If your club features a swimming pool, you have probably come across the consequences of water evaporation many times, though you may or may not have realized it.
All swimming pools experience evaporation, regardless of shape, size or location. The amount of evaporation will vary based on a variety of factors including surface area, water and air temperature, humidity and wind.
At a simplistic level, here are a few general rules of evaporation: The more surface area that is exposed, the more water evaporation there will be. The bigger the difference between water temperature and air temperature, the higher the rate of evaporation will be. The drier the air is (the lower the humidity), the more water evaporation will occur. Lastly, the more wind there is, and the stronger it is, the higher the rate of evaporation will be.
Evaporation can have some pretty significant impacts on your facility and, perhaps most importantly, your operating costs. It is not just water that you lose to evaporation: it is heat as well. In fact, approximately 70 percent of a pool’s heat loss is caused by evaporation. If you keep your pool heated, this translates into more energy required to keep the pool water at a consistent temperature.
To further aggravate the condition, when you top up your water levels, you most likely do so with cold water. Either your swimmers will feel the chill for a while, or you will need to keep your heater running longer to heat up that fresh water to your desired temperature.
If your pool is indoors, as the water evaporates the surrounding air will become more humid. This could either lead to uncomfortable air conditions or increased energy consumed to keep the pool area humidity-controlled.
What it all adds up to is money spent on keeping your pool full and comfortable.
Luckily, adding any type of barrier between the pool water and the air will help to lower evaporation rates. There are a multitude of convenient and safe pool cover options on the market today that will help combat the problem of evaporation.
Using a traditional pool blanket or liquid pool cover can help your facility conserve water, reduce heating costs for heated pools, maintain water temperature in unheated pools and lower humidity levels in indoor pool areas.
Many facilities just like yours have reported savings on their energy bills of up to 40 percent, simply by using a pool cover. If you would like to lower the costs of operating your swimming pool, this should be one of the first solutions you consider.
Monique Nelson is the sales and marketing manager of Flexible Solutions, the manufacturer of the original liquid solar pool cover. She can be reached at monique@flexiblesolutions.com or visit liquidpoolcovers.com.
