Alliance heats up Sentraal High School

Swimming is an essential life skill for every child, one that can have a positive impact on their lives for years to come. Although many children are not regular swimmers, it is every parent and educator’s goal at the Sentraal High School in Bloemfontein, that their kids and learners become water-wise and graduate into strong, confident swimmers.

Fourways Group Fourways Group

In order to meet the expanding demands of the students and the school, Bloemfontein Sentraal High School began a significant project in June 2022 to renovate its present pool to Olympic size.

This is part of a long-term plan that the school principal, Charles Liversage, had envisioned to upgrade their sports facilities. While the school had already a large swimming pool, the upgraded pool will accommodate the upcoming swimming meets. They also needed a pool facility that was large enough and would heat the pool perfectly throughout the school year.

With Alliance pool heat pumps successfully fitted, the school swimming season can now be extended to 12 months.

Months of planning and constructing to upscale old swimming pool

Realising that this undertaking was going to be quite a long process, as well as a big task in itself, it took some months of planning and constructing to upscale their old swimming pool (which was not as big) to an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It meant looking at cost effective ways of not only building the structure but maintaining a better water heating temperature for the children as well.

Principal Liversage’s vision became a reality when he enlisted the help of SHC consulting Engineers in Bloemfontein, BC Building Contractors to handle the construction work and Ikhephu Airconditioning to handle the pool heat pump installation. To ensure the job was done efficiently and effectively, Ikhephu Airconditioning sought out Fourways Group to supply them with Alliance commercial swimming pool heat pumps.

Heating 1 600 000 litres of water and maintaining a preferred temperature throughout the year

The challenge that Ikhephu Airconditioning faced was how they would heat 1 600 000 litres of water and still maintain it at the preferred temperature throughout the year, even through the winter season when temperatures drop far below zero in the Free State.

The Alliance pool heat pumps were a perfect choice for this project. The Alliance brand has a reputation for being known for their affordability, reliability and phenomenal backup services as a well-established distributor.

Five 91 kW Alliance commercial swimming pool heat pumps were connected to Badu Swimming Pool

Circulation Pumps and Reticulation Pipework, regulating the pool's temperature to perfection, and maintaining optimum operation.

Alliance pool heat pumps are designed to transfer heat from the air to pool water to maintain the pool's required perfect temperature, allowing customers to build larger, temperature-controlled pools. With its quality products, Alliance caters to a wide range of needs, from residential to commercial.

Not restricted to a single size, Alliance commercial swimming pool heat pumps are available in four sizes, with high heating capacity outputs of 22kW, 46kW, 56kW and 91kW respectively. All models have cooling, heating and auto modes, while the 91kW model provides four timer settings per day.

Much like Alliance’s range of residential and commercial air conditioners, its pool heat pumps use R410 gas, a refrigerant with a reduced environmental impact that does not harm the ozone layer compared to its predecessor R-22 refrigerant and helps temperature-control systems work efficiently with a much smaller carbon footprint.

Heat pumps will ensure school swimming season can be extended to 12 months

Most schools with a swimming pool rarely use theirs for more than four months a year due to water temperatures being too cold. With Alliance pool heat pumps successfully fitted, the school swimming season can now be extended to 12 months, allowing students to swim all year long, allowing the school to host short-course swimming meets whenever needed.

Alliance is backed nationwide by Fourways Group, an accredited distributor of some of the world’s leading HVAC brands that boasts a legacy spanning more than two decades, and services a network of more than 2000 installers, contractors and architects.

Fourways Group also provides long-term spares and parts supply for a wide range of models within the commercial and residential air conditioning and waterheating fields. Its ancillary equipment for installers ranges from copper piping, insulation, brackets and trunking to wire, electrical conduit, and complete installation kits, making them a complete all in one onestop-shop supplier.

The upgraded pool facility allows for longer training sessions in the water for those young swimmers with professional athletic potential, allowing them to perfect their strokes, hone their natural talent, and develop into elite-level swimmers who can compete in professional swimming on a national and international level—a dream come true for so many young swimmers.

With the completion of the new Olympic size swimming in Dec 2022, Sentraal High School started the new year with its first inter-house swimming competition for the year. The success of the completed project was confirmed by the many happy faces seen diving in and out of the upgraded pool.