray down process.
The Salem modernization has been a huge success and will provide the local Winston-Salem community with a state of the art learn-to-swim facility taking advantage of one of Salem’s 7 distinct swimming programs. Several staff have successfully passed the latest AquaTech certification course, and the constant communications from the test kit and control systems helps assure everything is picture perfect around the clock. The feedback from the patrons has been great.
Please join us in congratulating the Team for a job well done, and for taking action while many others are laying low and conserving cash. This will inspire confidence in anyone using that facility, and is just another sign of excellence from the Salem Gym and Swim Team that has the tagline: “Where Confidence Soars!”
Learn more about how facility improvements can pay their own way out of savings in Labor, Chemicals, Maintenance and Liability…..
