Pool temporarily closed due to cool temperatures

The attempt to fix the specialist heating pump and back up system at the AC Baths has recently failed meaning the temperature of the pools is too cold for swimmers and as a result, the pools have been closed temporarily.

The team at the AC Baths will use the next few days while the pools are closed, to carry out maintenance work that was programmed in for October. This will prevent another pool closure later this year. Emergency works are underway to fix the original pump and if these go to plan, the pools will reopen later this week with temperatures back to normal by Monday (25 August).

The original bore pump burnt out a couple of weeks ago and the back up pumps that were put into place to compensate have also both failed over the last few days. A fourth standby pump that is operating currently is now experiencing problems, which has resulted in the pool temperature plummeting to 22 degrees (10 degrees below the normal average temperature).

Recreation Manager, Thunes Cloete said, “Myself and the AC Baths team apologise to the community for the inconvenience and give you our assurance that we are doing everything in our power to get the pools reopened and the temperature back to normal as quickly as possible.”

“The fact that all four pumps have experienced differing types and levels of failure warrants further investigation, which we will get started on as soon as the pools temperatures are back to normal. We will also be evaluating our existing maintenance schedule for pools pumps and motors to see if any changes need to be made and reviewing our contingency plans for the future,” he said.

The main pump is a specialist piece of equipment. It is expected to operate in 125°c of geothermal water heat at around 90 metres underground, all year round. The pumps are currently worth nearly $40,000 each and can only be purchased from the USA.

A further update on when the pool will reopen and the issues with the heating pump and the back up system will be provided as soon as more information becomes available.