Spring Valley HS Leads Contingent of South Carolina High Schools To Install Innovative T°Cool® Evaporative Cooling Technology to Combat Heat on Fields

On the heels of The Citadel becoming the first Division I Athletics program to install T°Cool® - a revolutionary evaporative coolingtechnology - on the institution’s new synthetic turf field, Spring Valley High School (Columbia, SC) leads a contingent of South Carolina high schools that have adopted the innovative cooling technology - developed to combat the heat on synthetic turf fields. The eco-friendly solutionwas recently installed in conjunction with the Harry Parone Stadium enhancement project. 

To complement the Spring Valley HS project,T°Cool® installations are scheduled at Whale Branch HS (Seabrook, SC), Blythwewood HS (Blythewood, SC) and Beaufort HS (Beaufort, SC) over the next two weeks, as high schools, municipalities, recreation facilities and colleges across the Carolinas continue to take a proactive approach to combat the heat, while recognizing the vast benefits of installing a synthetic turf cooling solution. Installation at Richland NE HS (Columbia, SC) is scheduled for fall 2020.

The heat issue on synthetic turf fields is magnified during the warm weather months, as field temperatures consistently exceed 140° and often reach the 160° level, making the fields uncomfortable and often unplayable. T°Cool® is a proven solution that reduces synthetic turf surface temperatures by30 to 50 degrees, making the fields cooler, safer and more playable, without compromising the performance benefits. 

“While synthetic turf fields serve as an all-weather, 24-7 alternative solution to natural grass surfaces, they can get hot, especially during summer months,” said Jacob Tetrault, Managing Director, T°Cool®. “As we continue to see facilities across the Carolinas embrace this solution to battle the heat, we anticipate strong growth into new markets over the next several months.”

Harry Parone Stadium joins approximately 80% of synthetic turf fields nationwide that use black crumb rubber infill, due to the benefits of fiber support, cushioning and consistency for performance. T°Cool® is an eco-friendly solution that cools the synthetic turf surfaces by coating the black crumb rubber infill. T°Cool®captures water from rainfall, dew, or irrigation and stores it for later use.  As the sun’s radiation heats up turf, T°Cool® releases moisture, making it the only proven synthetic turf cooling infill that cools the entire synthetic turf system for sustained periods of time.

According to Penn State University’s Center for Sports Surface Research, and Brigham Young University’s “Synthetic Surface Heat Studies,” playing on fields where the temperature is higher than 122° is not considered safe. By following those safety standards, unless a synthetic turf field is treated by a cooling agent, the field would not be available for activity on many days between April - October.

As an added benefit, T°Cool’s evaporative cooling solution for synthetic turf fields also reduces the coefficient of friction, thus diminishing the severity of turf burns, while effectively reducing the growth of harmful bacteria on open wounds. 

The new South Carolina installations join a stable of facilities across North Carolina including West Cabarrus High School (Concord, NC), Kings Mountain HS (Kings Mountain, NC), Cox Mill HS (Concorde, NC), JM Robinson HS (Concord, NC); Henry Fork River Park (Hickory, NC) as the early T°Cool®adopters in the region. 

For more information on T°Cool visit www.tcoolpt.com.