Common HVAC Mistakes Made When Designing Indoor Swimming Pool Enclosures and Conservatories.

Here are some common issues that need to be carefully planned for when building a swimming pool that will be enclosed within a conservatory.

1. Don’t try to control the room environment without a dehumidification system. One of the biggest misconceptions is that exhaust fans and make-up air systems can be used to maintain a proper level of humidity inside the room. Fluctuations in outdoor temperature conditions and humidity levels make this nearly impossible. Also, the wintertime cost of operating a ventilation-only system will be far higher than a system with HVAC.

2. The dehumidification system must be properly sized. This includes the two different aspects of the system – a) the capacity of the equipment itself and, b) the air turnover rate. Adequate air movement is essential to maintaining the conservatory structure (wood, steel etc.) and finish over time.

3. Installation of the proper ductwork. The ductwork in a conservatory pool enclosure is somewhat like the arteries in our bodies with the HVAC equipment itself being the heart. No matter how “good” the heart is, if the arteries are “bad”, the conservatory building will be “unhealthy”. The ductwork will usually be larger than expected, so it is important to plan for it in the conservatory design concept phase.

4. Don’t try to use the swimming pool itself to heat the pool enclosure. This is impossible to do as there will be no way to control the humidity level which will be a very big problem especially in the winter.

5. Don’t try to “overbuild” the conservatory pool enclosure using moisture resistant materials in an effort to avoid having to deal with the humidity control issues. A well designed HVAC system will control the environment to the degree that conventional materials can be used.

6. HVAC systems using more than 5 rows of evaporator coils do not remove any more moisture and are very difficult to clean.

7. The company that is to provide the system should stand behind their work; the design of the system, the components and the installation work. Some companies will offer a money-back guarantee on the system’s performance. It should state that if the design details and ductwork design are followed, the pool temperature and the room temperatures maintained at the recommended levels, the system will perform as specified. Humidity levels should never exceed fifty to sixty percent.

8. Make sure that you allow enough space for the mechanical equipment. Frequently the mechanical spaces are the last to be considered in the design process since they are not “living” spaces. If enough space is not allocated, the equipment can be hard to install and service later on.

9. There must be adequate air flow on the surfaces of the roof glass. It’s easy to think that because warm air generally rises, the roof of the conservatory will be warmed, but the nooks and angles of the roof will also trap humidity and moisture which will condense, drip and eventually deteriorate the structure.

10. Make sure that any unconditioned enclosed spaces adjacent to the main conservatory space such as dropped ceilings, soffits etc. are well conditioned and ventilated as moisture will easily find its way into all these areas, condense on building structure and damage the conservatory building.