There is something about water park / pool equipment that is so obscure yet interesting. The abandoned Rock-A-Hoola waterpark got me interested in it. It is really neat to see first hand content on operational equipment and design.
I managed to go there a few years ago. Really quite something to be seen. All the empty pools, old slides, worn down buildings. Funnily enough there's still a huge body of water that still remains. Even though it's in the middle of the desert.
@@mrmustache8735 From what I understand the water park was built in that location because that location is really near the water table in terms of elevation or something like that. The "pond" was the original water park - it had huge steel slides back in the day. They expanded by building the giant lake and park. The big lake doesn't fill anymore but the pond still will hold some water. I think the trees growing on the eastern edge of the property is also due to the water.
I live in New Braunfels and grew up going to Schlitterbahn and have always wondered how everything works in the lazy river and wave pools! Im glad I found your page.
I work as a ride operator at a theme park(although I have worked at the water park a few times), and this content is right up my alley! I love seeing the inner workings of these sorts of things!
Love the content and get extremely excited every new video you upload. would love to see the main drains and how that ties into the surge pit you showed in another video that has a 30-in line. Wonderful content and look forward to seeing more
Love your channel man, super in depth and informative, always been curious about this sort of thing and your channel is hands down the best I've ever seen for it. Cheers dude!
My local water park is ocean breeze in va beach, and it’s lazy River has motivators and has its own mini wave machine that has only one blower and it placed in the back of the longest stretch of River, creating and rapid sensation. The River contains waterfalls, fountains, water buckets, and many more effects. It also is on a mini island with its own restaurant.
I used to work for six flags great escape lodge and indoor water park as a water tech, and the mini lazy river we had, had only 1 motivator ( but 2 jets) We called it the river "booster" and "booster pump". This was a more closed system were it drew water from in the river, then piped straight to a massive centrifugal pump (can't remember the exact HP rating), to be pumped to the 2 boosters. One was a big jet like the one you showed, and the other was smaller.
@@thepoolguy yeah! It was a fun job. Definitely learned alot if not most of my pool knowledge from that 1 job. And there's a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day when the guests thank you for the work you do. Plus. How many people get to say they have the keys to the water park everyday? 🤯
I enjoyed the videos too it’s nice to learn something new Like how lazy rivers work I always wondered how The lazy river at the VA park in Clarksburg West Virginia worked I wondered if it works similar to this lazy river
Pipes that flow into the channel are called lateral pipes like the LA river channel or the Rio Monterroso culvert system the name had originated with workers that manufactured the Rio Monterroso culvert system in the early 1970s. The lateral pipes would come out the wall draining from a storm drain grate on the side of the road or other streams or brooks that flow into tunnels that come in through the wall or wastewater greywater pipes ect
The new braunfels one was fun. Use ti stay against the grate till the water shot out. Wouldnt surface till you're halfways around. The smaller park next to their main one used a boogie board surfing discharge for the river. The old park is on a hillside which make it flow and fall into an actual river which branches out to a guided tube ramp into the main pool which is river level.
Could you make a video about the procedure on how you empty the system at the end of the season and how do you go about filling it back up again. Great videos. 👍
Ah...the ol lazy river. Hurricane Harbor was always a good place to find cash stuck on the suction grates. I used to take care of a pool at an apartment complex. I was always finding treasure in the skimmer baskets cash usually. Especially the one at the pump. Found a couple of gold rings too.
Not sure how your content made it on my suggested. But love the content. Pretty interesting stuff. Spent a lot of time at water parks as a kid. Especially kings dominion in VA and always wondered about this stuff
Great Questions James. So this pool operates like a normal pool in the sense of filtration. About linear feet from where I'm at in the video, is the main drains for the pool. The filtration system is adjacent to that and it returns filtered water around the pool at approximately 5,000 gallons a minute.
Id like to see the wave pool in action! If you could get it started up on camera and even the refilling process would be very interesting to watch! Make a timelapse of you refilling it and show is the first start after refilling! Its actually very interesting content and im hoping you can keep making great content!
I came across this channel randomly as well and OMG! I’m a wave pool fanatic and love them. Thanks for the awesome videos! Can you make a video of the wave pool filling up, getting it ready, and blowers starting? Kentucky Kingdoms Wave Pool is amazing! Check out their videos if you can. Their waves are 6’ and during the “Big Kahuna” they are even larger. Thanks for the awesome videos, keep them coming!!!!!!!
I wish you would've taken a walk around the entire inside of this to show us how many of these there were. Does this one pump feed everything? Or are there several around it?
I remember when I was 9 or something I was at my local pool that had a super small lazy river that had a small whirlpool part. I remember walking around the edge of it trying to figure it out. I probably looked weird, a 9 year old just looking at the walls of a pool. Also they use boat propellers to move the water?
Today I learned: Backyard lazy rivers are a thing. 🤯 Guess I know what I’m having built when I win the lottery. 😂 Floating around a lazy river on a hot day, drinking ice cold beer...seems like paradise to me.
All it is , is just a loading canister where the rider gets into a tube and what the rider stands on is a plate held in place by a locking pin , when a piston is pressurized it holds the door in closed position then when the operator pushes the launch button all of that energy is released and the platform swings down out from under the guest and they shoot like a bullet down the slide.
Oh look another subject area that I have no reason to learn about, yet am now hyper-focused on. I have no idea why I get interested in the things I do, but keep the great content coming! 😂 If you wanted, could you turn the lazy river into a motivated river? 🤔😂
Hey, glad you enjoyed. When you say "motivated" I think your referring to an "action river". Unfortunately, because of the low wall designs, we are unable to make this pool an action river. However, there have been talks about installing an off shoot that would go into an action type section. Still in talks only unfortunately.
Our lazy river works purely on gravity. We have no jets or 'motivators' along the river. The boats start high up, and once they reach the finish, the boats are elevated back to the starting platform. The water is pumped up using just 2 big pumps at the end of the ride.
First things first I would like to thank you for making these videos and showing up close and in detail how these systems work, ive always been fascinated/ terrified of them and its very interesting to see exactly how they work and what lengths builder's (usually) go to to make everything safe. Now I do have to ask, why do some lazy rivers have massive 10 foot by 6 foot(slightly exaggerated)main drains? And if you have encountered them, what exactly is underneath that massive grate?
These can be for a number of things. Sometimes water is shared by other attractions, and these grates offer massive volumes of water to other attractions in the form a pumped water from behind the grates or simply gravity flow to other areas of the park.
@@thepoolguy that would make sense since the lazy river does have a lot of water that can be shared to other attractions. So then why would the grates be so damn big? Are there massive pipes underneath that grate as well?
@@thepoolguy boy i hope so lol so basically the larger the drain the safer it is? If you ever come across one of these I would love to see a video explaining how it all works
Really neat to see! I have been a theme/water park nut for a long time, the whole reason I went into controls engineering! What HP are those motors on the motivators? 25hp? Hope to see some more content especially on water slides!
Where are you located? We are near the Wisconsin dells and spent a ton of time going to the water parks as kids and still do quite often so this is really interesting. Keep the videos coming
160 HP to run this!😮 On 220v single phase that is 640 amps! On 480 3 phase that is 179 amps! Unless I am doing the math wrong on KWhr, this is going to cost $130/month and 3 hours a day.
OK, I understand the basics of river motivators now. Could you do a breakdown on *people* motivators next? 🤔 I have a bunch of important work to do, and yet I'm watching videos about lazy rivers.
and before 2008 they could've! The pool guy mentions the VGBA at 4:45, which is the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which is some absolute nightmare fuel to read about. He goes out of his way to mention they are "anti-entrapment grates" for a reason. (just a warning if you do decide to google this, "entrapment" is a bit of an understatement, there are 2 incidents listed as motivation for the bill, they both involve kids and one of them in particular is just, so much more gruesome than expected). At a glance, looks like there have been standards for safe pool grates since 1987, but it wasn't until 2008 that they became legally required.
Bull crap you do not know what you are talking about.
Thanks, love you too!😛
I think he does, what made you feel this way?
No no, he makes a good argument with a lot of well researched points. Sorry PoolGuy, sounds like you don't know what you're talking about 🙃
@@gazloading I have engendered a lot of lazy rivers in my day at many theme parks and this one did not look to my standard.
@@tonyabbot6771 do you get off on being a toxic piece of crap or is it a condition?
I came across this channel randomly and I dig the content so much
Samr thing
Same here!
Same here. Hopefully this guy can get some more subscribers and views. I posted one of his wave pool videos on Reddit - look forward to more content
Thanks for that. Out of curiosity, what subreddit did you put that in?
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
There is something about water park / pool equipment that is so obscure yet interesting. The abandoned Rock-A-Hoola waterpark got me interested in it. It is really neat to see first hand content on operational equipment and design.
Oh man, I just read about this facility. Such a shame, the Rock theme looked amazing. Looking at the remains hurts my heart.
I managed to go there a few years ago. Really quite something to be seen. All the empty pools, old slides, worn down buildings. Funnily enough there's still a huge body of water that still remains. Even though it's in the middle of the desert.
@@mrmustache8735 From what I understand the water park was built in that location because that location is really near the water table in terms of elevation or something like that. The "pond" was the original water park - it had huge steel slides back in the day. They expanded by building the giant lake and park. The big lake doesn't fill anymore but the pond still will hold some water. I think the trees growing on the eastern edge of the property is also due to the water.
I know quite a few people that have a massive fear of these kinds of systems, it’s good to know they are equipped with safety devices
Safety is priority in amusement facilities in Texas. We actually follow very stringent codes and regulations.
I’m petrified of a wave pool . Absolutely not!!!
I'm one of them but its so interesting damn (still terrified)
I live in New Braunfels and grew up going to Schlitterbahn and have always wondered how everything works in the lazy river and wave pools! Im glad I found your page.
Thanks, still my favorite water park.
I work as a ride operator at a theme park(although I have worked at the water park a few times), and this content is right up my alley! I love seeing the inner workings of these sorts of things!
Very cool!
Liking the pool stuff. All of it. I spent time on pools. Digging and installing, general maintenance. Deck work etc. Cool stuff. Ty for the vids.
Thank you, more to come so please subscribe if you haven't.
@@thepoolguy subscribed for sure. Keep up the cool vids.
This was a great eye opener I always wondered how lazy rivers work
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
Thanks for the content! I love seeing the inner mechanisms and stuff, even though they terrify me haha
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
Very cool.
Looking forward to a more in-depth look at this system
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
I look everyday for a new upload from him. This is extremely interesting
Glad you enjoy, more to come.
I used to take care of hotel pools. Love your channel! Keep it up!
Awesome! Thank you!
Love the content and get extremely excited every new video you upload. would love to see the main drains and how that ties into the surge pit you showed in another video that has a 30-in line. Wonderful content and look forward to seeing more
That one is coming soon.
@@thepoolguy awesome I am super excited!!!!
Love your channel man, super in depth and informative, always been curious about this sort of thing and your channel is hands down the best I've ever seen for it. Cheers dude!
I appreciate that!
My local water park is ocean breeze in va beach, and it’s lazy River has motivators and has its own mini wave machine that has only one blower and it placed in the back of the longest stretch of River, creating and rapid sensation. The River contains waterfalls, fountains, water buckets, and many more effects. It also is on a mini island with its own restaurant.
I never thought I would be interested but here I am you got yourself a subscriber cant wait to see the switch on!
Thanks, more to come I promise.
I used to work for six flags great escape lodge and indoor water park as a water tech, and the mini lazy river we had, had only 1 motivator ( but 2 jets) We called it the river "booster" and "booster pump". This was a more closed system were it drew water from in the river, then piped straight to a massive centrifugal pump (can't remember the exact HP rating), to be pumped to the 2 boosters. One was a big jet like the one you showed, and the other was smaller.
That's awesome! My goal is to get into the theme park side, or hard park as we like to call it.
@@thepoolguy yeah! It was a fun job. Definitely learned alot if not most of my pool knowledge from that 1 job. And there's a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day when the guests thank you for the work you do.
Plus. How many people get to say they have the keys to the water park everyday? 🤯
Thank you for your knowledge. New to lazy river building.
Have fun!
Im using your content to tryand overcome my. Phobia of drains and jets and other sucky, pipey things
Still stay away, but they are much safer now adays.
Awesome videos, thanks for showing us behind the scenes.
More to come!
Thanks for the videos. Very informative and concise. After today I think I know which water park you're at too.
Cheers from PA
Howdy Friend, Greetings from Texas! Thanks, Happy Holidays!
Can you do a in depth video on how you drain and fill the lazy river and how you clean it after each season it'll be cool to see.
I have it on the schedule coming in early March.
This is exciting. I was so happy when I saw this title.
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
I enjoyed the videos too it’s nice to learn something new Like how lazy rivers work I always wondered how The lazy river at the VA park in Clarksburg West Virginia worked I wondered if it works similar to this lazy river
Glad you enjoyed it
Pipes that flow into the channel are called lateral pipes like the LA river channel or the Rio Monterroso culvert system the name had originated with workers that manufactured the Rio Monterroso culvert system in the early 1970s. The lateral pipes would come out the wall draining from a storm drain grate on the side of the road or other streams or brooks that flow into tunnels that come in through the wall or wastewater greywater pipes ect
Very interesting, thanks for the information.
The new braunfels one was fun. Use ti stay against the grate till the water shot out. Wouldnt surface till you're halfways around. The smaller park next to their main one used a boogie board surfing discharge for the river. The old park is on a hillside which make it flow and fall into an actual river which branches out to a guided tube ramp into the main pool which is river level.
Yes, I know the grates you're talking about. I used to do this as well!
Could you make a video about the procedure on how you empty the system at the end of the season and how do you go about filling it back up again. Great videos. 👍
Great suggestion, and upcoming content. I will be refilling pools in the next couple months.
I've only ever been in lazy rivers that use the step system. I felt like a genius when I was like 5 years old and I figured out how it worked
Freaked me out the first time I went to one like this. I wasn't expecting the drop.
Ah...the ol lazy river. Hurricane Harbor was always a good place to find cash stuck on the suction grates.
I used to take care of a pool at an apartment complex. I was always finding treasure in the skimmer baskets cash usually. Especially the one at the pump. Found a couple of gold rings too.
Which Hurricane Harbor?
@@thepoolguy
Arlington across from Six Flags. It used to be called Wet and Wild back when I was a kid.
I love this so much
Thanks, stick around for more.
dude keep these videos coming, im hooked.
Thanks!
great video intersting to watch merry christmas
Happy holidays!
Not sure how your content made it on my suggested. But love the content. Pretty interesting stuff. Spent a lot of time at water parks as a kid. Especially kings dominion in VA and always wondered about this stuff
Glad you enjoyed it!
Idk how I stumbled on this but super cool man I love how things works videos!
Welcome aboard!
Very intresting, wish you would walk around while explaining, giving us a tour at 3.5 m'kays per minute.
You bet, still getting the hang of this, And Ill try and going no more than 2.5 Mr. Mackey's a minute. mKay!
Looking forward to the breakdown!
Coming soon.
Do they run from a central control panel? Or all locally switched?
Each are operated individually from a VFD.
Love your videos great info
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
how is the water removed for filtering? and how much is removed at once or over a certain period of time like an hour?
Great Questions James. So this pool operates like a normal pool in the sense of filtration. About linear feet from where I'm at in the video, is the main drains for the pool. The filtration system is adjacent to that and it returns filtered water around the pool at approximately 5,000 gallons a minute.
Id like to see the wave pool in action! If you could get it started up on camera and even the refilling process would be very interesting to watch! Make a timelapse of you refilling it and show is the first start after refilling! Its actually very interesting content and im hoping you can keep making great content!
This is for future content
When you start up the motivators at the beginning of each day, how long does it take for the overall river flow to reach full speed?
About 45 minutes
I subbed so that means we need more content plus I'd like to see your media room that house the 70v amps for the music around your park
Ill talk to my IT guy, see if he would like to do that. he is in charge of the Audio.
@@thepoolguy I want a job there
I gave you a sub, I see your a Thrill Seeker! Awesome.
@@thepoolguy I sure am I love theme parks and water parks
I came across this channel randomly as well and OMG! I’m a wave pool fanatic and love them. Thanks for the awesome videos! Can you make a video of the wave pool filling up, getting it ready, and blowers starting? Kentucky Kingdoms Wave Pool is amazing! Check out their videos if you can. Their waves are 6’ and during the “Big Kahuna” they are even larger. Thanks for the awesome videos, keep them coming!!!!!!!
Future Content
@@thepoolguy thank you! Can I ask what Water park you work for?
I wish you would've taken a walk around the entire inside of this to show us how many of these there were. Does this one pump feed everything? Or are there several around it?
There are 16 around the entire pool
I wanted to see the walk down the river too
I remember when I was 9 or something I was at my local pool that had a super small lazy river that had a small whirlpool part. I remember walking around the edge of it trying to figure it out. I probably looked weird, a 9 year old just looking at the walls of a pool.
Also they use boat propellers to move the water?
Interesting m8 . Well I subscribed for more in the future as I find this very entertaining and interesting
Thanks, more to come.
@@thepoolguy you're welcome and I'll look forward to it.
Today I learned: Backyard lazy rivers are a thing. 🤯 Guess I know what I’m having built when I win the lottery. 😂 Floating around a lazy river on a hot day, drinking ice cold beer...seems like paradise to me.
I do too!
Can you do a video about the Trapdoor Slides you have there. I am very interested in learning how those work!
This is a future video. Should be in next couple months
All it is , is just a loading canister where the rider gets into a tube and what the rider stands on is a plate held in place by a locking pin , when a piston is pressurized it holds the door in closed position then when the operator pushes the launch button all of that energy is released and the platform swings down out from under the guest and they shoot like a bullet down the slide.
@@thepoolguy Yessss I can't wait!
@@josephbennett3482 It'll be cool to see all those parts and stuff!
Oh look another subject area that I have no reason to learn about, yet am now hyper-focused on. I have no idea why I get interested in the things I do, but keep the great content coming! 😂
If you wanted, could you turn the lazy river into a motivated river? 🤔😂
Crank that speed up to 11.
Hey, glad you enjoyed. When you say "motivated" I think your referring to an "action river". Unfortunately, because of the low wall designs, we are unable to make this pool an action river. However, there have been talks about installing an off shoot that would go into an action type section. Still in talks only unfortunately.
Dude I had no idea this much went into my favorite places, you should show us a start up and shut down of your wave pool
Future content!
When you turn off the jets how long does the water keep moving around the river? Is this just minutes or an hour?
It can take a few hours to get the water to sit completely still. Stopping half a million gallons can take a while to stop.
Thanks for not telling me to holla ya boi fo da pool work.
LOl, no worries.
Our lazy river works purely on gravity. We have no jets or 'motivators' along the river. The boats start high up, and once they reach the finish, the boats are elevated back to the starting platform.
The water is pumped up using just 2 big pumps at the end of the ride.
Schlitterbahn water park uses this strategy.
How do you get all those leaves out when its time to fill up the pool?
we blow them to a corner in the river that is near a entrance and then just scoop out. Cleaning the river is a 3 day, 6 person job.
Interested to see what the propeller looks like on that
Coming soon!
Ive been to shliterban and their wave lazy river is fun
Still, New Braunfels facility if my favorite water park.
Love it
Thanks, Happy Holidays!
First things first I would like to thank you for making these videos and showing up close and in detail how these systems work, ive always been fascinated/ terrified of them and its very interesting to see exactly how they work and what lengths builder's (usually) go to to make everything safe. Now I do have to ask, why do some lazy rivers have massive 10 foot by 6 foot(slightly exaggerated)main drains? And if you have encountered them, what exactly is underneath that massive grate?
These can be for a number of things. Sometimes water is shared by other attractions, and these grates offer massive volumes of water to other attractions in the form a pumped water from behind the grates or simply gravity flow to other areas of the park.
@@thepoolguy that would make sense since the lazy river does have a lot of water that can be shared to other attractions. So then why would the grates be so damn big? Are there massive pipes underneath that grate as well?
Most likely the pump is a little farther. Most codes won't allow the pump to be that close to the suction.
@@thepoolguy boy i hope so lol so basically the larger the drain the safer it is? If you ever come across one of these I would love to see a video explaining how it all works
Oh man, 3:55 is going to give me nightmares tonight. 🥴
LOL!
Are the wall drains dangerous if they are uncovered and turned on? Will you get sucked in?
Would love to see your chlorine delivery system. You use gas or liquid?
I only use Calcium Hypochlorite. I will show the chlorinator in a future video.
Could this be propelled by solar panels?
what is the length of this lazy river?
Really neat to see! I have been a theme/water park nut for a long time, the whole reason I went into controls engineering! What HP are those motors on the motivators? 25hp? Hope to see some more content especially on water slides!
10hp. You're in luck, video coming out tomorrow about water slides
@@thepoolguy awesome! Can't wait that one tomorrow!
Where you from mate?
Houston, Texas Sir! How about Y'All!
@@thepoolguy North Carolina
Where are you located? We are near the Wisconsin dells and spent a ton of time going to the water parks as kids and still do quite often so this is really interesting. Keep the videos coming
We are located near Houston, Texas
how river motivators work ME: "you can do it"
Are those vgb
He can explain well how it works
Oh I wanted to see you clean it and fill it up lol
Soon Padawan Soon
i have been to the s bon lazy river and know what your talking about. i tried climbing it.
Yes, I used to get in trouble all the time for this.
Bro you need to get on tik tok people would LOVE this!!!!!!
just seeing the behind the scenes of this
Maybe... I have a bit of learning on it so to speak.
So those intakes can’t actually cause entrapment?
No, unless there is one missing or failed. These are antivortex anti entrapment grates.
@@thepoolguy Ok thank you! I thought these could have a gradual pull to them if you got near it.
@@RushGirnty19 leaves and trash will often be stuck on them. But you can't even feel the pull if you put your hand on them
Where is this water parck. And it looks very abandoned
Not abandoned, just winterized. Houston, Texas
160 HP to run this!😮
On 220v single phase that is 640 amps!
On 480 3 phase that is 179 amps!
Unless I am doing the math wrong on KWhr, this is going to cost $130/month and 3 hours a day.
Wheres this park
Houston, Texas
Where you located
Katy, Texas
You sound like the actor/director Harold Ramis 👍
Hmm, this one is new to me. Ill have to listen to his and see if your correct.
Mkay
Alright
so lazy rivers DO HAVE TURBINES?
Why are the drains so big in a lazy river?
Lots of water to filter and is actually safer belive it or not
@@thepoolguy that makes sense. Still super creepy lol
Lazy river.... the river is not lazy at all..... it's pumping a lot of water around and around :P
Was anyone ever scared to go over the big vents in the floor
I always tried to not touch them at all... Creepd me out
16 x 10hp motors - that’s alot of electricity
And thats just for river motivation. In total I have 53 motors facility qide
Theres no link lmao
Ruh Roh, what link do you speak of, I can get it on there.
Is this in someone's back yard ?
No sir, this is a commercial facility.
Anyone else gets anxiety and an unusual fear seeing such equipment?
I used to also, but my understanding of them has helped.
Hope you all are still doing well with this covid shit
We are trying, hope you and your family are well.
water level seem kind of low.
Please no diving in the pool.
Did someone say Lazy?
Turn it on😂
Soon Padawan, Soon
i’m too fat to float lazily down the river.
Nah, you good, come on down.
Okay youtube no reason for this computer geek to see this. But interesting nonetheless
Lol, your not the first. Hope you stick around.
Can you just talk more about pools.
Lol, I'll try and keep it interesting.
.
Like if I run a park
What ya talking about willis?
@@thepoolguy I don’t know why but your content is interesting it’s like a behind the scenes
OK, I understand the basics of river motivators now.
Could you do a breakdown on *people* motivators next? 🤔
I have a bunch of important work to do, and yet I'm watching videos about lazy rivers.
would be interesting to see a engineering breakdown of the fierce river and lazy river at Volcano Bay in Orlando.
When i was a child those vent like things where my nightmare cuz i used to think it would suck me in them and kill me
Don't worry, I did too.
and before 2008 they could've! The pool guy mentions the VGBA at 4:45, which is the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which is some absolute nightmare fuel to read about. He goes out of his way to mention they are "anti-entrapment grates" for a reason. (just a warning if you do decide to google this, "entrapment" is a bit of an understatement, there are 2 incidents listed as motivation for the bill, they both involve kids and one of them in particular is just, so much more gruesome than expected). At a glance, looks like there have been standards for safe pool grates since 1987, but it wasn't until 2008 that they became legally required.