Its Olympic goal is a cool pool

When Olympic swimmers compete in Atlanta this summer, the water in the pool must be 78 to 80 degrees for the records to be official.

And since the Olympic swimming facility on the Georgia Tech campus is open air and temperatures in Atlanta could be in the 100s, the biggest problem may be whether the water is cool enough.

For the main swimming pool in the $20.5-million Aquatic Center, the job of cooling will fall on 10,000 square feet of solar panels on the roof that were supplied and installed by a Largo company, Heliocol.

While the main function of solar panels is to heat water, they also can be used to cool the pool, said president Roger Eschenroeder. When water circulates from the pool through tubes in the solar panels at night, it radiates heat into the sky.

The company, also known as United Marketing Associates, had $5-million in sales last year, focusing more on houses than on commercial jobs. The Olympic project is not its biggest project ever, but it is the company's highest-profile job yet.

After the Olympics, Georgia Tech will use the pool, and the solar panels will save the school an estimated $14,000 a year in heating expenses. But this summer, it is more likely to be used for cooling.

The pool's temperature will be monitored constantly on a digital thermometer. If the solar panels are not enough to cool things off, refrigeration units run by propane will be used. If it is unseasonably cool, the solar panels and backup propane will be used to heat the water.

The solar-panel system is one of about 10 projects being sponsored by the Department of Energy to showcase renewable energy technology and energy efficiency during the Olympics. The adjacent diving pool will be cooled and heated the old-fashioned way _ with propane, Eschenroeder said.

"We didn't do it for the job itself but for the exposure, not only for ourselves but for the industry," he said.

He declined to say how much the Olympic system cost, saying the Energy Department doesn't want it publicized because it is not typical.

Eschenroeder's company is the sole agent for Heliocol in North America and the Caribbean. The solar panels are manufactured in Israel.

The company sells solar systems for pools and hot-water heaters, doing 80 percent residential work and 20 percent commercial, he said. The largest job it has handled is a 1.3-acre pool in Mazat-lan, Mexico, which weaves under a hotel.

It has three distributors in the area: Solar Source in Clearwater, Tampa Solar in Tampa and Solar Water Heaters in Hudson.

Fourteen of the company's distributors and dealers from across the state took turns over a four-week period in January and February installing the system on the 110-foot-high roof of the Aquatic Center.