Is It Safe.
"One of the challenges here is, because you're moving so much water, (the Fastlane can pump 5,000 gpm) you don't want to have any kind of entrapment issues," says Murdoch. An advantage of a deck- or wall mounted unit is the opportunity for the intake to be spread over multiple planes. "A 16-inch propeller inside the unit pulls water up through grills on five sides — front, back, two sides and the bottom — so there's no entrapment hazard," says Murdoch. Behind-the-wall systems should have at least 5 square feet of safety grate over the intake.

"We just got NSF certification for our pump and for our grate — we manufacture our own safety grate," says Davidson. Additionally, the design of the grate box enhances safety, and the company has provided a plumbing stub where an SVRS can be installed if the customer wants one, or if local regulations dictate.

Who Wants to Swim?
Builders know their customers better than anyone else, of course, but the manufacturers pay close attention to demographics nationwide. "There's a spread, of course, but the lion's share would be the fitness-minded," says Davidson. "It's people who, if they're not swimmers, they want to be, because every other exercise that's shock and gravity oriented is harmful to them. It's not just baby boomers, though, I think everybody has become more aware of the ways to achieve fitness that are less harmful. There's sophistication all the way through the age groups."