How to Choose the Right Spigot for Your Pool Fence
# How to Choose the Right Spigot for Your Glass Pool Fence
Spigots are the small metal fittings that hold your glass panels upright - they grip the bottom of each panel and anchor it into the ground. On a frameless glass fence there are no posts and no top rail, so the spigots do all the structural work. Choosing the right ones matters, but it's not complicated once you know what actually separates them.
Here's how to pick, without the overwhelm.
First: the two things that decide everything
Before you look at brands or finishes, two questions settle most of the decision.
1. Is this a pool fence or a balustrade? This is the big one. A pool fence and a balustrade carry different loads, so they need differently-rated spigots. Most of our spigot families are rated for pool fence only. Only one - Madrid - is rated for balustrade as well. So if you're fencing a pool, you've got the full range to choose from. If you're building a balustrade (a barrier on a deck, balcony, or stairs), the choice is made for you: it's Madrid. Don't put a pool-only spigot on a balustrade - it isn't rated for the load, and that's a safety problem, not just a technical one.
2. How are you fixing into the ground? Spigots mount one of two ways:
If you've got a plain concrete slab, core-drill. If you're fixing to tiles or timber decking, base-plate. Get this right before anything else, because it determines which version of each spigot you order.
The families - and how to choose between them
For a pool fence, here are the options and what actually sets them apart.
Madrid Pool - our default, and the most popular for good reason. It's cost-optimised for pool fencing: same external shape and same accessories as the full Madrid, but lighter and a few dollars cheaper per spigot because it's pool-rated rather than balustrade-rated. For most pool fences, this is the right answer. Available in polished, satin, or black.
Madrid - the full balustrade-rated casting. You'd choose this for a pool fence in one specific case: you've also got a balustrade on the same property and you want everything to match exactly. Otherwise Madrid Pool gives you the same look for less. (And if you *do* have both, a neat trick: use Madrid on the balustrade run and Madrid Pool on the pool run - same external look, same accessories, and you save a couple of dollars on every pool spigot.)
Lifestyle - the forgiving choice if it's your first glass install. Lifestyle has grub screws on *both* sides of the glass slot ("dual friction"), so you can adjust and align the panel from either side. Most spigots only let you adjust from one side. If you're nervous about getting panels perfectly plumb, Lifestyle makes the job easier. Square profile, pool fence only.
Rio - choose this if you want a round profile rather than square. It's single-friction (adjust from one side), and it comes in polished or satin only - no black. So if you want round-and-black, Rio isn't it.
Inchelux - uses a four-bolt fixing pattern (Quadrille) rather than the usual mount, so it suits certain substrates, and it's available in silver, white, or black. Choose it for the specific fixing pattern or if you want a white spigot.
For a balustrade, as above: Madrid is the only balustrade-rated option. Polished, satin, or black.
Then: pick your finish
Finish is mostly about looks - but one rule is about durability, and it matters.
Polished stainless is the default, and it's the coastal-safe choice. If you're anywhere near the coast, go polished. Avoid satin (brushed) finishes near salt air - satin is really an internal-use finish, and in a coastal environment it will tea-stain (those rusty brown streaks) over time. Inland, satin is fine and hides fingerprints well. Black and white are powder-coated options for matching dark or light trim - worth knowing powder-coat finishes generally run a little dearer than polished or satin stainless.
Don't forget the finishing pieces
Two small accessories complete the job, and people routinely forget them until they're standing at the fence:
The calculator adds these for you based on your mounting choice, so you won't get caught short.
The short version
Honestly, for most pool fences the default - Madrid Pool, polished, core-drilled - is the right call, and you don't need to overthink it. The calculator works out exactly how many spigots your run needs and adds the dress rings or covers to match.
**Build your glass fence and let the calculator spec the spigots →**
Not sure whether your slab's deep enough for core-drill, or which family suits a tricky job? Ask Joe, our AI assistant. Joe knows every family inside out and can walk you through it before you order.
