Swimming Pool Lighting Lux Levels, Regulations & Designer Guide
No matter for new swimming pool installation or existing maintenance, lighting is an indispensable part. Having a proper lux level for swimming pool or aquatic center is important because the swimmers & lifeguard cab see clearly above or underwater. If the pool or stadium is designed for professional competitions such as Olympic Games or FINA World Swimming Championships, the brightness regulation would be more rigorous, as the lux level should be maintained at least 750 to 1000 lux. This article is providing you an ultimate guide on how to light up the swimming pool, and how to select the luminaires that are compiled to the regulations.
Swimming Pool Lighting Design
1. Lux (Brightness) Level of Swimming Pool Lighting in Different Areas
The first step of swimming pool lighting design is to take a look at the lux level requirement.
| Swimming Pool Areas | Lux Levels |
| Private or Public Pool | 200 to 500 lux |
| Competition Aquatic Center (Indoor) / Olympic-size Swimming Pool | 500 to 1200 lux |
| 4K Broadcasting | > 2000 lux |
| Training Pool | 200 to 400 lux |
| Spectator Area | 150 lux |
| Changing Room & Bathroom | 150 to 200 lux |
| Swimming Pool Aisle | 250 lux |
| Chlorine Storage Room | 150 lux |
| Equipment Storage (Heat Pump) | 100 lux |
As we can see from the above table, the IES lighting requirement for recreational swimming pool is approx. 500 lux, while the brightness standard raises to 1000 to 1200 lux for competition aquatic center. High lux value is required for professional swimming pool because bright lighting provides better environment for broadcasting & photo shooting. It also means that the cost of swimming pool lighting is higher because we need to install more luminaires on the ceiling to provide adequate illumination.
Aside from the pool area, we also need to maintain sufficient brightness for spectators. According to IES regulations again, the lux level of swimming pool’s spectator area is around 150 lux. This level is adequate for the audiences to reading text on the seat. Besides, it is observed that the other areas such as changing room, aisle and chemical storeroom has lower lux value. It is because such the blinding lux level lighting would irritate the swimmers or staff.
See also the lighting requirement of diving stadium.
2. How Many Watt of Lighting Do I Need to Light Up the Swimming Pool?
After taking a look at the lux level of the lighting, we may still have no idea on how many pieces or power of lights do we need. Taking the Olympic-size swimming pool as an example. Since the size of the pool is 50 x 25 = 1250 sq. meters, we will need 1250 sq. meter x 1000 lux = 1,250,000 lumens to light up the 9 lanes. Since the lighting efficiency of our LED lights is around 140 lumens per watt, the estimated power of swimming pool lighting = 1,250,000/140 = 8930 watt. However, this is just the theoretically value. We will need extra power of lighting for the spectator seat and the area surrounding the swimming pool. Sometimes, we will need to add around 30% to 50% more watt to the lights to satisfy the IES swimming pool lighting requirement.
To select the best ceiling light fixture for indoor swimming pool, please feel free to consult our engineers (our email: beatus@ledsmaster.com). We offer free lighting advice and design.
How to replace swimming pool lighting?
Sometimes we would like to replace the metal halide, mercury vapor or halogen flood lights inside swimming pool. Metal halide lights have many limitations such as lower life span and long warm up time. If you are using metal halide lights, you will experience that it takes around 5 to 15 minutes to reach the full brightness. However, it is not the case after LED replacement. Your swimming pool will reach maximum brightness instantly after switching on the lights.
To replace the pool lights, one of the major considerations is the power equivalent of metal halide, or your existing lighting fixtures. For instance, our 100 watt LED light can replace 400W metal halide, and our 400W LED is equivalent to 1000W MH. By using the new lighting having similar lumen & lux output, the pool or spectator seat will not be too bright or too dim. Besides, the reduction in power consumption saves tons of electricity cost of swimming pool.
Another incentive of retrofitting swimming pool lighting fixture to LED is that we can save up to 75% energy. Since our LED has a high luminous efficacy of 140 lm/W. Under the same power consumption, LED emits brighter lights than metal halide, halogen or other conventional lighting solutions.
Free Swimming Pool & Aquatic Center Lighting Design
3. Position of Swimming Pool Lighting (How to Install)
How should we place the ceiling lighting fixture for aquatic center? Should the lights face upward or downward? The flood lights should not be directly above the pool water. It is because this direct lighting will produce significant glare, which affects the vision of swimmers and audiences. Especially for backstroke swimmer, they will be irritated by the blinding lights above the pool. To solve this issue, we might mount the lights surrounding the pool side, and use the oblique illumination to light up the swimming pool. In this case, the glare due to water reflection will be reduced.
Another way to light up the pool is to use secondary reflection. It means the lights are pointing to the ceiling, and then use the reflected light to shine the pool. It is one of the best ways as the ceiling acts as a larger diffuser, so the illumination is more uniform. However, it is more energy-consuming as part of the light is absorbed by the ceiling, so we will need extra power and lumen of LED lights.
4. Color Temperature & CRI of Pool Lighting
Color of the lights does matter inside swimming pool, the table below summaries the recommended color temperature in different scenario.
| Type of Swimming Pool | Light Color Temperature Requirement | CRI | Comments |
| Recreational / Public Pool | 4000K | 70 | For swimming holding non-televised competitions. 4000K is soft and comfortable to see. The light color is like what we can see in the morning. |
| Competition Pool (Televised) | 5700K | >80 (R9 >80) | For international competition such as Olympic Games and FINA events. |
| Customized Application | 7500K | >80 | By using the 7500K lighting, the water becomes bluer, which is favorable to the audience. |
If you have any special requirement that need different color temperature lighting for swimming pool, please feel free to contact our engineers for customization.
5. RGB Color-changing LED Light Show
Before the commencement of exciting swimming races, we can use underwater RGB LED lights to create an astonishing light show. The color-changing lights produce 16 million colors. With the use of DMX control system, the color of the lights can be changed automatically.
Since the submersible lights are installed at the depth of 3 meters, the lights should have IP68 waterproof rating. Aside from IP68, our LED lights are powered by <48VDC to guarantee the safety.
6. Special Considerations for Swimming Pool Lighting
a. Water-tight design
All lighting fixtures in swimming pool should have water-tight design. Due to evaporation of pool water, the relative humidity inside the swimming pool stadium. If the luminaires are not water-proof, they will go off easily.
b. Lamp body material
Our LED lights are made of aluminum alloy lamp body, which is anticorrosive. The lens is made of polycarbonate instead of acryl because polycarbonate is more durable.
c. SMD vs COB
Our swimming pool lighting fixture adopts SMD LED chips. The advantage of using SMD chip is that the glare can be reduced by 50% when compared to COB.
If you would like to get more info and free lighting advice, please feel free to contact us (our email: beatus@ledsmaster.com)