Are Infinity Pools Worth It?
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Are infinity pools worth it? As someone who has built hundreds of pools including a few dozen infinity and zero edge pools, I can definitively say that I consider these specific pools to be the worst possible choice for a backyard pool. I would strongly encourage any person considering a negative edge / infinity edge pool to reconsider after reading this article. The risk versus reward is completely lopsided with these complex "water in motion" pools. Both the operating costs as well as the installation costs go up significantly when you add a wall that water flows over as this necessitates more structural elements to the pool (surge tanks or water troughs) as well as more (and more complicated) plumbing systems to control and regulate the flow of water to two different bodies of water.
When I consult with a home owner about a new swimming pool installation an important part of that process is exploring what the home owner wants the new pool to be able to do. For example, many people will come to the table and announce that they want salt water, as salt water is (or has been) a very trendy upgrade to add to your pool. I encourage the home owner to let me help them find the right peripheral device for their pool by instead telling me what you want the pool to do or more about the expectation of function. This is when the home owner might tell me they hate chlorine and want the pool to be maintenance free. If I had not pressed further they would most likely be very disappointed with their new pool since salt pools are chlorine pools and most assuredly salt pools are not maintenance free. So in reality much of my time consulting with a client about their new pool build is actually dedicated to convincing them about the thing which they don't want. At the very top of mount you-don't-want-that sits infinity edge pools. Let's look at a few of the reasons why:
Infinity pools are inefficient - The first point out of my mouth when I am consulting about an infinity edge pool is the point that these pools are not just inefficient, they are remarkably inefficient. If cost of operation is even on your radar as a consideration then you might as well throw out the idea of having a negative edge pool installed. Falling water is disastrously inefficient for evaporative losses, which includes heat loss and chemical loss as well. This means any time you are actually using the infinity edge effect you will be hemorrhaging evaporative losses from the falling water, your water temperature will plummet, your pH will rise...running an infinity edge pool costs money, period. So in reality that surge tank and infinity edge effect that you paid so much for will actually be turned off since it is too expensive and inefficient to actually leave running. But in doing so you actually might introduce other problems such as the weir wall that water breaks over is left to dry out completely until you turn the edge effect on again, at which time cold water washes over the sun baked concrete and tile edge. There is an advantage to leaving the edge system running in that it regulates the temperature of the weir wall, but now we need to discuss the quality of the installation itself.
Infinity edge pools require experience to build - Experience and attention to detail are the two most important qualities of a pool builder to successfully install an infinity edge pool. Something as small as the quality of the tile edge on the weir wall will make a night or day difference in terms of the amount of water flow it will take to break evenly over the wall, achieving the infinity edge / zero edge effect. In a perfect world, with a perfectly set weir wall edge, you would only need a gallon or two per minute or so per linear foot to have the edge effect break cleanly. A less skillfully installed edge could take five or seven GPM to make that same edge break cleanly over. So extrapolating with a 40' long edge wall, you might need as little as 40 GPM of flow to break over an expertly built wall, but, if not built well, as much as 280 GPM of flow to break cleanly over that same wall. Unless you have made some serious provisions for flow no pool has 200+ GPM of extra flow sitting around. That would require dual pumps and dual plumbing systems dedicated to provide that extra flow that was required to make up for a sloppy tile setter. This, literally, is one single component of water in motion pools where lack of experience can be detrimental to the project. There are dozens, a hundred or more ways where an infinity pool can fall short due to lack of quality or lack of experience. When you hire a builder to quote a project like this it will not always be made clear that they have never built one of these before. Often you will be left to your own devices to determine who knows how to build an infinity edge pool and who just thinks they can.
Infinity pools are expensive to install properly - Most of the time adding a peripheral device or option to your pool package will not significantly alter the bottom line of the installation cost. Infinity edge pools however will drastically increase the cost to build your project as they simply have more moving parts, more structural elements, way more design time, triple the plumbing, more pumps, extra provisions that regular pools simply do not have. As a result you will never get a "deal" on an infinity edge pool. They will always be expensive, as they should be. Actually this brings to mind one particular type of "faux infinity edge" pool option for budget installations which is essentially the same in that one wall is low which the water level sits right at the top of the wall, except there is absolutely no provision for a trough or surge tank of any kind. This is a terrible idea and if anyone suggests such a pool to you then you should escort them to the edge of your property and conclude your talks with them. Vanishing edge pools should never be attempted as a budget installation, and having a low wall for splash water to roll over and escape the pool is a guaranteed structural failure of the pool at some point due to the splash out water eroding the ground on which the very pool is sitting. If budget is a consideration you need to forget about any notion of installing a vanishing edge pool.
Infinity pools are expensive to maintain - Instead of lumping maintenance cost in with installation cost I have decided to give cost-to-maintain infinity edge pools its own section here. This is because an edge effect pool really is more like two pools than one. There are two separate albeit connected bodies of water, one being the pool and the other being the surge tank. When your pool maintenance technician comes to check the water chemistry, as well as scoop, brush and vacuum, they will need to do this to both the pool and the surge tank. The weir wall will often need specific attention as well as it is quite common to have efflorescence scale growth along the edge wall where water passes over, especially on weir walls where a waterproofing layer was not applied. A weir wall is wet on both sides which makes a unique and challenging situation for waterproofing. Traditional membrane solutions like Redgard or Hydroban by Laticrete are designed to act like a liner, in that they can resist hydrostatic pressure from one side only. This means some infinity edge pools are built with no waterproofing, and some are built with incorrect waterproofing. Any of these pools will require significant effort from the service technician to keep looking good. At the end of the day all of this extra time, work, scrubbing, chemical checking, brushing of surfaces will cost you more if you pay for service, or take your time if you do this work yourself...and if you can afford a vanishing edge pool then likely your time is valuable as well. There is simply no getting around that there is just more to these types of pools and that translates to more work, more water testing, more time scrubbing walls and floors etc.
Infinity pools are prone to failures - When you have more moving parts than a regular pool installation then you will have more things that can (and will) potentially go wrong. Many early generations of edge effect pools learned these lessons the hard way. For example, to prevent the (large) pool from draining into the lower (small) trough / surge tank you can use a check valve which only allows water to travel in one direction. The problem is that check valves will fail over time. Even so much as an errant leak that slipped through a crack in your strainer baskets can be enough to prevent a check valve from sealing. This would result in a slow seepage that would eventually see the entire pool draining into the surge tank. This would result in tens of thousands of gallons of (heated and chemically treated) water escaping your pool through the overflowing trough / surge tank. This much water can surely undermine foundations and structural elements, not to mention how much of a disaster it would be if someone lives directly downstream from your pool! Now we know that a check valve is not enough insurance against this disaster and infinity edge pools should also have a vacuum breaker and hartford loop that extends above the water level of the pool to prevent the pool from draining out if (when) the check valve eventually fouls. This is just one example but in reality the added complexity of multiple water levels and a water level monitoring system (either electronic or manual via float valves) adds to the potential for failures both small and large. When you buy a pool with all the bells and whistles sometimes the bells and whistles break or need service. People unfortunately tend to ignore problems with their swimming pools longer than they should but when you have something break or malfunction with an infinity edge pool then you probably will not be able to use or run the pool until it can be repaired.
Are infinity pools safe? - I very specifically stated that as a question as opposed to stating that infinity edge pools are dangerous because that would be an overstatement. I am comfortable saying however that edge effect pools with a weir wall that is accessible to the swimmers are less safe than a pool without this feature. A low wall with a high water level allows a swimmer to attempt to climb on top of the weir wall easily enough, however the weir wall usually is a sloped surface with a point edge, not a flat wall. This means a swimmer is balancing on gloss tile which is both sloped and wet with water running over it, and below this is a fall to the trough or surge tank. While the length of the fall is not often more than a few feet, it can be more than a few feet, plus a fall of a few feet into a concrete surge tank after a slip can be disastrous on its own. So edge effect pools are not dangerous, but it is worthwhile to consider that the weir wall can be dangerous if swimmers decide to play on it. Also worth considering is that a vanishing edge pool usually requires a large pump or two to facilitate enough flow for the edge effect. This is a significant flow of water and this means any underwater suction points will be pulling strongly. While there are standards to ensure these systems are designed and built safely, there is usually no way to know for sure looking at a finished pool whether it was built safely and without risk of entrapment hazard or not. The same can be said for any swimming pool but a pool with an active edge effect is sure to have one if not multiple pumps running at high RPM / high flow rates.
So you might think after reading all of this that I have a chip on my shoulder against edge effect pools but I definitely do not. They are possibly the best visual effect you can get in a backyard swimming pool however they are mostly unusable in this regard, cost a ton, break a lot, are often poorly built, but easily the worst offending issue I have with these pools is the misuse of the edge effect, which is the entire point of having this pool. When effectively implemented an infinity edge pool will allow properties with unobstructed water views to appear as though the water in the pool does not stop, but continues out into the open body of water which is your vista. To have an infinity edge pool that looks out into your neighbors living room, or into a cow pasture, defeats the entire purpose of the effect that you have paid, and will continue to pay so handsomely for. If you are truly the 1% with money to spend on a pool and an unobstructed view of some body of water, and you care little about operating or service costs, then by all means have an infinity edge pool installed. But that whole infinity edge thing...you kind of need to squint to see it and it only really works when you stand in one specific spot. Well I think you can see what I am saying here.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool specialist from Ontario Canada and one of the most trusted voices in the swimming pool industry. With over 20,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the Pleatco Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print. Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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