A "system failure" at Alpine Aqualand on Sunday, associated with a severe frost that morning, has probably damaged a large heating coil beyond repair, Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Duncan Field said yesterday.
The coil was one of the "sustainable" design elements incorporated in Queenstown's aquatic centre, recycling heat from the complex to warm the incoming air temperature using a large copper coil.
"For some reason the circulating pump has failed and the warm water in the coil has frozen . . . the exterior temperature at the time was around -6degC," Mr Field said.
The pump was one of several mechanisms used to keep the pool heated, Mr Field said.
At the moment they were continuing to heat the pool with other heating systems, including lpg and electric.
"But the pool temperature has dropped a couple of degrees, given the current overnight air temperatures."
The council was urgently investigating another source of heating to keep the centre open and operating while the damaged coil was replaced.
"All the specs for the centre have been designed to operate in extreme cold and hot conditions.
"In this case there has been some sort of system failure beyond the realms of that design," Mr Field said.
It was likely the coil, which was expected to be covered by insurance, would take several weeks to be replaced.
The council had asked the Alpine Aqualand's project and design team to come up with an alternative, allowing the pool to remain operational, he said.
It had also requested a review of all warning systems around components that might potentially be affected by severe frosts at the pool.
"In this case large fans suck fresh cold air into the building to be heated by the coil.
"That system should have shut down once the water circulation in the coil failed, which would have prevented the coil from freezing.
"It could be expected that in a facility of the complexity and size of an aquatic centre some issues would require ironing out within the first few months of operation.
"Unfortunately, this failure is on a larger scale than we would have liked but, hopefully, we can weather the situation and keep the facility operating while the problem is remedied."
