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SPN DEC 2010 Condensation HOW POOLS ARE COPING WITH CONDENSATION AND DAMPNESS
The Estates Manager, Jean Palmer, says: “The results have been dramatic, with a massive improvement in air quality, the pool hall is condensation free and the many clubs that use the pool are delighted.”
Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School in Lincolnshire
When Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School in Lincolnshire first opened their pool they had not anticipated just how popular it would become. Not just a school pool, it is available to the local community and now there are many clubs that make use of the pool throughout the year. This has meant that the existing Calorex environmental control system had to be upgraded. Following a number of visits to site and several meetings it was decided that the larger Calorex HRD20 system should be installed. The higher capacity of the unit is able to deal with the additional evaporation loads caused by the increased level of pool usage.
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.
Richard continues: “As an added bonus, the system cleverly takes care of the pool environment by incorporating automatic fresh air
Not only is the pool environment controlled but so are the running costs. The HRD system recovers energy during the dehumidification process redirecting it back to the pool water and pool hall air. Thus reducing the energy needed to maintain the design temperature conditions. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
The pool hall design conditions are maintained at a comfortable 27°C and 29°C respectively. Moisture evaporating from the pool water surface contains a huge amount of energy called Latent Heat. It is this energy that the Calorex HRD 20 system is able to recover and reuse to help heat the pool water as well as the pool hall air. This energy is recovered during the dehumidification process when moisture is removed from the pool hall air and so maintaining a pleasant environment and minimising damage to the pool building.
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.
“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.”
The SP46W ‘through the wall’ dehumidifier available from Meaco is suitable for pools up to 60m2
Chris Michael who runs dehumidifiers Meaco Ltd operate at the domestic pool and spa end of the market says, the factors which combine to create condensation in swimming pools are the relative humidity of the air: the air temperature and the surface temperature of the walls, glass and roofs. “The greater the difference between the air temperature and the surfaces of the building, the
“The atmosphere of indoor swimming pools is one of the most aggressive to be found in a building environment”
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bigger the problem. The more moisture in the air then the greater the problem,” he adds. “There‘s not a lot you can do about the surface area of the buildings without starting again. There is always the option of changing to double glazing or triple glazing but the costs are expensive and not always the ideal solution.” As well as humidity control and active heat recovery, these sophisticated systems can now provide air heating, ventilation, air cooling, pool water heating and even now generate their own heat.
Adds Chris Michael: “The only control is on the air temperature and moisture. In swimming pools people clearly like to keep the air temperature high and to have a warm feeling when you get out of the water.”
Chris said this is where one of the keys to solving condensation comes in for indoor pools – a pool cover. An efficient good quality pool cover should be over the pool for 90% of the time – that’s assuming the people only want to use smaller domestic pools for a few hours at a time. A dehumidifier can solve the problems for most domestic swimming pools.
“Air comes into the dehumidifier and essentially acts like a fridge. Air hits the cold surface and removes the condensation from the air and then recycles it is at approx 2 degrees higher. The energy is not wasted and the air comes out warmer.” Heatstar’s climate control unit follows on from the specialist company’s success of the Gemini combined heat pump-dehumidifier. The Andromeda EC30 utilises the low energy fan technology which, previously, was only available to the pool industry within Heatstar’s Gemini concept, and is designed specifically for domestic pools with surface pool covers. Paul Scott, Technical Director at Heatstar, said: “There is a lot of focus on the power consumed by pool filtration pumps, but few people appreciate that the fan in the dehumidification unit probably uses a similar sized motor and would typically be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with little real purpose. With a typical domestic pool with a cover, which may only be in use for less than one hour per day on average, it is easy to appreciate that this power consumption is simply unnecessary and wasteful. The new Andromeda EC30 targets this obvious and unnecessary use of energy.”
Adds Paul: “There is a balance point between how much water vapour air can support at differing air temperatures. Basically, the colder the air, the less water vapour can be supported and condensation will occur sooner. When air laden with water vapour comes into close proximity with a cold surface, this balance is affected and the same level of water vapour can no longer be supported because the air has been cooled. “Therefore, condensation would typically appear to be more prominent upon surfaces
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