by Brianna Crandall — June 1, 2015—Of interest to facilities managers of educational, hospitality, sports/recreational, residential or other facilities with pools, the International Code Council (ICC), Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC), and Association of Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP) recently announced an initiative to develop a new standard addressing solar pool heating and cooling systems, and are now accepting applications for Standard Development Committee members.
The new standard, to be developed through ICC’s ANSI accredited standards development process, will address minimum performance and rating methods for solar pool heating and cooling systems commonly used to heat residential and commercial pools.
The new standard, SRCC 400/APSP/ICC 902, Pool Solar Heating and Cooling Standard, will build on SRCC’s widely-used Standard 100 and Standard 300 documents, which address solar thermal collectors and systems. These standards, developed nearly 30 years ago, are widely cited in many incentive programs, regulations, legislation throughout the country, the federal tax code and ENERGY STAR product specifications, notes ICC.
Standard 100 addresses a wide range of solar thermal collectors, including the unglazed collectors commonly used in pool heating systems. However, SRCC Standard 300 does not address solar pool heating systems.
The new standard will establish procedures for rating the performance of these solar pool heating systems based on both climate data and the type of pool where it is installed. This will provide a performance rating for each system, allowing consumers to directly compare the performance of various systems for their climate and pool type.
Like Standard 300 does for solar domestic water heating systems, the new standard will allow incentive programs to set minimum ratings for systems to be eligible for rebates and incentives.
“We’re seeing more and more interest in solar pool heating systems by incentive program managers and regulators in many states like California, New York and Massachusetts,” said SRCC Executive Director Eileen Prado. “They are recognizing that these systems can dramatically cut, or even eliminate, the fossil fuels used to heat pools and spas and are looking for opportunities to promote their use.”
