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Updating your pools and spas to improve efficiency
Children splash and play in your resort pools, adults lounge in the whirlpool. When you look at them, do you see money flowing in from satisfied guests, or do you see expense from the operating costs? Improving the guest experience is not the only reason to update your water amenities – you can update your pools and spas for operational efficiency. There are three common reasons for updating aquatic facilities: maintenance costs, mechanical system limits, and physical age and obsolescence.
Equipment maintenance
Equipment maintenance can have a sizable effect on the cost of operating an aquatic amenity. Poorly maintained equipment will show signs of wear within a short period of time, which will in turn introduce inefficiencies including: increased energy consumption, excessive repair costs and less than acceptable performance.
Pool heaters by nature require attention to detail for proper start-up and operation. Most pool heaters are gas fired appliances. Proper equipment selection, fuel delivery, water flow, combustion air, ventilation air, water flow modulation and balanced pool water chemistry are all important subjects for proper pool heater operation. Conditions outside of the standard operation range will cause the pool heater to perform inefficiently. For example, for outdoor pools in cool climates, spring start up is especially critical. Improper flame settings or low water temperature delivery to the heat exchanger will cause soot to deposit on the burner and heat exchanger as a by-product of improper combustion. Prolonged substandard operation will cause a dramatic decrease in heater efficiency. A premature repair and maintenance routine is required to correct the resulting clogged burner and heat exchanger. This repair and maintenance routine is required to restore efficient performance.
Maintenance time can also be reduced by utilizing new technology to monitor mechanical systems without visiting each piece of equipment. Time spent gathering and logging information can be reduced by incorporating chemical and system controllers that are linked to a computer. The monitoring data is saved and printed for on-going documentation requirements. This also allows pool operators to remotely monitor system performance. Routine visits are still necessary to physically observe system operation, but the data collection and monitoring reduces the time spent at the mechanical room for each visit.
Mechanical System Limits
In some cases, pool equipment may show premature signs of wear due to poorly specified or low quality original equipment selection. Equipment failure may be a reaction to a change of duty applied from adding devices or features that place additional demands on the system. Pool equipment is designed for a particular capacity and when it is overloaded, the system efficiency suffers.
An example could be a wading pool that was originally designed without active water play features. When it is enhanced with an active play feature, the bather load for the wading pool is increased. The circulation system that handles pumping, filtering, heating and water treatment tasks is burdened with additional demands from the new activity. As a result, the pool operator is faced with increased trips to the mechanical room to insure that all systems are operating correctly. This situation also raises the frequency of system cleaning (strainer change out and filter backwash), pool heater monitoring and stocking of supplies for the pool water treatment system.
Physical Age
Eventually, pool equipment simply reaches the limits of its expected service life. Mechanical system components with moving parts have an average life span of 10-15 years. The life of an individual piece of equipment depends on the duty and quality of the device. For example, conventional and improved efficiency pool heaters can have a short life; however, high quality valves with non-corroding parts can last a long time. Your equipment may still be functioning, but new technology has rendered it a dinosaur in terms of efficiencies. The term to describe this is “functional obsolescence.” Even if the pool mechanicals are still “working just fine”, you may be missing out on equipment that can pay for itself in labor and operating costs savings.
Flow meters are an example. For small systems, inexpensive flow meters suffice because occasional cleaning can be done during the maintenance routine. However, operators for multiple pool complexes may find that the required cleaning time for many flow meters can take valuable labor time away from other tasks. Improved flow meter technology can provide more reliable equipment that requires less labor for cleaning and maintenance.
Design advances, competition, economies of production, and distribution have made technologically improved devices more affordable. Owners and operators now have the opportunity to replace old and not so old equipment with highly improved devices. New electronic pool devices, such as flow meters, chemical controllers, high efficiency motors and variable frequency drives (motor speed controls), quickly become affordable after a short time on the market.
The need to reduce electrical consumption has prompted pool industry manufacturers to create more efficient equipment. Pentair Water and Spa, Inc. of Sanford, North Carolina has recently released several pump series that will provide as much as 30% electrical energy savings. “New technology has exploded onto the scene for the 1 to 15 hp swimming pool pump applications,” according to Rob Stiles, Pump Product Manager for Pentair. “For example, for pump applications 3 hp and lower, we just introduced a pump to the market with motor and speed control technology that can offer up to 90% electrical reduction. It’s receiving a lot of interest from pool builders and owners.” Replacing the dinosaurs in your mechanical room could be more affordable than you realize.
Aquatic Facility Assessment
You may now suspect that your resort is missing out on some cost savings. How can you verify your suspicions? For water amenities that are 10-15 years old, an aquatic facility assessment could be in order. An aquatic facility assessment will be an overview of the entire aquatic system, not just one element. It can catalog the mechanical systems conditions, and performance and repair cost history (if available). The information can be analyzed for the purpose of determining a cost effective maintenance or replacement program which will chart what equipment is aging and when it should be replaced. Additionally, the assessment can help determine the size and type of replacement equipment, taking into consideration technological improvements.
Instead of simply replacing the old with new, or worse, getting by with what you have, you have the opportunity to realize money savings from new pool and spa technologies, efficiencies in reliability and equipment maintenance labor and costs. Then you can enjoy the sight of guests enjoying your pools without a vision of money going down the drain!