POOL REFURBISHMENTS
LEFT: A dramatic transformation. The before and after shots of a refurbished liner pool
along one side of the pool. Swimming against the current offers all the benefits of a full exercise swim within a very small area.
Precious Water When refurbishing a pool, all owners are aware of the need to minimise the water loss from their pool and many people will purchase covers to reduce the evaporation from their pool when not in use. Others will make use of water saving devices, while others may want to capture the rainwater in specially designed tanks. Following the recent Flood and Water Management Act passed in April 2010, there will be an impact on swimming pools, but please note that hot tubs have not been included. Secondary legislation is to be produced by the Government, which provides more details relating to the above Act and at this stage it is planned that the Government will have this secondary legislation in place by October 2010, when the Act would then come into force. With this Act, a number of new activities will be added to a list of non-essential uses of water and during a hose pipe ban, swimming pool users will no longer be able to fill and top-up swimming pools. No longer will a drought order need to be applied for to prevent the topping up of pools by hose pipes, fixed plumbing or even buckets. The following ideas have been suggested by the
SPATA Technical Committee to assist customers in keeping pools in operation during the period of a hose pipe ban or a drought order: • Keep floating covers on the water surface whenever swimming has stopped to reduce evaporation (and cooling).
• Lower pool water temperatures to reduce evaporation and minimise the effect of algae etc.
• Water can be abstracted from other areas and brought in by tanker to fill the pool. Costs for receiving a tanker with 10m³ (or 10,000 litres) of water will vary depending upon the location, with more remote sites potentially costing more than other areas. But prices are likely to be in the range of £295 - £395 (inc VAT).
• Re-cycle the backwash water by pumping it into a settlement tank and then suck it back into the system; this will save up to 90 – 95% of the
WWW.WHATPOOLANDHOTTUBMAG.CO.UK
backwash. Treat the water with chlorine before sucking it back to the pool. Check and clean out the sludge regularly, say monthly
• SPATA Standards require the turnover period (the theoretical time the pump will take to empty the pool) to be between four and eight hours. Therefore a four hour turnover will require a flow of 30.25 m³/hr and an eight hours turnover reduces the water required to 15.125 m³/m²/hr.
• Cleaning of the filter or backwashing is the reversal of the flow through the filter and it is generally recommended that this should take approximately 2 minutes. Recent information has shown that this figure is true for backwashing on a fortnightly basis.
Insulating pools Refurbished pools are less likely to be affected by some other new legislation coming into force from October 2010, based on the Building Regulations Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power). However, where significant improvements are made to the shape of the pool tank, then over time there may be a requirement to retrospectively meet these new Regulations.
The Regulations initially affect domestic new indoor pools, which will have to prove their thermal efficiency by calculation. The minimum thermal efficiency required is measured as 0.25W/m2K (Watts per metre squared). Outdoor pools are exempt from these Regulations, but the pool industry is still being encouraged to address energy conservation issues for these type of pools, as this will assist in reducing heating costs for owners and provide a more energy efficient installation which will
contribute towards reducing CO2 emissions. An indoor pool appears to be defined as a pool that has a permanent building over it, that is also heated. Therefore, any type of enclosure that does not have heating is still an indoor pool but is likely to fall outside the scope of Part L Regulations.
SPATA – the Swimming Pool and Allied Trades Association – can be contacted via their website at
www.spata.co.uk, by email at
admin@spata.co.uk or by calling them on 01264 356210.
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