Pool alarms, gates and safety covers: what code requires

Your city or township. Ohio does not regulate private backyard pools at the state level: the Residential Code of Ohio deleted its pool section, and the state's pool safety rules in OAC 3701-31 apply to public pools. Local zoning codes set the barrier, and building departments often lean on the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, Section 305, for the details.

That means you should read two things for your address: the local pool ordinance, which is usually short, and whatever the building department uses for barrier details. Where the local code is silent on a point, such as door alarms, the inspector may still ask about it, and the model code is where that question comes from.

The gate is the part of the barrier people use every day, so it is the part that fails. The model rules are specific:

• Pedestrian gates open outward, away from the pool.
• They close by themselves and latch by themselves.
• They can take a lock.
• At a residential pool, a latch release reached from outside sits at least 54 inches above the ground.
• If the release is lower than 54 inches, it goes on the pool side, at least 3 inches below the top of the gate, and nothing in the gate or fence within 18 inches of it can be open more than 1/2 inch, so a small hand cannot reach through.

Local codes vary in how much of this they spell out. Canton's ordinance requires gates designed to permit locking and requires them kept locked when the pool is not in use or is left unattended. Cuyahoga Falls requires self-locking gates on pool fences, with the fence and gate plans approved by the Department of Building and Zoning Inspection. Stow asks for suitable locking devices on doors and gates in the enclosure.

Hardware matters in Ohio. A gate closer that works in July can stall when ice builds up in the hinge. Stainless or coated hardware and a spring rated for the gate's weight are worth paying for.

When the house is part of the barrier. Many pools here are laid out with the back of the house as one side of the enclosure, which saves fence and keeps the pool close to the patio door. The ISPSC then says that where doors or windows give direct access to the pool through that wall, you need one of these:

• Alarms on the doors, and on operable windows with a sill lower than 48 inches, that sound when the door, window or screen opens. They have to be listed and labeled as water hazard entrance alarms under UL 2017, and in a typical house the deactivation switch sits at least 54 inches above the floor.
• A safety cover listed and labeled to ASTM F1346 on the pool.
• Another approved protection of equal value, such as self-closing doors with self-latching devices.

The CPSC's barrier guide describes what a proper door alarm does. It starts within 7 seconds of the door opening, sounds for at least 30 seconds, reaches 85 decibels at 10 feet, and sounds different from the phone, doorbell and smoke alarm. It should reset automatically and allow an adult to pause it for one pass. A security system chime does not meet this.

Watch for sliding patio doors and basement walkouts. They are the doors most likely to open straight to the pool, and the ones kids learn to open first.

A safety cover is one listed and labeled to ASTM F1346, the performance standard for pool safety covers. It has to hold weight, limit gaps at the edges so a child cannot slip under, drain standing water and carry specific warning labels. Two kinds are common in Northeast Ohio:

• Automatic safety covers run in tracks and close with a key switch. You can use one every day, which is why they count as a barrier device in the ISPSC.
• Anchored mesh or solid safety covers are strapped to anchors in the deck. They are winter covers for most people, installed at closing and removed at opening.

Solar blankets, bubble covers and loose winter tarps are not safety covers. The EPA's WaterSense pool guide lists solar covers as unsuitable for safety use. A child who falls onto a floating blanket can end up underneath it.

In the model code, sometimes. The ISPSC says that where a pool has a powered safety cover meeting ASTM F1346, the barrier requirements of Sections 305.2 through 305.7 do not apply. A few Ohio cities have written similar exceptions. Columbus, for one, exempts pools with a power safety cover from its 48 inch barrier requirement.

In the Northeast Ohio towns we build in most, do not count on it. Hudson, Stow, Canton, North Canton and Cuyahoga Falls all require the pool to be enclosed and do not list a cover as a substitute. Assume you need the fence, and treat the cover as a second layer and as the way to satisfy the house wall rule. If your town does allow a cover in place of a fence, get that in writing from the zoning office before you design around it.

Spas get a slightly different deal in the model code. The ISPSC says a spa or hot tub fitted with a lockable safety cover meeting ASTM F1346 does not need the barrier described in Sections 305.2 through 305.7. That is why a freestanding hot tub on a patio usually comes with a locking hard cover rather than a fence.

A spillover spa built into a pool is a different case. It shares the pool's water and sits inside the pool's enclosure, so the pool barrier protects both. Local codes may also define a spa as a pool. Stow's definition covers any pool with water deeper than 24 inches, so check how your town treats a spa before assuming the cover is enough.

Usually not for a residential pool in our area, but they are cheap insurance. The CPSC supports ASTM F2208, the voluntary standard for residential pool alarms, which covers surface wave sensors, subsurface sensors, perimeter alarms and wearable alarms that go off when a child's wristband gets wet.

They have limits. Surface alarms can false alarm in wind and must be taken out when the pool is in use or covered. A wearable alarm only protects the child wearing it. None of them replace a fence, and the CPSC describes all of these as layers on top of supervision, not in place of it.

A few smaller rules catch people at inspection:

• Climbable objects. Barriers have to be placed so permanent structures, equipment or similar objects cannot be used to climb them. Equipment outside the barrier should sit at least 36 inches away from it under the ISPSC.
• Construction fencing. The ISPSC requires a temporary fence at least 4 ft high around an inground pool site from excavation until the permanent barrier is complete.
• Filling before the fence. Stow, Hudson and Jackson Township all require the barrier in place before the pool holds water.
• Pet doors. The CPSC guide advises against a pet door that opens directly to the pool area.

Safety hardware only helps while it works. Put these on your spring opening list:

• Pull each gate a few inches open, let go and confirm it closes and latches every time.
• Test every door alarm and replace batteries, and make sure nobody has taped over a sensor.
• Look along the bottom of the fence for gaps opened up by frost heave or settling soil.
• Check that nothing new has been parked against the outside of the fence, like a grill, a woodpile or a snow shovel stand.
• On an automatic cover, clear the track and have the cover serviced if it binds.

If you use our pool service for openings and closings, ask the crew to look at the gate and fence while they are there.

We design every pool in 3D on your lot before anything is dug, and the fence line, gates and gate swing go into that model. That is when you decide whether the house will be part of the barrier. If it will, we look at which doors open to the pool and whether you would rather alarm them, fit self-closing hardware or add an automatic safety cover.

An automatic cover is an upgrade on any of our pools, and it earns its keep in Ohio beyond safety: it holds heat, keeps leaves out and cuts evaporation. The barrier fence is priced separately from the pool package because every yard is different. Our fiberglass packages start at $68,400 installed, and financing is available through lenders we work with if you want to spread the cost of the pool and the safety upgrades together.

Whatever you choose, the permit site plan shows it, and the inspector checks it before the pool is filled.