Articles

             As we are all becoming aware of the importance of energy conservation many steps are being taken by the government and also the swimming pool industry to become more “green”.  This gives the consumer a greater efficiency in heating and also lowers the cost to heat their pools.  This direction has led many manufacturers to bring new and improved products to market.

            Let’s look first at the codes that have started our industry to talk more about being green.  As of March 2012 the International Code Council has included swimming pools in their Energy code.  Many states have or in the future will adopt these measures. 

 In addition to mandating timing controls on pumps, the Energy Code has also included mandates for gas heaters and any heater not using a renewable resource such as air or water.  Due to the process of using timers on all pool pumps or using variable speed pumps that must automatically revert to a lower speed after a set period of time, we have seen manufacturers of heating systems engineer their products to accommodate shorter run times and lower flow capacity to work  more efficiently.  This has brought to market heaters with better efficiency and lower running costs. 

Gas heaters are now required to have a readily accessible on/off switch that is mounted on the outside of the heater and allows for shutting off the heater without changing the thermostat setting.  This way the temperature can be locked on some heater models.  Time switches are required on the system with a heater as well as pumps to control run times.   There is an exception for commercial pools where a 24 hour run time is mandatory as well as for those systems that use solar or renewable energy heating systems such as geothermal.   Gas fired pool heaters shall no longer be equipped with constant burning pilots to conserve gas.   Vapor retardant pool covers are now required however pools that use a heater that derive 60% of their heat from site recovered energy (heat pumps)  or solar are excluded.

Our industry as well is setting new standards for Energy use and can be found in APSP-15 Standard for Energy Efficiency for Residential In ground Swimming Pools and Spas.  These standards follow the ICC code but also go further.  Included in the APSP Standard is that no electric resistance heating except for portable spas with fully insulated enclosures with tight fitting covers rated to R-6 is to be used unless documentation can show that 60% comes from a renewable resource.  Gas fired pool heaters and oil-fired pool heaters shall have a thermal efficiency of not less than 78% ( every $100 dollars spent in fuel gives you $78 worth of heating).  Heat pump pool heaters shall have a coefficient of performance ( COP) at low temperature of not less than 4.0.

During the turmoil of the Pool and Spa Safety Act of 2007 our industry found that based on simple hydraulics we could use lower flow and greater efficiency pumps to accomplish the same job with less velocity and energy.  However in doing so we found that many of the required flow rates on pool heating needed to be adjusted as well.  Also, there is new engineering in heat pumps that is improving the COP up to 95% (Out of $100 of energy spent you get $95 worth of heating).  Now, we  just need to educate the consumers and installers/retailers/end users.  

Many manufacturers of gas heaters have improved their efficiency of heating in BTU’s up to 89%.  This is an improvement over the old efficiency of 75%.  Along with the code changes this has helped but gas heaters are still the least efficient type heating.

Electric resistance heaters are no longer recommended except where used in conjunction with a renewable source such as solar.  However they are still used on vessels which can be insulated to help contain the heat loss.  In some commercial and geothermal applications Boilers are being used that use the ground as a source of heat and use the pool as a heat sink.

Heat Pumps, Solar and other alternative type sources are quickly becoming the standard for our industry and great efforts in improving efficiency is taking place daily.  It is important to do the research and consider all factors of use, climate and energy costs when purchasing a heat source.  The use of solar blankets and liquid heat retainers also increases the ability to stay “green”.