Chillers built for heat: sized to the afternoon, hidden from the guest

Everything on this site about a cold plunge ends at this machine. A beautiful pool with the wrong chiller is a warm pool by July, and a chiller in the wrong place is a service call by August. The job here is to size the plant for the hottest afternoon, put it where it can breathe, and make it disappear.

The nominal table, and what it means

The table gives the smallest machine that holds a volume at 3–5 °C when the installation is shaded and covered. It is what the suite builder and the price guide use. For a plunge outdoors in the Gulf, the engineer adds a margin: the next size up, or a second 4 HP machine in parallel for a pool above 1,200 L. A commercial pool can take two machines so that one can be serviced while the other runs.

Why a datasheet number is not enough

The heat the machine must remove is not only the water's; it is the sun, the air and the pool's own shell, and the machine's capacity itself falls when its air is hot. Sizing a plunge chiller when the air is 45 °C works three loads and two examples. The short version: shade and a lid are cheaper than any chiller.

Where it stands

• In shade all day, with a clear air path in and out; never in a closed cupboard.
• Away from its own exhaust, because hot air recirculating through a niche can stall the machine on its own exhaust.
• Behind a filter, cleaned on a schedule: dust blocks a condenser as surely as heat does.
• With a coated coil and stainless fittings on a coastal site, where salt does the damage that sand does inland.
• As close to the pool as the plan allows, with insulated hoses, because every metre of pipe is a metre of heat gain.
• Where it can be serviced, through a door that opens onto a service route and not onto the pool.

Power: phases and 60 Hz

A 1 HP machine can usually run on a single-phase supply; larger machines often want three-phase. Saudi Arabia's supply runs at 60 Hz, which changes the speed of the compressor, the fan and the circulation pump, so the machine is built as a 60 Hz unit for projects there. Heaters and chillers on Saudi 60 Hz explains what changes and what does not, and the supply is confirmed at survey before anything is built.

Electricity: what it draws, and when

Running cost is kilowatt-hours times the tariff. The Saudi electricity regulator's service guide, as reported by Okaz in June 2025, lists residential tariffs of 18 to 30 halalas per kWh and commercial tariffs of 22 to 32 halalas. Bahrain's tariff in force since 1 January 2026 charges non-domestic users 22 fils per kWh up to 5,000 kWh a month and 32 fils above, with VAT included and a fixed fee of BHD 1 a month per account (Official Gazette No. 3853, Resolution No. 2 of 2025). For Qatar, Kuwait and Oman we ask the utility for the rate on your meter. As an illustration at the Saudi figures, a 2 HP chiller drawing about 1.8 kW for 12 hours of compressor running a day uses about 21.6 kWh, which costs SAR 3.9 to 6.5 a day at residential rates and SAR 4.8 to 6.9 at commercial rates; a 4 HP machine at 3.6 kW doubles those figures.

The electrical loads above are the draw while the compressor runs. A shaded, covered pool runs in short cycles; a pool in the sun with no cover runs almost continuously. The difference is not the machine's size but the shade and the lid.

Plain by design

We build chillers in plain black casings with no markings, because a chiller belongs out of sight and does not need a brand on its face. At the pool's edge the guest sees only a small display with one large digit. In the workshop they are tested before they ship; on site they are commissioned with a signed temperature test, which is the milestone for the final instalment.

Service and warranty

Everything we supply carries a two-year warranty, with an additional year of assisted service visits. Filters, intakes and coils need regular attention; the care sheet in your layout sets the schedule, and the first year's assisted visits are there to teach it.