These pool filters sell swimmingly

By William Hamilton, PBN Staff Writer

When The Walt Disney Co. decides to build a new water attraction at one of its parks worldwide, the phone usually rings at Barry Gertz’s company.

The same thing happens when Seaworld is constructing a new aquarium tank. Or when some university is renovating its Olympic-sized pool. That’s because Gertz’s company, Neptune-Benson Inc. in Coventry, manufactures industrial-sized pool filters that have gained a reputation for being some of the best in the world at keeping water crystal clear.

In the company's cavernous 70,000-square-foot factory, some of Neptune-Benson’s 35 workers piece together towering filters as other finished systems stand awaiting shipment to New York, Denmark and Abu Dhabi.

“This is a small, niche industry,” Gertz said. “And when you do work in these places and you perform well, the references are fantastic. Word gets around.”

Gertz figures the family-owned company has completed about 6,500 installations at pools, aquariums, zoos and water parks around the world. And he’s not talking about small jobs, either. That includes work at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the world’s largest with 120,000 animals swimming in various tanks containing a total of 8.5 million gallons of water. All of it is filtered by Neptune-Benson products. Gertz said the company built about 150 massive filters for the attraction, which was completed in 2005.

Neptune-Benson already has a sizable chunk of this specialized market, and Gertz said it’s poised to take more. The company’s engineers have developed a filter that is smaller, more effective and wastes less water — 90 percent less — than a conventional sand-filter system. The brand name is the Defender, and Gertz said the technology is revolutionizing the industry. “With all sorts of companies talking about going green, this is the answer in the world of aquatics,” he said.

The company has come a long way from its beginnings in 1956 as an engineering-services firm and manufacturer of galvanized wall panels for residential pools.

Gertz’s father, Junius “Babe” Gertz, started the business with his brother, Raymond, in Cranston and then moved to West Warwick in 1960. Neptune-Benson continued in the galvanized business — while also making some pool filters — until 1978. That’s when a fire wiped out everything.

By this time, Barry was involved with the business, and he and his father and uncle decided to change directions. With limited money, they figured it would be least costly to focus solely on building large-scale pool filters.

The company got a foothold in the market, and then scored a high-profile job in 1980 when it was selected to provide the filtration system for the natatorium where the U.S. Olympic swimming trials were held.

That led to other lucrative jobs. The growth was supercharged with the widespread development of water parks in the early 1980s. Neptune-Benson was hired to manufacture filters for many of them, including one of the first, Wet and Wild, in Orlando, Fla.

The calls kept coming, and still do, from all over the world.

What’s the big deal about filtration?

Well, Gertz said it doesn’t take long for a poorly filtered pool to be clouded with hair, dirt, microscopic bits of skin, sweat and urine. The filtering process is even more difficult at indoor water parks, which are typically open for longer hours and don’t benefit from the cleansing powers of the open air and sun.

Ineffective filters can lead to health problems. In fact, Gertz said he is taking part in an effort with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rewrite aquatic health codes. Filtration is equally important at aquariums and zoos. “These places don’t want to take any chances, with the cost of dolphins or a whale,” he said.

For years, Neptune-Benson filters used a system in which water is pushed through tanks of sand to clear particulates. But there are disadvantages. To clean the filter, the water flow is reversed to clear the sand, but that wastes water. Lots of it.

That’s where the Defender filter comes in. Gertz said the design uses flexible tubes covered in perlite powder. The filter captures material as small as a micron. But it also uses less power and wastes less water.

The company first used the Defender at a water park in the Ohio in 2003 and more than 500 have been installed around the world. Now the Defender filters make up about 75 percent of Neptune-Benson sales.

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About Neptune-Benson:
Neptune-Benson is the leading manufacturer of filtration systems for aquatic centers, waterparks and aquatic life support. Featuring the award-winning Defender^® Regenerative Media Filter, Neptune-Benson also offers steel & fiberglass sand filter systems; the AEGIS anti-entrapment shield; fiberglass movable bulkheads; Dominion butterfly valves; Guardian strainers and other accessory products. Creating the World of Aquatopia since 1956. See: www.neptunebenson.com

Contact:
Dave Grebowski, Director, Marketing
dgrebowski@neptunebenson.com
(800) 832-2002 x120