The Attendant: At Your Service
In April of last year, Poolside Tech of New Hope, Pennsylvania, launched a pool automation system called The Attendant, which connects all pool equipment, no matter the manufacturer, allowing it all to be monitored and managed together through a smart device.
“So many of our homes are connected and communicating with us, having the intelligence to implement features that save on energy and reduce costs,” says Jennifer Doan, chief revenue officer for Poolside Tech. “Why had this not been the case for pool automation?”
Doan says Poolside Tech recognized that pool automation systems were unaware of key data points like the weather, so they couldn’t predict when to turn on the pool heater based on factors like ambient temperature, cloud cover and UV conditions. Additionally, the company felt homeowners would want to know, for instance, that their pool filter was dirty — but those things were often not being tracked. Poolside Tech now has a patent for a flow switch and a variable-speed pump to solve this issue.
“Basic features to save the pool professionals time like advanced reporting of equipment errors and allowing for remote troubleshooting were again, missing,” Doan adds. “The industry deserved advancement, so we began our journey with The Attendant.”
Upper management at Poolside Tech had previous experience working on the technology for large quick-service restaurant brands. “If [one of those] systems goes offline, you’re costing them revenue with every passing second,” Doan says. “It’s unacceptable for a key press to not produce the expected action for these businesses, but yet your pool automation can be unresponsive or offline without any sense of urgency. Pools are a great provider of enjoyment to a household and the automation system that we set out to build at Poolside Tech was one that removed the worry and started thinking for you.”
Jeff Neamand, president and CEO of Aquasun Pools & Spas, Inc., in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, says The Attendant has revolutionized the way his company builds and services pools. His business has been using the system since it launched.
“It has incorporated technology that other industries already have and that the pool world has chosen not to venture into,” Neamand says, adding that with other automation systems, not matching the lighting brand to the automation brand often means it doesn’t work.
By contrast, The Attendant allows the use of any manufacturer’s equipment.
“It saves me a ton of time,” Neamand continues, “when a client has an issue. I can program and read every keystroke the client does from my own smart device.”
Adam Steele, owner of Steele’s Signature Pools in Sea Girt, New Jersey, has been working with the Poolside team for about a year after a mutual friend introduced them. Steele says the matchup has simplified his complex pool builds.
“I use different lights that can project any color possible and an endless number of shows,” Steele says. “I also use fiberoptics and features I can’t typically operate with a normal pool panel. With The Attendant’s capacity to control any device in the pool market, I have had no plan restrictions. Before the Poolside panel, we had to utilize third-party controllers. We can now control all of our fire highlights, water elements and lighting features from one area.”
Another patent granted to the company centers on smarter actuation. “We are able to do things like stop valves in the middle to control multiple water features at the same time,” Doan says. “This saves the homeowner and pool professional a lot of money on pumps and white goods.”
Neamand uses The Attendant when renovating pools, as in-house panel installations can now be done in under 90 minutes with this system. Energy savings and flexibility are two other areas where Neamand also has seen The Attendant perform for his clients.
“It allows for much longer seasonal use when taking advantage of the built-in smart technology for water movement, heat and freeze protection,” he says. “The Poolside panel doesn’t care what pump we use, doesn’t care what heater, what company’s lights. It controls them all.”
Steele is also a fan of the energy-saving feature, which allows him to see everything from the amount of time it takes for a pool to warm up to the amount of energy to do it. These benefits were Poolside Tech’s goals for The Attendant from the start. “We are here for the customer,” Doan says. “Our team wants to take the time to understand the needs of the industry and its professionals. We love the entrepreneurial spirit that so many of these businesses have, where they look for and even embrace change if they see a path to something better. We set out to build a product truly better in every way with the end user in mind.”
