The Brand Story
Jandy: The Family That Taught the Backyard Pool to Think
In the 1950s, a backyard pool meant chores. Someone had to drag a brush along the walls, skim the leaves, flip the pump on in the morning and remember to turn it off at night. Andrew L. Pansini looked at that routine and decided a machine could do some of it. The automatic pool cleaner he invented became the first chapter of Jandy, a company that would spend the next seven decades taking work off the pool owner's hands, one valve, one controller and one line of code at a time.
Chapter 1 · 1957
A cleaner that moved on its own
Jandy traces its first landmark to 1957, when the company introduced what it describes as the first automatic pool cleaner. The idea was simple to state and hard to build: a device that could work its way around a pool without a person standing on the deck guiding it. Andrew L. Pansini, the founder, made it work, and the invention put a small family company on the map in a young industry that was still figuring out what a residential pool should be.
That cleaner set the tone for everything that followed. Jandy was never really in the business of selling a single part. It was in the business of removing a task.
Chapter 2 · The 1970s
The son who built out the equipment pad
In the early 1970s the founder's son, Andrew A. Pansini Jr., joined the company. Under his leadership Jandy moved well beyond cleaners. The company developed the Jandy valve, the diverter that became a fixture on equipment pads across the country, along with pool controllers and waterfalls. Each product pulled Jandy deeper into the plumbing and electrical heart of the pool, the cluster of pipes, pumps and heaters that most owners never think about until something stops working.
Pansini Jr. later led the company as president, and in 2017 he wrote a book, Fathers of Invention, about his family's run of entrepreneurs and inventors.
Chapter 3 · 1986 to 1996
One panel for the whole backyard
In 1986 Jandy launched what it calls the first commercially available pool automation system. Before that, a pool with a spa, a heater and a few lights was a wall of separate timers and switches. Automation put them on one controller, so the pump, heater, lights and valves could run on a schedule and work together instead of against each other.
By 1995 Jandy's Ji Series controller was leading the market. Pansini Jr. made a decision most companies avoid: he replaced his own best seller. In 1996 Jandy launched AquaLink RS, a fully integrated automation platform built from the ground up. AquaLink RS went on to become the backbone of Jandy's automation line, and later versions added the company's patented seasonal adjust feature, which shifts run schedules as the weather changes.
Chapter 4 · 2006 to 2018
From family company to global pool group
In April 2006, Zodiac, the French company famous for inflatable boats and already the owner of the Polaris pool cleaner brand, joined with the Carlyle Group to acquire Jandy Pool Products, Inc., then a maker of pumps, filters, pressure controls and pool heaters. Two years later Jandy acquired Cover-Pools, a Utah maker of automatic pool covers. In 2010 the American pool businesses were consolidated, and the company formerly known as Jandy Pool Products became Zodiac Pool Systems, Inc.
The last big move came in July 2018, when Zodiac merged with Fluidra, the Spanish pool equipment group. Jandy is now one of Fluidra's core brands in North America, where Fluidra's U.S. headquarters sits in Carlsbad, California.
Chapter 5 · 2012 to today
The pool in your pocket
In 2012 Jandy released iAquaLink, an app that let owners and service pros check and control a pool from a phone. It was the natural next step for a company that had already put the whole backyard on one panel. Since then Jandy has added TruSense water chemistry monitoring for pH and ORP and joined the Matter smart home alliance, moving the pool closer to the rest of the connected home.
The Lineup
What Jandy builds today
Jandy makes nearly everything on a pool equipment pad: pumps, filters, heaters, heat pumps, sanitizers, lights, valves and the automation that ties them together, for residential and commercial pools. Here is what that looks like in the models HVAC365 carries:
- Automation: AquaLink RS systems such as the RS P4 pool and spa kits with iAquaLink, and AquaLink pool and spa combination systems with relays and JVA valve actuators. Complete automation control system kits package the board, actuators and connectivity together.
- Pumps: FloPro variable-speed pumps for residential pools, Stealth Series pumps with quick-connect unions, and JCP Series commercial polymer pumps running up to 10 hp on three-phase power.
- Filters and sanitizers: CS and CL Series cartridge filters, CV Series single-cartridge filters, and TruClear salt chlorinators that turn dissolved salt into chlorine.
- Heaters and heat pumps: JXi Series natural gas heaters with copper exchangers, JXiQ heaters with cupronickel exchangers for tougher water chemistry, and VersaTemp heat pumps that can both heat and chill, built around titanium tube-in-tube exchangers.
- Lighting: in-ground pool and spa light fixtures designed to be controlled from the same automation system as the rest of the pad.
The Next Chapter
Efficiency rules and the variable-speed pump
Federal energy rules for pool pumps have pushed the industry away from old single-speed motors that ran flat out all day. Variable-speed pumps like FloPro slow down for routine filtration and speed up only for tasks that need more flow, such as heating or running a spa. That is where Jandy's long head start in automation pays off: a pump that can change speed is most useful when a controller tells it when to do so. Many of the Jandy pumps HVAC365 carries are labeled as DOE compliant for exactly this reason.
At a Glance
Jandy by the numbers
- First automatic pool cleaner
- 1957
- Founder
- Andrew L. Pansini
- First pool automation system
- 1986
- AquaLink RS launch
- 1996
- iAquaLink app
- 2012
- Acquired by Zodiac and Carlyle
- April 2006
- Parent company
- Fluidra, since the 2018 merger
- Fluidra U.S. headquarters
- Carlsbad, California
- Sister brands
- Zodiac, Polaris
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Jandy
Who owns Jandy?
Jandy is owned by Fluidra, the global pool equipment group, following the July 2018 merger of Fluidra and Zodiac. Zodiac and the Carlyle Group had acquired Jandy in 2006.
Who founded Jandy?
Jandy was founded by Andrew L. Pansini, who invented what the company describes as the first automatic pool cleaner, introduced in 1957. His son, Andrew A. Pansini Jr., later led the company as president.
What is Jandy known for?
Jandy is best known for pool automation. It launched the first commercially available pool automation system in 1986 and the AquaLink RS platform in 1996, and it is also widely known for the Jandy valve.
What is the difference between AquaLink and iAquaLink?
AquaLink RS is the Jandy automation system that controls pumps, heaters, lights and valves at the equipment pad. iAquaLink, launched in 2012, is the app and connectivity that lets owners and service pros control that system from a phone.
How is Jandy related to Zodiac and Polaris?
Jandy, Zodiac and Polaris are sister brands within Fluidra. Zodiac acquired Jandy in 2006 and already owned the Polaris cleaner business, and the combined company merged with Fluidra in 2018.
