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SPN DEC 2010 BuildingRegulations
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
The amount of energy used on swimming pools is significant and the Government’s policy of reducing carbon levels made it inevitable that the industry would, at some stage, become a target for more regulation. Part L of the Building Regulations took effect on 6 October and has thrown pool insulation systems into the spotlight
By Alan Lewis P
ool builders and pool owners have been reassured that the new Part L of the Government’s Building Regulations now in effect will not mean higher costs to pool builders or pool owners. The key to the new regulations is that swimming pools have been brought into line with the same insulation requirements of that which apply to domestic and commercial properties. The new regulation states that: “Where a swimming pool is being provided in a building, the U-value of the basin (walls and floor) should not be worse than 0.25W/m2/K.” From 6 October when the regulations took effect, pool builders will now have to produce
calculations to the local authority together with drawings showing how the construction method proposed to build the pool will comply with the new Part L regulation.
The cost of insulating correctly can be recouped as quickly as the first year. With the assistance of Government energy grants or interest free loans it can be completely free in some instances.
Swimming pools are constructed in varying soil conditions and in some instances out of the ground. The heat loss through the shell of the pool is therefore dependant upon the ground conditions that surround the pool. Pool insulation company Thermapool is the
only Government accredited swimming pool insulation system and at the forefront of the opportunities linked to Part L.
Said Thermapool Director Nigel Rose: “We achieved this after 18 months of independent testing by Ofgem and BRE. Ofgem ascribed Thermapool the maximum 40 year lifetime for both tiled and liner swimming pools. “Thermapool Grants are funded by the same funds loft and cavity wall insulation grants come from. Grants for domestic swimming pools vary from between £700 and £3,500 and are available regardless of financial status.
“All pool owner’s and pool builders can claim these Government energy efficiency grants to
SURREY SCHOOL POOL SAVES £4,700 IN FIVE MONTH SEASON
Pupils at a Surrey junior school now enjoy more swimming time than ever before since Thermapool swimming pool insulation enabled the school to cut its energy costs. Since renovating and insulating the school swimming pool, the cost of heating has dramatically reduced from what used to cost £5,000 in a single swimming season (Easter till the summer break up) to £700 in 2009 and £300 in 2010. Apart from the cost saving, benefits include a sharp reduction in carbon emissions.
A school spokesman said: “We found Thermapool retained heat in our pool so effectively we completely turned off our pool heating for two weeks in summer 2009. Far from worrying about heating the pool, we were able to do without any heating at all since the temperature was reaching up to 34°C. So our heating bill fell from £5,000 to just £700. With this knowledge of how effective Thermapool is, in 2010 we decided to do without pool heating for two months of the swimming season. We just made the most of the fact
that Thermapool makes the pool base act like a solar panel and let the sun heat the water free! At one point the water reached 36 degrees which prompted us to want to cool it down! To do this, occasionally we left the swimming pool cover off overnight. As a result, we saved £4,700 on our swimming pool heating bill in the five month 2010 swimming season. Our cost was just £300!”
The swimming pool now is timed to heat
for a maximum of five hours a night on economy 7 heating. Previously the swimming pool required being heated 24 hours a day.
Nigel Rose, Director of Thermapool said: “Due to the nature of the Thermapool system which cuts heat loss by approximately 86% it traps natural heat such as that from the sun, turning the base of your swimming pool into a solar panel.”
Picture taken with an ordinary camera and then with a thermal imaging camera showing the heat retention on the base of the pool and how the insulation, applied as part of the renovation of the pool, is retaining the sun’s energy, turning the pool into a huge solar panel and heating the pool water free!
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