Pulsar Precision feeders provide winning chlorination for Team USA’s Olympic swimming trials

August 25, 2021

Some of the most advanced water chemistry technologies available - including regenerative media filtration, ultraviolet disinfection, and demand-based chlorination using Pulsar® Precision calcium hypochlorite feed systems from Sigura - were used in the temporary swimming pools that staged the trials for the Team USA squad for the recent Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Encompassing 12 days of intense competition in June featuring more than 1,400 athletes, the trials were staged in two temporary Olympic-size swimming pools - using Myrtha Pools technology - at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

During this time it was critical to maintain optimally balanced water chemistry to ensure the health and safety of the competing swimmers. In addition, with a national television audience watching as cameras captured all the underwater action pool water clarity had to be sparkling at all times.

With each of the pools holding around 3.5 million litres of water, the competition pool was a 10-lane, 50-metre pool while the warm-up pool was ‘L-shaped’ with an 8-lane, 50-metre section and a 6-lane, 25-metre section.

Pulsar® Feeders Selected
Spear Corporation of Roachdale, Indiana, was responsible for all piping and mechanical systems related to the two pools, and was responsible for ensuring that pool water chemistry met the highest quality standards. The company selected Pulsar® Precision calcium hypochlorite feed systems to handle chlorination duties for maintaining optimum pool chlorination during the two Waves.

Spear Corp has used Pulsar® feeders for many previous high-profile competitive swim events, including the U.S. Swim Team trials for the Rio Summer Games in 2016.
Less Maintenance, Ease of Operation

The new Pulsar® Precision feeder design from Sigura uses special high-capacity erosion (HCE) technology that works in conjunction with Pulsar® Plus calcium hypochlorite briquettes to produce a fresh concentrated liquid chlorine solution. The system chlorinates, treat organics, controls metals, boosts hardness, and provides shock treatments, all in one simple process.

As Spear Corp President, Brian Spear explained “in our experience with these high-profile events, Pulsar calcium hypochlorite feed systems have always required less scheduled maintenance than other feed systems, but this new Precision feeder required none during it’s month-long operation for the Tokyo trials.”

Small Footprint, Convenient Loading
According to Spear, a big advantage to using the solid calcium hypochlorite briquettes is that they require just a fraction of the space that sodium hypochlorite (liquid bleach) would require.

Here, Spear noted “with the numbers of spectators and athletes at a large, high-profile event like this one, we don’t want to have a lot of chemical storage on site.

“With the briquettes, we needed to store about half of a skid for the trials. We went through about 50 lbs a day, maybe a little less.”

Spear also likes the Pulsar® Precision feeder’s new convenient loading feature that can provide an additional 50 lbs. of briquette capacity. Here, a cone-bottomed, hinged hopper lid attaches to a full Pulsar® Briquette pail.

To load the unit, the operator simply flips the pail over onto the top of the hopper, minimising labour as well as airborne dust. Once the hopper is full, another pail can be added on top and locked in place, thereby supplying additional capacity as needed.

Spear added “that feature worked really nice during the trials.

“Whenever the top bucket became empty we simply replaced it with a new one - and those were really the only interactions we needed to have with those two units during that whole month.”

Zero maintenance in Operation
The month of the trials was a quite busy time for Spear and his team, who advised “we were closely monitoring water chemistry and taking care of the filtration systems and monitoring the pools’ heat systems.

“We also had to change out pump strainers and manually test the water of each pool three times a day.

“It was nice that we had to do essentially nothing with the Pulsar® feeders during this busy time. They required zero maintenance.”

In these highly competitive events, the continuous thrashing of the water and the perspiration of the athletes require continuous chlorination to maintain the appropriate chlorine residual at all times. Otherwise, chlorination issues can create problems that might take days to straighten out.

As Spear concludes “I was very pleased with the performance of the Pulsar® systems.

“As far as maintaining chlorine levels during the trials, the units kept up with demand just fine.”

Click here to contact Tim Batt Water Solutions, Pulsar Systems Australian distributor, via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA during the trials for the Team USA squad for the recent Tokyo 2020 Olympics (top and below) and Spear Corp President, Brian Spear (middle).

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