The pool facilities before the retrofit were in need of an update, both outside and in the mechanical room.
The Newton Athletic Club is an elite health and
wellness center 30 miles
northeast of Philadelphia.
It’s known for its premium amenities,
pristine facilities and wide variety of
fitness programs.
“We’re constantly seeking
innovative ways to improve our
operations and deliver exceptional
experiences to our members,” says
Amanda Sinkler, general manager
at the Newtown Athletic Club
(NAC). “Outsourcing projects to
industry experts allows us to tap into
specialized knowledge and skills that
may not be readily available among
our in-house teams. That was the case
this spring when we renovated all of our aquatic facilities.”
NAC’s pool facilities include an
adult pool, spa, splash pad, activities
pool, a lazy river and two water slides,
making it as much a water park as it
is a fitness facility. Ownership at NAC
decided to reface the entire aquatic
area, to include new plaster, tile and
coping. Pool lights were upgraded
with LEDS, and the slides and play
structures were refinished.
“All aesthetic elements were
upgraded, but we also wanted to
improve the quality of the pool water
and retrofit the pool heating system for
greater energy efficiency,” says Sinkler.
“We found a solution that would cut
our natural gas expenses by $40,000
per year.”
Patriot Water Works improved water conditions and the efficiency of the pool heating system at NAC.
FINDING THE RIGHT
PROFESSIONALS
In early 2022, NAC’s pool maintenance
contractor contacted Patriot Water
Works, a pool heating and water
treatment specialist in Kirkwood, Pa.,
to inquire about replacing the four
heaters, copper fin tube pool heaters,
totaling 5.5 million BTUH. Tara Barto,
Patriot’s business development
manager, spoke directly with the
CFO at NAC. After several more
conversations about fuel efficiency
and water quality, planning began for
a large-scale retrofit for the spring of
2023.
By the time Patriot arrived onsite,
the existing pool heaters had already
been removed. Replacement heaters
had been stored in the mechanical
room, and it was NAC’s hope that
Patriot could install them.
“We found that the units purchased
for the project were DHW volume
water heaters, not pool heaters,” says
Tom Soukup, president of Patriot
Water Works. “The primary difference
is that most volume water heaters
have a copper heat exchanger, while
a pool heater uses a cupro nickel
heat exchanger to better withstand
the corrosive properties of pool
water. I checked the model number
and confirmed the units couldn’t be
installed.”
Soukup worked with Don White,
Patriot’s design and project manager,
to plan a robust heating system to
outperform and outlast conventional
pool heating equipment.
The renovated splash pad is now more appealing to the clubs’ youngest members.
HYDRONIC BY DESIGN
“We’ve conducted new and retrofit
pool heating projects for retirement
facilities, condo and apartment
complexes, resorts, hotels and water
parks,” says Soukup. “The pool
heating method we employ — utilizing
high-efficiency boilers as opposed
to pool heaters —
has proven time
and again to reduce maintenance,
lower fuel consumption, provide
greater setpoint temperature accuracy
and extend system longevity. It’s
an unconventional approach in the
aquatics industry, but it works very
well.”
There’s no single key to successfully
creating a pool heating system that
will function for decades, but it
definitely starts with design. Choosing
equipment built for long-term,
reliable performance is also critical.
Eliminating contact between corrosive
pool water and the heating appliance
is critically important.
Patriot’s approach is to treat
pool heating applications just like a
hydronic system, though the boiler
is isolated from the load with a
heat exchanger. To generate a heat
load calculation, Soukup considers
the different setpoint temperatures
needed in each body of water, along
with the water volume and surface
area. Ambient air temperature and
wind factor are the most significant sources of heat loss. The total water
volume and surface area at NAC are
248,052 gallons and 11,384 square
feet, respectively, though setpoint
temperatures vary from pool to pool.
The adult pool is maintained
at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The spa
remains at 101 degrees Fahrenheit
and the activity pool and lazy river
are 82 degrees Fahrenheit. With two
small additional zones of heat for an
indirect-fired water heater to serve the
café and two, 100,000 BTU hydronic
unit heaters to keep the mechanical
room from freezing, the hydronic
system at NAC needed to serve six
zones for a total of 3.9 MMBH.
Two, 2.5 million BTU Thermal Solutions AMP boilers were installed in a lead-lag configuration for heating of all the pools on the property.
“We designed the system around
a 40 degrees Fahrenheit Delta-T and
specified two, 2.5 million BTU Thermal
Solutions AMP boilers in a lead-lag
configuration,” says Soukup. “This
increased the total firing capacity by
1.1 million BTUs, compared to the
original system. This was done to
provide fast heat-up times if a pool
needed to be heavily backwashed and
refilled, not to mention stepping up
from atmospheric units to the 97%
efficiency offered by the AMP.”
The AMP is a stainless steel, watertube
boiler designed to maximize firing
capacity within a limited footprint.
Available in capacities from 399 to 4
million BTUh, the AMP provides up
to 10:1 turndown ratio. AMP-L models
399-1000 can be stacked two high, and
require zero side and top clearance.
AMP models 1000-4000 can be
stacked using an available racking
system.
The secondary loop includes four
titanium heat exchangers, made by EJ
Bowman, used to transfer heat from
the primary loop to each pool. The
shell-and-tube design and titanium
construction of the heat exchangers
provide low head loss, efficient heat
transfer and superior corrosion
resistance to isolate pool water from
the primary hydronic loop. Each of
the heat exchangers, with capacities
between 800 MBH and 2.5 MMBH,
are served by Belimo control valves.
LOOMING DEADLINE
The installation began in early May
and needed to be complete and
operational by the middle of the
month, in time for a large wedding
at NAC. Five Patriot technicians, led
by Rich Zalepa, service manager, all
but lived in the mechanical room
for two weeks. They had been onsite
earlier, retrofitting the pump room and
making electric upgrades, but when
the focus shifted to the boiler system,
there was no time to spare.
“We were expecting to reuse
the existing AL29-4C venting, but
then realized it had been installed
backwards,” says Zalepa. “We
abandoned it, along with the chase that ran through the roof, and used
10-inch Centrotherm polypropylene
venting through sidewall penetrations.
Centrotherm installs faster than
anything else on the market, and
we use it on all of our condensing
appliances.”
“The rest of the installation went
smoothly,” he continues. “The boilers
and heat exchangers piped up quickly,
and we fired the system a day ahead of
the deadline. The control on the AMP
is phenomenal and probably saved half
a day. It’s a much more robust control
than I’m used to when working with
light commercial boilers. The relays
are set up perfectly for external pumps,
there’s a lot of versatility, and the
touchscreen interface provides a lot of
information and fine adjustment.”
Above and Below: The entire pool facility at NAC was refaced in early 2023.
MAINTENANCE, SAVINGS
AND LONGEVITY
Patriot upgraded everything in the
mechanical, pump and filter rooms
with efficiency and service life in mind.
Even the pool water pumps are now
VFD-driven. But the best components
in the industry will fail prematurely if
they’re not maintained properly. That’s
why the company provides a five-year
warranty with five years of preventative
maintenance included.
“We hired Patriot Water Works
based on their depth of knowledge,
which was evident, but also because of
their warranty, maintenance agreement
and their promise of energy savings.
Over the next five years, based on
current energy prices, NAC will save
$187,000 in natural gas expenses.”
That’s a bold promise to make, but
experience has provided Soukup with
the confidence to do so. Whenever
he visits a potential pool heating
customer, he always conducts a net
BTU test to determine exactly how
much heat is actually entering the
body of water, as opposed to making
calculations based on the appliance
rating.
To do this, a flow meter is installed
on the effluent side of the heater and
readings are taken. Thermometers
are installed on both the influent and
effluent sides of the heater, which will
provide the Delta-T across the heating
appliance.
In Soukup’s experience, the vast
majority of conventional pool heaters
that have been in service for more
than five years operate at about 50%
efficiency, despite being rated for
83%. The same test, when conducted
post-retrofit on the titanium heat
exchangers that Patriot installs, yields
just a few percentage points below the
boiler’s rated efficiency: 94 to 95%.
“I believe that using a hydronic
approach with high-efficiency boilers
is the future of the aquatics industry,”
says Soukup, whose systems
consistently maintain pool water
temperatures within two degrees
of setpoint. “I think the industry
will push and pull for it; meaning
efficiency standards will continue
to rise, mandating the use of highefficiency
products, and customers are
beginning to demand more robust,
longer-lasting solutions. Boilers are the
answer in either case.”
