POOL ALARMS

Above Ground Pool Alarms

Inground Pool Alarms

Pool Door Alarms

Pool Gate Alarms

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) a government agency dedicated to keeping you, the consumer, safe from dangerous products, asked ASTM International to develop safety and performance requirements for pool alarms in the year 2000. ASTM International is an organization that sets performance and safety standards to help insure that the pool alarms you buy are safe and perform as intended.

The Safety and Performance Standard entitled - ASTM F 2208 was produced. Some of the basic requirements of the ASTM Pool Alarm Standard are:

• Pool alarms shall sound at the pool and in the house via a remote receiver
• Pool alarms must have an on/off indicator
• Pool alarms shall have a minimum sound pressure of 85 decibels at 10 feet
• Pool alarms must have a low battery indicator
• Pool alarms must automatically reset.

There is a very thorough testing procedure for each type of pool alarm. The pool alarm must sound in 20 seconds or less when the test subject (a child intrusion simulator that is the average size of a one year old child weighing 18 lbs.) enters the pool. There are also tests for each type of pool alarm so that they will not false alarm during normal conditions according to the standard, such as (light wind and rain as well as small objects entering the pool).

As a consumer if you want to see that the pool alarm you are interested in purchasing meets the ASTM standard - look for the Meets ASTM Safety Standard - you can feel confident that you are getting a high quality and safe alarm to use. If the pool alarm does not meet ASTM F 2208 it may not be a safe product to use.

The ASTM Standard for Pool Alarms is a voluntary standard and each manufacturer has the responsibility for conforming and testing their alarm to the standard. As a smart consumer you should now wonder that if a pool alarm claims it meets ASTM F 2208, how do you know their claim is true?

To be sure a pool alarm meets the ASTM Safety Standard for Pool Alarms it must be verified by an independent testing lab. Intertek's Electrical Testing Laboratories, (ETL) is one of the world's largest and most prestigious testing facilities. If a pool alarm has been tested by ETL to the ASTM standard and ETL verifies that the pool alarm meets the ASTM standard then you can be absolutely sure that the pool alarm does meet ASTM F 2208. Pool Alarms that have been verified by ETL will have the ETL mark on their packaging and advertising materials.

Be a SMART POOL ALARM CONSUMER and look for the ETL-Verified mark indicating compliance to ASTM F 2208 for pool alarms. The Poolguard In-Ground and Above-Ground Pool Alarms have been verified by ETL and do meet ASTM F 2208.