With over 1000 swimmers visiting each day, including children learning to swim, teenagers and families enjoying their leisure time, and fitness fanatics carving up the fast lane, the Melville Aquatic Fitness Centre (LeisureFit Booragoon) in Perth, Western Australia, is an intrinsic part of the community.
The centre boasts a fantastic array of facilities, including a health club, wellness studio, 25m leisure pool with beach access, a spa, sauna and steam room, a group training studio, and a 50m eight-lane swimming pool.
The large lap pool has a capacity of 1.5 million litres, which is heated to 27 degrees; and with a 10-year-old gas pool heating system, this was costing the City of Melville thousands of dollars a month to maintain and run. So in June 2014, the centre was fitted with the second largest solar pool heating system in the southern hemisphere.
Half a kilometre of copper installed
The 160 panel evacuated tube (EVT) system, which was put in place to support the gas system, took nine weeks to install on the roof of the centre.
Craig Doncon from Supreme Heating WA, which fitted the system, said the huge installation needed approximately half a kilometre of copper, and the Supreme Heating team used a myriad of Viega products during the project, including Viega press fittings from 15mm to 80mm, that encompassed joiners, ‘elbows’, valve ‘train’ configurations, and ‘Ts’.
High temperature tolerances vital
These fittings were essential to ensuring a high-quality finished system, as they are designed to support the EVT system and have high temperature tolerances, which are crucial. Viega fittings also make installation easier and quicker, and come with the added bonus of support from the Viega team.
Using an EVT system can mean at least a 50-60 per cent reduction in power bills – something the centre manager of the Melville Aquatic Centre can testify to now.
Sarah-Jane Parker said, “We are really pleased they made the decision to install the system; we have saved $9000 off our gas bill in the last month.
“So it looks promising that this system will save us a great deal of money.
“We are really happy so far. The system is really user friendly…we have had no problems with it at all. We decided to install the solar system to offset the cost of using the gas system, and it is certainly fulfilling that purpose.”
This partner content was brought to you by Viega. For more information, visit viega.com.au.
