Calorex Unit Halves Pool Gas Bill

Islington’s Cally Pool leads the field when it comes to energy efficiency…

The Cally Pool now boasts excellent modern swimming facilities with a 25m main pool and a very large teaching pool.

Energy consumption at Islington’s Cally Pool has been reduced by more than 35% following the installation of a Calorex heat recovery air handling unit. Figures from seven months of operation over last winter (2009/2010) compared to the same period from the previous winter (2008/2009) show that a newly installed Calorex HRD 30 unit, working in conjunction with new boilers, has cut gas consumption by 47% and electricity cost by 2%. In so doing carbon emissions have been cut by almost 40%. Whilst impressive it is also worth noting that the savings were achieved despite a much colder winter than the previous year.

As well as the significant carbon emission reduction, cost savings are estimated to be up to £6k per month – giving payback on the investment in about three years.

COMFORT ZONES
Maintaining a comfortable pool environment requires the pool water and air to be held at approximately 27°C and 29°C respectively. Heating is normally carried out by heat exchangers linked to boilers using oil or gas as fuel.

The resultant pool water evaporation into the building, containing most of the heat input in the form of latent energy, must be removed to maintain a pleasant pool environment and prevent damage to the pool building. In the case of Cally Pool, ventilation was carried out by a total loss system that simply extracted moist air from the building that was replaced by pre heated outside air. Whilst this process removed excess moisture from the building, up to eight air changes per hour are required to maintain a comfortable indoor condition resulting in high space heating requirements and a total energy loss from the warm humid extracted air.

Today’s answer to this problem in large commercial pools is the HRD heat pump dehumidifier, a completely automatic heat recovery and climate control unit.

FRESH AIR
The HRD recirculates the pool air, removing from it the excess moisture content and reclaiming the latent and sensible heat it contains. All the driving energy is added to the reclaimed energy and automatically routed into the pool water and air. A controlled quantity of fresh air, which is also passed through heat recovery coils that can either heat or cool incoming outside air, is added continuously to maintain the pool air quality. The Calorex HRD30 system provides a purpose-built package with it’s own in-built control system, heat exchangers and recirculation fans.

Calorex Heat Pumps have designed and manufactured heat pumps and dehumidifiers for the swimming pool industry for nearly 30 years and supply all sizes and types of unit to cater for the smallest private pool to the largest municipal leisure centre. “Given Government targets in respect of carbon emissions and reduced running costs, and the massive savings in carbon emissions and running costs being experienced on this project, we took the earliest opportunity to install a Calorex heat recovery unit and we are delighted with the results,” said Tony Parkin on behalf of mechanical and engineering contractors, RW Edwards.

SLIPPER BATHS
Originally known as Caledonian Road Baths, the Cally Pool, has a history dating back to 1865. The historic venue once had three swimming pools; men’s first class, men’s second class and ladies. There was also a laundry and extensive slipper baths. Inadequate changing facilities led to the building being completely replaced by a modern facility that was opened in 1981 as the Cally Pool.

The venue, managed by the Aquaterra Charitable Trust, now boasts excellent modern swimming facilities with a 25m main pool and a very large teaching pool. A sauna and steam suite and a gym were added in the late eighties and have undergone several upgrades and refurbishments since then.