Warm water thanks to eco-energy: it stays at 24 degrees in the outdoor pool in Dorfen
Created: 07/16/2022, 09:00
By: Timo Aichele
Enjoying the water in the outdoor pool: the former city councilor Doris Minet (right) and other bathers.
© Michaele Heske
In Dorfen, too, there is a discussion about low temperatures in the outdoor pool.
Because district heating from renewable sources is used for heating there, it stays at 24 degrees.
Dorfen
– The water stays warm in the Dorfen outdoor pool.
Like the schools, the municipal facility is connected to the district heating network of the public utility company.
Because only wood chips are burned there, the minimum temperature is not lowered.
The Environment, Nature and Climate Committee unanimously agreed on this compromise at the meeting on Wednesday.
On the agenda was lowering the minimum temperature in the multi-purpose pool from 24 to 22 degrees - a step that has already been taken in many cities with pools.
The councilors discussed the type of energy that brings the district heating network up to temperature.
There was no final clarity about this at the meeting.
A query from our newspaper to Stadtwerke Managing Director Klaus Steiner makes it clear: the district heating network is fully regenerative.
According to him, the Dorfener district heating relies entirely on the wood chip cogeneration plants.
Only as a redundancy system, i.e. in the event of failures, are there gas boilers that are operated with biogas - and again only with natural gas if necessary.
"But these boilers didn't run at all in 2021 and 2022," reports Steiner.
In midsummer, the question does not arise anyway.
"When the weather is good, we hardly have to heat up, it's 25 degrees there," reported Jürgen Dietrich, head of the civil engineering department, at the meeting.
When the air is cooler, the temperature in the pool drops, only then is it kept constant at 24 degrees.
The paddling pool for children is not affected by such considerations.
It is heated by solar collectors on the roof of the technical building.
"There we have 28 degrees in normal weather," said Dietrich.
Sabine Berger (CSU) was the first to speak out in the committee against lowering the temperature, because heating is regenerative anyway.
"The citizens of Dorfen should not be punished if they don't go on vacation to Greece and go swimming with us instead," she said.
Then you could also turn off the ice rink or traffic lights.
"We are not the operator of the ice rink," said Mayor Heinz Grundner (CSU).
In addition, the ESC also relies on district heating there.
Dietrich also pointed out the large amount of energy required as soon as additional heating is actually required.
It's not just the water that swallows the heat, but also the massive concrete body of the pool and the surrounding soil, since it's not insulated.
"This is status 1964. There is no insulation at all," added Grundner.
Heiner Müller-Ermann (SPD) finally formulated the compromise, according to which it can stay at 24 degrees in the multi-purpose pool.
However, he was critical of the forecast: "The fact that swimming pools have to be heated to 24 degrees toujours is a luxury.
That will be the smallest restriction.” Christian Holbl (TEG) was even clearer: “I think the whole discussion is nonsense.
A bathing lake isn’t heated either.”