Comparison of SRP methods :)

Heyy everyone! :)

Ok so as Ms Zhang mentioned, I have already posted my method for my SRP experiment. As well as this I have included a vast discussion of my method and a lot of background research about my SRP topic and what to expect from my experiment that helped me to write my method. I have also sufficiently referenced the information for this. So, in order to exceed Ms Zhang’s expectations, I thought I would do some research to try and find a similar method to mine, to compare the two.

However, after researching for AGES I could not come across a method written simply that was similar to my own method. BUT, I did find an experiment on “determining how long it takes to heat a pool back up after water has been lost through evaporation”. Ok so I know this is not completely similar to my experiment, but it still considers many factors I will be considering in my SRP experiment, such as evaporation and the effects different pool covers have on this. So below I will write some interesting insights gained from this experiment and how it compares with mine.
Experiment done by: RSPEC- Reduce Swimming Pool Energy Costs.

Overview
Outdoor swimming pools are big energy consumers. Pool owner/ operators spend billions of dollars annually to heat the nation's pools. Much of this energy is often wasted and can be saved with proper management. Wasting energy also contributes to our growing air quality problem.

How Pools Lose Heat?
Pools lose energy in a variety of ways, but evaporation is by far the largest source of energy loss for swimming pools. When compared to evaporation, all other losses are small.The reason evaporation has such an impact is that evaporating water requires tremendous amounts of energy.

Minimize Evaporation
Since evaporation is the major source of heat loss for swimming pools, to minimize evaporation, one must cover the pool. Covering your pool when it's not in use is the single most effective way of reducing pool heating costs. Savings of 50-70% are possible.

Pool Covers
Pool covers also provide many other benefits besides saving energy. They conserve make-up water by 30-50% and can reduce chemical consumption. Cleaning time is cut by preventing dirt and other debris from entering the pool.It is highly recommended that the first step to cutting pool energy loss be the evaluation of the economics of using a swimming pool cover.Covers must be managed properly for safety. They should always be completely removed before anyone enters the pool.This is a diagram of the different types of pool covers that were used in this experiment:

Solar Heating Systems
One of the most cost-effective uses of solar energy is to heat swimming pools. Swimming pools require low temperature heat, which is where solar collectors are most efficient. You can use either unglazed or glazed collectors to heat an outdoor pool, however, unglazed collectors are most commonly used on outdoor pools. If your pool is operated year around and located in a cold climate region, the unglazed systems will not provide much heat in the winter, but may be more cost-effective overall because of their lower initial cost.Glazed systems are more expensive, because they usually have black chrome-plated copper absorber plates, require the use of a non-freezing transfer fluid and a heat exchanger to transfer the solar heat to the swimming pool water.Unglazed systems are usually made of a black plastic or rubber material and the pool water is circulated directly through the collectors. Neither system requires a storage tank. The pool serves as the storage tank.

Efficient Operation
It's a myth that it takes more energy to heat a pool up when you turn the temperature down than you save by lowering the temperature or by turning off the heater. Turn the temperature down, or turn off the heater whenever the pool will not be used for several days. Experiment to determine how long it takes to heat it back up. Lowering the temperature and raising it back up again always saves more energy than keeping it at a constant temperature.

Comparison of experiments:
Well obviously from what I have just written, you can tell that our experiments were not exactly the same. However, there were many similar elements that I have stated above and will mention again. First of all, this experiment was more about how to heat an OUTDOOR POOL back up after water has been lost through evaporation. Where as the main aim of my experiment is the effects of different variables on the evaporation of water from INDOOR SWIMMING POOLS and therefore to investigate what is the solution to minimise water evaporation from swimming pools. This shows that our experiments have differing aims.

Our experiments are different, because the RSPEC has done their experiment on outdoor swimming pools, where as I am doing my experiment on liquid placed indoors, therefore stimulating the water quality of indoor experiments. Considering my circumstances, I think it is better that I have opted for this option, all of my reasons are explained in intense detail in my previous blog.

Another major difference is that in their experiment they have used three different types of solid pool covers, where as I am using a liquid pool cover and just one solid bubble pool cover. The RSPEC used: a bubble/solar cover, vinyl cover and insulated vinyl cover.

However, although there are some differences in experiments both state that the use of pool covers do prevent evaporation as opposed to no pool cover. Both of our experiments also prove that evaporation is by far the major source of both heat and water loss from swimming pools.

xoxo Mira

ps. i think in the next post I will post some pictures I got from this experiment-because this post is tooo long! xxx