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8
| ComPak
®
Series - Installation, Operation and Maintenance
SECTION I: INDOOR POOL DESIGN
Introduction
Creating an ideal environment for indoor pool facilities
Indoor pool facilities are unlike any other structure in design, construction and maintenance requirements.
Humidity, air and water temperatures are especially difficult to control, and improper management usually results
in an uncomfortable environment, excessive operating costs and possibly serious structural damage. Effectively
controlling these special conditions require control hardware and control sequences specially engineered for
large commercial indoor pool applications. The PoolPak System utilizes an environmental control package
designed to meet all special needs of the indoor pool environment, while reducing energy usage and building
maintenance costs.
Operating Cost
Energy consumption is a direct function of the variables necessary to satisfy the occupant and protect the
facility. These variables include space heating and cooling, water heating, humidity removal and ventilation.
Maintaining ideal and precise environmental conditions has a fairly high cost of operation. And for a majority of
the indoor pools, regardless of geographic location, require water and space heating 70% to 90% of the year.
Application
Moisture Loads
An indoor swimming pool produces large quantities of water vapor through evaporation, which accounts for
roughly 95% of the pool water heat loss, making the water colder. This excessive humidity will form damaging
condensation unless removed from the building. In the past, the method of removing this water vapor was
by ventilating an otherwise energy efficient building, exhausting the humid air and the energy it contained.
Additional energy was used to bring in and heat the make-up air and to heat the pool water.
More cost effective technologies offer an alternative method adding heat exchangers and mechanical heat
recovery systems with many useful options. The ideal solution to removing the water vapor from the pool area is
to convert the latent (wet) heat contained in the moist air back into sensible (dry) heat, placing it back into the
pool water and air.
Effects of Moisture
Excess humidity in natatorium structures may be readily apparent as condensation on cool surfaces such as
windows and outside doors, the growth of mildew or mold, and, when coupled with poor pool chemistry, the
accelerated corrosion of metals. In its less obvious forms, moisture may penetrate walls and ceilings and cause
rot that becomes noticeable only when large scale structural failure occurs. Humidity levels are also a major
factor in the comfort of pool users.
