Heating Solutions – Public Swimming Pools
If you are looking to transform the way you operate your public swimming pool then you need to look at installing a heat pump!
For over 30 years, heat pump technology has been the answer to environmental control and has simply transformed the management of modernpublic swimming pools.
If you are an energy-conscious, budget-dominated pool operator then installing a heat pump to heat your pool will not only save energy, but will also reduce running costs. This will be all for a minimal capital outlay that will see pay-back within a matter of years.
Councils and recreational operators are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate efficient and effective energy efficiency. Numerous reports now suggest current atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, are higher now than at any time in the past.
A typical public leisure centre with a 25m learner pool that has a heat pump based system can save over 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year compared to a recuperator based air handling unit.
A typical leisure centre pool can contain up to a million litres of water. Water evaporates from the surface at a rate of hundreds of litres every hour. Evaporated water needs to be removed or it will turn to condensation that will immediately start to cause problems.
Before heat pumps, that valuable energy would have just been expelled to the outside atmosphere. Installing a pool heat pump will provide the means of recovering that energy. As air is passed through the evaporator, a finned coil, where it is continuously cooled,the water vapour is condensed to give up its latent heat and this runs away as water.
At normal pool temperatures, 2 kWh of latent heat is recovered for every three litres of water vapour condensed. With a heat pump installed, the air temperature gets lowered by the removal of sensible heat to enable the dehumidification process to proceed and both the sensible and latent energy come together in the refrigerant gas. This is now raised to a higher temperature by the compressor and used to heat the pool water as well as the pool air.
When the humidity rises above the target level, a compressor is switched on, together with the integral heat pump circuit and the heat recovery dehumidification process starts. Latent and sensible energy available in the moist air is recovered and returned to the pool water and air, via the built-in heat exchangers.
If the recovered energy is insufficient to meet the water and/or air heating load, the unit’s integral low pressure hot water heat exchangers redress the balance.
As an added bonus, a pool heat pump system takes care of the pool environment by incorporating automatic fresh air control. Introduction of fresh air that also passes through the heat recovery process at up to 70% of recirculated air is kept to a minimum to satisfy occupancy and dilution demands, reducing to virtually zero during unoccupied periods. Should natural solar gain increase the air temperature of the pool hall, the units can even provide air conditioning by dissipating unwanted heat into the exhaust air.
When the overall costs of using a heat-pump, heat-recovery dehumidifier are considered, it is important to remember that heat-pump dehumidifiers will recover sensible and latent heat that will be returned back into the pool water giving an efficiency of 300% to 350%. Passive units cannot do this, offering only 50% to 60% when external air temperatures are favourable.
Systems for wet leisure environments are specialist because they need to be designed to tolerate the harsh environment of a pool hall and its associated water treatment chemicals, such as chlorine. All components have to be specially selected resulting in extensive use of coatings, treatments and plastics.
Pool Heating NZ can advise you on the best system for your requirements and create a solution based package for your pool.