Choosing the wrong pool construction turns into a real-world
blunder when standard pool construction is used rather than
energy-saving insulated pool wall systems:
In an article from the
Sacramento Bee’s, February 29, 2008 newspaper,
Deb Kollars writes,
After Big Splash, Folsom Pool Shuts
The big new pool at Vista del Lago, Folsom’s newest high school,
should be filled with shouts and splashes from P.E. classes and
athletes on the swim team.
Instead, the $3 million pool sits unused in silent testimony to
the budget crisis unfolding at schools across the state.
“It’s a shame,” said Joel Garceau, Vista del Lago’s swim coach.
“It’s a fantastic pool. It could be the crown jewel of the
school.”
The Folsom Cordova Unified School District built the pool as a
much-anticipated amenity at Vista del Lago, a striking campus
built on a hill east of Folsom with a view of Folsom Lake.
The $100 million school, which features contemporary architecture
and ceiling mounted LCD projectors in every classroom, opened last
fall. The 14-lane pool was completed in early February, Principal
John Dixon said.
Shortly afterward, the district determined it could not afford to
heat or operate the pool. The 23 members of the school’s swimming
and diving team ride a bus to practice at a city pool several
miles away.
Debbie Bettencourt, deputy superintendent, said the pool’s opening
came amid a “spending chill” in the district. Like school systems
across the state, Folsom is bracing for possible budget reductions
next year because of the state’s fiscal crisis. The district is
studying how to reduce spending by $9 million if cuts materialize.
“We are looking at every single expenditure,” she said. “Every
dollar we save this year will help us next year.”
Operating the pool, she said, would take $150,000 a year. Heating
it for two months would cost $25,000. The district and the city of
Folsom had planned to share the costs and use of the pool, but a
joint operating agreement has not yet been written. Even if the
city paid half, Bettencourt said, she is not sure the district
could cover the rest.
The Vista del Lago swim team got a taste of the new pool when swim
season opened earlier this month. The pool heated, and in a joyful
scene on Feb. 13, Garceau lined his swimmers along the edge and
gave the countdown for their inaugural leap into the water.
A week later, the heat went off and the team started commuting to
the city pool.
|
|
Thinking Green
There are several other green building pool technologies that can
be utilized to build an energy efficient pool, such as:
- pool covers
- running pumps and filters in
off-peak hours
- changing chlorinating
systems to automatic salt-water chlorinators
- installing proper sized
plumbing lines and filters to reduce hydraulic head
pressures
- reducing water turnover
rates
- changing & resetting the
pool clock to run for a much shorter time in the winter
months
- switching to two-speed or
variable-speed electric pumps*
* California’s Pacific Gas &
Electric Company devotes seven power plants for the power needs of
the estimated 1.2-1.3 million private pools. The report that by homeowners
switching to a new dual or variable speed pump, the state could
omit an entire electric generation facility while the power customer would
see an up to $700 a year cost reduction. |
|
|
Safety First |
| From a safety point of view, omit pool drains completely, if
possible. If not possible with your installation, install a
minimum of two main drains, four feet apart with side-port
releases. On older pool installations, there are inexpensive
vacuum-release systems that can be retrofitted. Suction outlet
covers on main drains should be checked often to prevent
entrapment. Fences
When it comes to fencing, ANSI-8 gives specific language and
instruction, without exception, pools must have a barrier, this is
not an option; a child’s safety is foremost to provide four-sided
fencing with childproof gating. As far as I’m concerned, this
should apply to above-ground pools as well. |
Diving Boards
Another point of view spreading is omitting diving boards; some
insurance companies are already denying insuring homes having
diving boards installed on residential pools and in some cases
require removal on old installations before insuring.
Slides
Slides can be as dangerous as diving boards, and not
so much the slide, but the ladder and deck below the slide. I’ve
known kids who’ve fooled around trying get to the top first and
then fall landing on the deck below sustaining injuries.
Children
should always be attended by adults anyway when around pools, no
matter how well anyone thinks they can swim.
|
Providing Energy Efficient solutions
With the cost of energy rising, people are
starting to look for more energy efficient products. Are your customers
complaining about cold pools or high heating costs? Do you want a fresh
and energy-efficient product to sell? Do you want to have a unique and
exclusive product line? Why not add the "Insulated Pool" to your current
product line as another choice for your customers? Technology waits for no
pool builder.
|
Innovative
Green Technology
In-ground Insulated Water Structures
I’ve got 40 years experience as a
commercial/residential general contractor and subcontractor from
California through the mid-West. I’ve been directly involved in
all types of building projects, from shopping centers, schools,
apartment projects, power plants as well as building high rise
buildings. I am retired now and know what I
know, know what I think I know and don’t know what I don’t know.
I built my first pool in Oklahoma in 1972. Since then,
I’ve been involved in every type of pool construction from block
wall pools to metal and acrylic walls with liners to gunite,
plastered pools. Before I retired due to health reasons, I was
introduced and involved in the engineering and testing of pools
built utilizing this structurally insulated pool wall panel
system.
I've written this because I’m frustrated as a
result of posts I’ve read on various websites. It seems to me,
that some people have failed to recognize that one definition of a
structurally insulated panel building system includes a
structurally-plastered foam panel (SIPS) building system. I feel
that the definition of SIPS has a much broader meaning and use.
This article isn't to promote a company, it's to promote
innovative "green building" technology utilized to build inground
insulated water structures.
Insulated Pool Wall Systems
The ICC-ES accredited testing laboratory that tested this
engineered-building system in California was also one of the
accredited labs on the West Coast that tested the reinforced EPS
Styrofoam panels with plywood or OSB panels concurrently, which
are presently being utilized in residential construction. As I
have always been interested in using new construction methods and
techniques, which are cost efficient to the contractor as well as
the owner and benefit the environment, I knew there had to be a
better way to build inground water structures.
I implemented this
technology into my construction company in the building of
hundreds of pools all over Northern California from the Sacramento
Valley to the High Sierra. Incidentally, California has the
toughest pool engineering requirements in the nation. There can be
as many as five inspections while a pool is under construction by
the various building departments.
Speaking From Personal Pool Experience
During that time, I owned a
conventionally built, gunite-plastered pool at my own residence
(this was my fourth personal pool). I could easily compare heating
costs and usability in relationship to my own pool to the pools
that had built utilizing the structurally insulated panel system.
What most people do not realize is that it’s not necessarily the
ambient air temperature that is the biggest contributor to the
heat loss of the water (this can be controlled by various types of
pool covers), but is the ground surrounding the pool structure.
This is the biggest factor to the pool water being cold. The
average ground temperature in the summer across the United States
will vary from 45 to 58 degrees, thus any structure in the ground
that holds water will tend to keep the water cold.
Certainly in
very hot and sunny weather, the pool water will warm up, but will
usually cool down substantially at night. Temperature drops of 15-20 degrees over night
are not uncommon. Even with solar heat during the
summer, the warmest a pool may ever get was 84 degrees,
dropping down to the low 70's overnight.
Energy Savings
By comparison, insulated
pool owners continually reported their pool temperatures to be
80 degrees in March, unheated, and only loosing 5 to 7 degrees
overnight. They reported having savings of up to 75%
compared to what the costs of heating any other type of pool
structure built with different construction methods.
I've also
been told by a number of customers across the nation (where
heating their pools is the norm because of their climate) that
they estimate that their savings in heating costs would actually
pay for the cost of the installation of the pool in approximately
7 years (based on usage). One customer in the High Sierras who had
built his own home using the OSB structurally insulated panel
system was specifically looking for a way to insulate his pool
because he realized he could not only incorporate the technology
in his home, but also in his pool. Hundreds of these structures
have been built across the United States and thousands have been
built around the world.
Not too many luxury items will
pay for themselves over time, yet increase the value of one's
property. However, it was reported a few years ago by a Pool and Spa News national study, that the average pool installation
will increase one's property value from 8 to 12%.
Building Green To borrow from the basics of Green Building; "A green building,
also known as a sustainable building or products, is a structure
that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an
ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green buildings or
products are designed to meet certain objectives such as
protecting occupant health; improving employee productivity; using
energy, water, and other resources more efficiently; and reducing
the overall impact to the environment."
Being a "green technology" company is not just hip or
trendy, or even self-promoting (which some respondents seem to
think), and it is certainly not a fad or a catch-phrase. Dealing
with climate change is a priority for each and every household;
every person and even every business needs to join in this effort.
Whether you’re in the "green technology" business or not, everyone
needs to be informed of the various ways they can be a part of the
worldwide ecological endeavor to reduce energy use and carbon
emissions; utilize and promote green building programs, to promote
sustainable private development in all uses of energy. This is a
proven, economical SIPS technology building system that works and
is just one of the ways to make use of this in building homes,
other building structures and building insulated inground water
structures. Any knowledgeable pool builder or people who are in construction and are
familiar with pool construction can utilize this new Insulating Therma-Foam
System to build thermally-insulated inground concrete pools that are
competitively price to other pool building systems.
Gunite, metal and acrylic pool walls are not insulated and do not have any
insulating qualities to speak of and in most cases many of these wall
systems are more expensive to purchase, ship and install than our
insulated pool wall building system. We are the only pool manufacturer in
the United States supplying a patented therma-foam pool wall system to
build an energy-efficient, thermally insulated in-ground concrete pool and
spa, specifically designed to be used with interior finishes such as
composite fiberglass, epoxy or EVM coatings, or pre-fabricated
vinyl liners. Our insulated pool wall panel system can be constructed by a
two-man crew. The Package Pool Kit is for the pool builder or virtually
anyone with some construction knowledge or experience. It’s an instance of
quality and function meeting convenience. Do you want to increase your
profit margin? Costs are rising every where -- compare our prices -- you
may find them less than what you are currently using. |
