Chalmor’s Endurance brightens Mold’s swimming pool

Use of long-life Endurance light fittings and an Autolux lighting controller from Chalmor has enabled Flintshire County Council to achieve significant savings in energy consumption and maintenance costs at Mold Leisure Centre. Installation of Endurance fittings, which offer a life of at least 60,000 hours, has reduced the installed electrical load from 5.76kW to 3.3kW, with greatly improved lighting levels and extended maintenance cycles.

When the 400W high pressure sodium (SON) fittings in the swimming hall were replaced, the Council and consulting engineers Services Design Consultants (SDC) looked for fittings that would provide more control flexibility as well as improving lighting quality and reducing cost of ownership. “We considered the options available to us and Chalmor’s Endurance was the obvious choice,” recalled Tony Pennington of SDC.

The ability to control the lighting was also very important. “The pool is used by a swimming club early in the morning and then intermittently by two schools during the day,” explained Will Pierce of Flintshire County Council. “Because of the warm-up time of SON lamps the lights used to be left on all day but with Endurance we can switch them on and off as often as is necessary,” he continued.

The 400W SON fittings were replaced, point for point, by 150W Endurance fittings switched in rows. It was possible to improve on existing lighting levels with lower wattage lamps because SON lamps have a much steeper lamp depreciation curve than Endurance lamps so there was no need to ‘over-light’ to allow for rapid depreciation.

The fittings nearest the glazed wall of the hall are linked to an Autolux controller, so they can be switched off when sufficient daylight is entering the space. As well as reducing the lighting energy consumption, the long life of Endurance means the lamps will not need to be replaced for many years, saving an estimated £1500 per annum on maintenance.

Just as importantly, the swimming hall is now much brighter. “We are delighted with the effect – the lighting levels are superb and have created a much pleasanter swimming environment,” Will Pierce concluded.