Above ground pool alarms have different grades of pool alarms. One type uses infrared or lasers to surround the pool, with an unbroken beam of invisible light. Once the pool alarm is armed, if the beam is broken, the alarm sounds. The advantage of this type of pool alarm is that it signals danger prior to a child or pet entering the water. The disadvantage is that, if any object or wind hits the beam accidentally, it will give a false alarm.

A Gate alarm is the most popular above ground pool alarm and the most effective as well. The alarm is positioned on the gate of your pool fence. A Gate alarm will sound when someone passes through the gate unnoticed or if the gate door was left open.

A Sentry-type alarm combines a motion detector with a heat sensor. This pool alarm covers a wide swathe of area, up to 150-degrees or more. Inanimate objects cannot trip this type of pool alarm and there is no worry about a beam being set too high or low.

While above ground alarms can be very effective, some people prefer a pool alarm that can be set in the water itself. Such alarm types include floating pool alarms and submerged pool alarms. A floating pool alarm can be tied to the pool ladder and left to bob on the surface of the water. When a child or pet falls into the pool, surface waves will cause the pool alarm to sound.

A submerged pool alarm is a 90-degree angled device that is kept on the edge of the pool with one arm submerged into the water. It reads water displacement or underwater waves and has fewer false alarms than a floating pool alarm. Submerged or floating pool alarms have the disadvantage that they can be hand picked and removed.

A wristband pool alarm is worn on the wrist of a child, or it can be tied to the collar of a pet. The device is linked to a base unit, which is kept inside the house. When the wristband gets wet, an alarm immediately sounds from the base unit.

While selecting pool alarms a few points are important to be kept in mind.

• Depending upon your budget the alarm can be chosen, as some of the alarms are quite expensive

• It also depends upon the type of the pool, if it is not fenced then fence alarms are not needed

• Age and height of children, if there are many children at home, then in such a case, a periphery or gate alarm cannot help you