Sorry if I bore you…

2 December 2014

For some there are exciting things happening in The Watermill car park, for others: total chaos. Synergy, a local Bore hole company are filling our car park with some very deep holes (about 150 mtr).

Don’t panic we are not about to start fracking in Bagnor.

As part of our continuing sustainability policy we are about to start using geothermal energy. Now that’s very easy to say but what does it mean?

As a Production Manager whose main ambition is to return to string technology here’s a very rough idea of how it works.
Below a couple of metres the ground temperature is a pretty constant 12-15 degrees and we now intend to use that as a heat source in winter and a heat sink in summer.

There are pipes running up and down in the bore holes through which a liquid is constantly running which, (due to thermal law where heat will always pass to cool) in the winter will absorb the ground heat raising the fluid temperature – the opposite happening in the summer where it will remove heat from the fluid.

Then it comes into the theatre and, via a heat pump, we absorb the gained heat and give it a boost before sending it around the theatre and restaurant in another loop system a bit like your central heating system.

Only the radiators we will use are more like those in a car – the air is passed through them sending either the warm or cool air into the auditorium – most of which will be happening under your seats so there is no nasty draught down the neck.

We know we are going to have a bit of mess and that things will be a bit inconvenient for the next couple of months but everyone is very excited about The Watermill again being one of very few theatres at the beginning of the technology. It was either this or harvesting duck guano.

Many apologies to all those who are fully aware of how geothermal systems really work…

Lawrence T Doyle
Production Manager