Zodiac Pool Systems: A Behind the Scenes Headquarters Tour

I recently was invited to tour the Zodiac Pool Systems headquarters in Vista California. This is a rare invitation and I spent the day touring the facility and meeting many of the people that help run Zodiac Pool Systems. One of the most surprising things for me was how massive the Zodiac headquarters actually is.

The Zodiac headquarters is home to their U.S. Staff and their Technical Support Team. Along with that they have a massive warehouse where all of their products ship from. In the warehouse section they do some manufacturing and assembly of products as well as extensive product testing. Across the street in a massive warehouse they build and assemble the JXi pool heater. I was totally impressed with how much is done right here in California.

Walking around the facility was like “Disneyland” for a pool guys. They had so many cool things on display like the Golden Polaris Vac Sweep (later renamed the Polaris 180). When you enter their Engineering Department they have all of their many patents up on one wall in one massive display. They had so much cool stuff just lying around I could have spent the entire day just wandering the hallways of the offices.

Going out into the massive warehouse was an eye opener. You see walls and walls of products, assembly areas, testing pools and activity everywhere. I thought the testing areas were fantastic. They have pumps running 24/7 and cleaners running in their test pools. The quality testing of their products is taken to a whole new level by Zodiac. If there is a defect they will find it and correct it before anything hits the open market.

Across the street is where they make and assemble the JXi  pool heater as well as their larger heater. I wasn't able to film in this building but I have say that seeing a product being built from the ground up is the coolest thing. Most of the work is done by hand in an assembly line fashion and I have to give props to Zodiac for making their products here in the USA. In a era of outsourcing, Zodiac is willing to absorb the higher cost to make their products here and the insure that the consumer gets a high quality product.

Also in the “Heater Building” were a wide range of testing machines. One machine could hold a product in it like a giant oven and the operator could simulate the Sun's UV rays at high noon for any amount of time. Another machine dropped the temperature below freezing or blazing hot. One dropped a product from different heights and another machine would pull on a product to test the tear strength. Again, all of this is done to make sure the products produced are of the highest quality.

I spent some time walking around tech support also. All of the calls from the US come into the Zodiac headquarters where calls are answered in one minute or less. They handle about 7,000 calls a week in the Summer. The tech support is quite impressive and Zodiac is trying to change the face of the industry by putting the customer first. I heard many calls and was impressed with the fast and friendly resolution of the calls.

It is noted in the video that all of the Customer Service staff is CPO Certified. This means that they hae passed a test to become “Certified Pool Operator” from the National Swimming Pool Foundation NSPF: “A CPO®Certification provides individuals with the basic knowledge, techniques, and skills of pool and spa operations. This training has helped protect millions of swimmers by reducing hazards at aquatic facilities. The NSPF®Certified Pool/Spa Operator® (CPO®) Certification program, the world's leading verifiable pool and spa training credential, is available as a blended training program.”


I can go on all day with how impressed I was in my tour of the Zodiac headquarters. Suffice to say Zodiac is striving to be number one in product reliability, customer service and support and to be on the leading edge of innovation in the pool industry. The fact that they ship and manufacturer products here in the US says a lot about the company and what they stand for.



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