25 Years Later, Ed Buys their 2nd Endless Pool

Ed and Helen purchased one of the first 100 Endless Pools® ever installed. For arthritis and back pain, they used it daily for 25 years! Now, as the company celebrates our 30th anniversary, they just installed their second Endless Pool. Ed calls it "absolutely wonderful" for the both of them.

"When it was installed," Ed says of his first Original Endless Pool, "it was 1993. We had it until last year. It worked very well for – well, until we bought this new one. That's a pretty good recommendation for Endless Pools' longevity! I expect the same thing out of this new pool."

This is what the earliest Original Endless Pools looked like! Ed and Helen used a six-sided Endless Pool like this for 25 years. "That's a pretty good recommendation for Endless Pools' longevity," Ed says now. The octogenarian couple just installed a 2018 model Endless Pool as an upgrade.

Planning for Pool #1

In the early years, Endless Pools relied heavily on print media, and that's how we reached Ed and Helen. As he recalls, "My wife read about Endless Pools, and she thought it sounded like a very good idea.

"We were building this house that we live in now, and we changed our contract with the excavator to allow for an Endless Pool in one-half the garage.

"We thought about having an outdoor pool," he recalls. Of course, they had to take into account that their house would be in northern West Virginia and that, as Ed notes, "we were close to 60.

"My wife in her infinite wisdom said, 'It's pretty dumb having a pool that you use maybe three months a year. We're not going to have a 30-foot by 50-foot pool and all the effort that takes.' So it didn't take much to talk me into an indoor pool."

Daily Use for 25 Years

"I'm in one hour a day," Ed says of his Endless Pool aquatic therapy routine. "I have a set regimen, and I look forward to it. It's nice being able to float and flex your muscles.

"I don't swim. I use a floatation device, so I sort of dog paddle for 45 minutes, kicking and stroking both, so I do get the swimming exercise.

"I have balance problems, so I do specific heel-and-toe exercises and arm-twisting and bending and back exercises in the pool. I'm able to do other things that are good for neuropathy, so the pool's good for that too."

While Ed doesn't swim against the Endless Pools current, he still finds it useful for added resistance during his water workout. "I use the current for back and stretching exercises. It is nice having it wash over you.

"I think it does help very much with the arthritis," he reflects. Of his wife's 45-minute daily routine, he says, "She's got back problems, and it helps her a great deal.

"She's a better swimmer than I; she does that for probably half an hour. Then she does extensive exercises, advised by her therapist. She spends 15 minutes doing that, primarily for her back.

"We keep the pool at 92 degrees, which is very fine for our arthritic bodies. I hope it's added years to our lives."

After 25 years, Ed and Helen chose to retire their Original Endless Pool and replace it with this one. He and two friends installed it themselves in half of Ed's two-car garage. The couple will continue to use it daily, as they have since 1993.

Some Things Change…

At Endless Pools, we're constantly working to evolve and improve our designs. So it's not surprising that Ed would notice some significant changes after a quarter-century!

"I like all the innovations that you've done over the years," Ed tells us. "The old pool had a very large hydraulic power unit. It must have weighed 300 pounds. This new one is probably about one-third as large. It's a wonderful thing, and it works very efficiently."

Of course, efficiency isn't just measured by time but by cost as well. "I think the electric cost is considerably less" than with the 25-year-old pool, Ed is finding.

He's also seeing firsthand that pool maintenance is "a lot simpler. We have one of the UV lamps" for water purification; the optional ultraviolet system augments our standard mineral-based sanitizer. "I test the water every couple of weeks, the chlorine balance and also the pH balance. I rather enjoy doing the testing.

"So what else do I do for the pool? Very little!"

…and Some Stay the Same

Ed shared his praise for our customer service, then and now. He and some friends installed the two pools themselves. Based on both experiences, he reports, "Your installation manuals are excellent. When in doubt, consult the instructions, and your instructions are so good that everything goes fine."

"I chlorinated it, but even when you were near it, that you could not smell the chlorine like you could in a commercial pool," he's observed. Both pools, he finds, are "essentially chlorine-free as far as odor is concerned."

With Endless Pool's low-chlorine system, you can smell the difference, and you can feel it too. Note how Ed describes his daily routine: "We only use it in the morning; it's a good wakeup. I shower and get in there. Sometimes I shower after I get out, though I don’t need to." Have you ever heard anyone say that they didn't need to shower after exiting a


Commitment to Last a Lifetime

"You were basically a start-up," Ed recalls from his initial pool installation. "I think the man that talked to me was president at the founding." That's likely true. James Murdock invented the Endless Pool, founded the company, and stayed involved with daily operations for almost 30 years. Our commitment to our customers stems directly from his dedicated leadership.

"I think your relationship with customers is very good and I congratulate you for that," Ed tells us. Admittedly, his use of our Customer Service is not as extensive as you might expect after 25 years. "I've never really called Endless Pools for any technical advisement that I recall. Because the pool causes so little effort, I just don't give it that much thought. It's just there; it's always there."

"We miss it the times when we've gone away," he adds. "My wife particularly misses it." And it's that effortless convenience, that no-hassle access to warm water for pain relief, that leads Ed to report, "I'm probably one of your greatest boosters."

Thanks, Ed! We wish you and Helen many more happy years as Endless Pools owners.

Aquatic Therapy, Customer Reviews
Blog Home