Hippo Pool - Rio Grande Zoo

The Challenge

Founded in 1927, the 64-acre Rio Grande Zoo, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park. One of the favorite visitor attractions is the hippo pool, which is viewed by thousands of visitors every weekend. Hippo's need their pool for both heating and cooling themselves. If the water is kept at a consistent temperature, then the hippo's are quite active and social. So keeping the temperature of the large hippo pool's water consistant, is of vital importance.

The Solution

To meet the task of keeping the hippos at their favorite temperature, a 2000 MBH Laars Pennant Pool heater was selected. The project itself was done during an overhaul of the facility and the installation had to happen within a workweek. To everyone's delight, the Pennant boilers arrived on schedule and the installation was described as perfectly smooth. 
Some of the other popular species (there are more than 200) are the seals and sea lions, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, elephants, polar bears, giraffes, camels, tamarins, koalas, Mexican wolves, mountain lions, monkeys, jaguars, zebras, and rhinos. If called upon to keep any of these critters warm Laars will be ready to meet the challenge. Just ask the hippos!