Test Dates:		July 1, 1997, to Aug 13, 1997
Pool Type:		Outdoor 2800 sq.ft. Propane Heated

This assessment of HEAT$AVR liquid pool blanket compared to a a standard roll out blanket has been prepared for Ms. Heidi Knowles using propane data provided by her. The report was written by Mr. Dan O'Brien of Flexible Solutions Ltd who are the manufacturers of HEAT$AVR. Other than compiling the report and selling the HEAT$AVR required for the comparison, Flexible Solutions has done nothing regarding this test.

The Cathlamet city pool is an outdoor, propane heated pool of 2800 sq.ft. surface area. It is not overly exposed to wind and southern Washington State has a moderate summer climate with hot days and cool nights.

Ms. Knowles obtained the propane sales records for July 5, 1996 to August 16, 1996 and for July 1, 1997 to August 13, 1997 directly from the company which supplies the pool. During 1996 a standard pool blanket was in use while for the 1997 period HEAT$AVR liquid was used for energy saving. We have adjusted the gallons of propane used for the fact that one period was 41 days long and the other was 39. This gives a daily propane use figure for both season and allows for easy calculations based on a full summer of 92 days.

Ms. Knowles is the pool manager responsile for staffing. She has to budget 1.5 hours of lifeguard time per day while the blanket was in use because two guards are required to put on the blanket in the evening and one plus herself is needed to remove it in the morning.

RAW PROPANE DATA

1996 39 days:

4 173.4 gal.

101.8 gal/day

9 365.6 gal/day season

1997 41 days:

4 730.0 gal.

121.3 gal/day

11 159 gal/day season

COST OF HEAT$AVR VS SOLID BLANKET - 92 DAY SEASON

		Blanket		HEAT$AVR
Propane	$8,419.67	$10,032.50
Labor	$1,208.70	$0.00
HEAT$AVR purchase cost	$0.00	$260.00
Blanket purchase cost	$1,500.00	$0.00
Total cost per season	$11,128.37	$10,292.50

There are some other costs of using a solid blanket which are not easily accounted for but which should be mentioned.

• cost of repair/replacement of the storage reel
• usable desk space lost to the reel
• possible damage to blanket requiring replacement
• safety and insurance concern should a person gain access and fall under the blanket when the pool is closed
• labor costs have been calculated without including benefits and holiday pay
• the managers time in the morning has not been charged.

CONCLUSIONS

Under the conditions existing in the summer of 1997 the net cost of running the Cathlamet City pool for a season would be about $835.00 less with HEAT$AVR than with a solid pool blanket. There are also significant non-financial advantages to using HEAT$AVR rather than a blanket for energy control. However, should the cost of propane, the cost of labor, the cost of HEAT$AVR, or the cost of solid blankets change by more than about 10% the calculations should be redone to confirm that a correct decision is still in place.

The prices used for the variable in the above paragraph are as follows:

Labour		$10.20/hour
Propane		$0.899/Gal
HEAT$AVR		$50.00/Gal
Blanket		$1,500.00/Season