Is humidity spoiling the atmosphere at your spa swimming pool?

In this article, we cover everything you need to know about humidity in indoor spa and wellness pools and why choosing the right dehumidifier is vital for maintaining your building and maximising your guests’ experiences.

Why is controlling humidity so important?

Unregulated humidity will affect two of the most important aspects of an indoor spa and wellness swimming pool:

1. Maintaining a clean and luxurious space
   Many litres of water can evaporate from the surface of your swimming pool in a single day. In a poorly ventilated environment, this moisture will remain in the air until it settles as condensation on any surface that’s colder than the current air temperature (usually windows, doors and metal fixtures). This will quickly lead to rust, mould and mildew that will gradually eat its way through the structure of your building.
   
   Chlorine that’s captured in the atmosphere will exasperate this issue, aggressively corroding almost any material it comes into contact with. As moisture finds its way into other parts of your building, it can damage carpets, rot wooden furniture and, if it condenses on light fittings, cause electrical malfunctions.
   
   
2. Providing a safe and welcoming experience
   As well as causing expensive damage to your building and equipment, mould and mildew that forms as a result of condensation is not only unhygienic, but a serious health risk. As it spreads, mould releases toxic spores into the atmosphere that can lead to skin irritation, severe coughs and respiratory issues.
   
   Even if mould can be kept at bay, high humidity levels make it difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature, creates a foggy atmosphere and can lead to slip hazards if condensation forms on tiles. Not exactly the relaxing environment your guests were hoping for.
   
   

For the sake of your visitors and your building, a long-term, preventative solution must be put in place. Getting this right will save you the time, hassle and costs that come with unregulated humidity levels.

While adjusting the temperature and increasing ventilation will alter relative humidity (RH) levels, this alone is not enough to prevent the risks posed by water damage. In fact, it can often make things worse. A dehumidifier, on the other hand, will circulate humid air around your pool hall and physically remove the moisture as it flows through the system.

For smaller swimming pools with less activity, such as spa and wellness pools, we would usually recommend a condensation dehumidifier as the most efficient and cost-effective solution.

How a condensation dehumidifier works

• Damp air is drawn into the dehumidifier and across a refrigerated coil

• The air is cooled below its dew point, condensing the water vapour

• Latent heat energy is recovered and re-used

• Cooled air passes across the condenser and reheated

• The warm dry air is then returned to the room at the required humidity
  
  

Key benefits of condensation dehumidifiers:

• High performance level, even in unheated rooms

• Powerful centrifugal fan

• Professional hot gas automatic defrost

• Automatic hygrostat controlled dehumidification

• Can connect to an external condensation drain or condensate pump

• Self contained

How to choose the best condensation dehumidifier for your indoor swimming pool

Because every indoor pool is different, there are lots of things to consider before you can determine the most appropriate dehumidification system, including:

• Typical indoor and outdoor temperature (summer and winter)

• Typical indoor and outdoor humidity (summer and winter)

• Air volume

• Pressure drops

• Type of pool

• Pool volume

• Pool hall/room volume

• Water temperature

The SET range covers dehumidification solutions for spas and wellness facilities of all shapes and sizes. For more on the options available, as well as help determining a bespoke setup for your pool hall, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.