Portishead Pool, Somerset

Portishead community open air pool, near Bristol is a heated 33m pool, owned and run by the Portishead Pool Community Trust and is a wonderful facility for the town.

The pool dates from 1962 and was a roaring success counting more than 250,000 visitors in its first 2 years of operation. And that’s when the pool was a mere 21 degrees centigrade, thanks to hot water created as a by-product at the local phosphorus plant and tankered in four to five times a day. Fortunately, when the factory closed in 1969, two oil-fired boilers were installed. The main heat load was replaced in 2010 by a single high efficiency biomass boiler, with the oil boilers remaining as backup, providing a pool temperature at a very comfortable 28-29°C.

The pool is now undergoing a major refurbishment including the installation of solar panels and new biomass boiler in order to make the site's heating fully sustainable.

15 years after the first biomass boiler was installed, the backup oil boilers have finally been removed and a new lead biomass boiler is being installed, with the original biomass boiler remaining as back up. 

We have designed and installed the new biomass heating system which includes a Hargassner 200kW wood pellet boiler. This also includes the pellet silo in “Portishead blue” – this has a load cell system which accurately and remotely monitors the amount of pellets to the nearest kg – the best monitoring system available. Is is intended that the pool 100% heated with biomass with a contribution is summer from solar thermal.