Surrey Heath, Hampshire, June 2010

 

Overview

 

Hounsdown secondary school in Hampshire contacted Southern Solar to design a solar thermal system that could help to reduce the heating bills and carbon footprint for their large swimming pool. The pool is used heavily in the curriculum and is also a valuable resource used by staff and the local community.

 

As an Eco School it is a priority for the school to make staff and pupils more aware of energy generation and usage. The solar thermal will also provide an educational benefit as the pupils can monitor and interact directly with the data produced by the system.

 

Our Solution

 

Over two weeks in June Southern Solar designed and installed a solar thermal system that provided 69% of the energy needed to keep the pool at the correct temperature.

Four large TiSun panels covering a total area of 40m2 were installed on the swimming pool roof. Due to the large size of these panels they were craned into position. These work alongside the existing gas boiler to ensure that the correct water temperature can be maintained. The heat from solar passes its heat through a heat exchanger to heat the water before it reaches the main boiler heat exchangers, this dramatically reduces the amount of time the boilers need to be on for. The water in the swimming pool only needs to be kept at 28°C — meaning that the solar is more useful all year round as the pool only needs to utilise a low level of solar insolation.