IN MY VIEW
Everybody’s Talking About “It”
Everyone in every industry is talking about it. Governments are talking about it. Children are being educated about it. But what is ‘it’? Jo Catterall, Certikin’s H&V and Auto Covers Sales Manager explains…
t” is ‘Green Renewable Technologies’ – products with the aim of reducing one’s carbon footprint to help towards conserving our planet. And with ever more rigorous legislation plus a demand from end users to be ‘green’, the case for heat pump dehumidifiers to control the environment of indoor pools has never been stronger.
“I
From 2016, all new dwellings must be carbon neutral. Old fashioned, full fresh air ventilation systems guzzle energy. Of course, the building regulations require systems to incorporate energy recovery, but this is set at the relatively low rate of 70% of the ‘dry heat’. As we all know, in a swimming pool environment, the ‘dry heat’ or sensible energy is the minor part the heat loses from a pool, consequently plate recuperators are unable to recover much, if any, of the latent energy present in the air. The story doesn’t stop there of course. These plate recuperators, using warm wet air to heat up the colder incoming air are highly dependent on the temperature difference between the incoming and outgoing air streams for their energy recovery. When the temperature difference is high (as it is in winter) then the 70% of dry heat recovery is achievable, but as the warmer weather kicks in and outdoor temperatures rise, their ability to recover energy falls rapidly. In the extreme, when there is no heating demand on the indoor air, they are by passed and the energy recovery on a warm summer’s day when they are by-passed is zero. On a seasonal basis then, including both latent and sensible energy components, the overall seasonal efficiency of these fresh air systems falls to below 20%. By contrast, a heat pump dehumidifier can remove moisture without the need to introduce any fresh air at all – immediately removing the initial 34kW required to heat
up the external air to indoor conditions. Of course, no pool should ever operate without fresh air at all, but the key to energy efficiency is minimising it, and this is exactly what Calorex heat pump dehumidifiers do, whilst maintaining minimal fresh air input for odour dilution and breathing purposes. A typical 50 m2
pool with a Calorex heat
pump dehumidifier, would remove moisture with as little as 40 litres per second fresh air introduction, which is more than adequate for four occupants, but this can be increased at peak times to cater with higher occupancy if necessary. All this is done with an electrical input of only 1.7kW into the compressors. The fresh air needs to be heated too, accounting for another 1.7kW of air heating, plus the heat losses from the pool of 5kW, bringing the total to less than 9kW. This represents a much lower heating load than the 34kW of a fresh air system, even with what is claimed to be a 70% efficient plate recuperator!
and to provide an all year around climate in the pool hall that fresh air systems simply cannot”
88 December 2014 SPN
The way forward is to maximise efficiencies, minimise operating costs
The often-levied criticism of heat pump systems is that “the air quality” is not as good as fresh air systems. The term “air
quality” is usually reserved to mean CO2 content of the air, but this of course is not what is meant by proponents of fresh air systems. What is usually meant is that they run the air temperature and humidity in the pool hall lower than they would with a heat pump system. This of course ignores the devastating effect that lower conditions have on the evaporation from the pool and the overall energy consumption of the pool goes up when this is done. If lower air temperatures and humidity are desired, heat pump systems can be sized appropriately to deal with them. Because heat pumps are able to return recovered energy to the pool water, then they can run at this “higher air quality” without a significant penalty on the overall energy requirement of the pool water. Indeed, the very best heat pump based systems, can take solar gains that occur in the pool hall and recycle them back into the pool water – something that no fresh air system can ever do. With these dated fresh air recuperator systems, at best they can only bring air into the pool hall at the outside temperature in summer. Where extensive areas of external glass create overheating issues only heat pump based systems can deal with those gains and use them to heat the pool water. In short, even the “air quality” in summer when it really matters is improved by using heat pump dehumidifiers in preference to expensive fresh air systems. Equipment that meets the building regulations is no guarantee that the operating costs will be low. Indeed, meeting the regulations is the very least that should be expected. The way forward is to maximise efficiencies, minimise operating costs and to provide an all year around climate in the pool hall that fresh air systems simply cannot. Only heat pump based systems can deliver the low energy solutions for swimming pools that are necessary for the future of the planet.
Certikin International 01993 778855
www.certikin.co.uk
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
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