Rink

July/August 2019

Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1142200

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 53 of 55

ASK RINK You have rink questions, RINK has rink answers Send your rink questions to: INFO@USICERINKS.COM 54 / JULY.AUGUST.2019 USICERINKS.COM water quality and operator competency, these are some environmental things to shoot for. FIGURE SKATING • Optimal ice surface temperature: 24-26ºF • Optimal ambient temperature: 55-60ºF with relative humidity (RH) below 50%. • If your building runs a little warmer (over 60ºF), your RH needs to be 40% or below. HOCKEY • Optimal ice surface temperature: 22-24ºF • Ambient temperature and RH are going to be the same as figure skating. Keep in mind that the more spectators you have in the stands, the greater the likelihood that your air temperature and humidity levels will rise, particularly during events where the crowd is more active. J Why should I temper my ice? Tempering your ice helps heal stress cracks and weak spots in ad- dition to helping create a denser sheet. It will also aid in the removal of impurities in the ice. Your best course of action is to raise your ice temperature by a minimum of 4ºF for at least eight hours. A great time to do this is overnight, when you have ice maintenance scheduled the next morning. Your surface will be warmer, so edging and shaving is easily facilitated. Once done, you should bring your surface temperature back down at the rate of 1ºF per hour. During the busy part of your season, you should plan on doing this once per month. Some advocate tempering your ice right after a new install to help relieve pressure on the new sheet. Obviously, make sure that you've built your ice up to your normal surface depth beforehand! We do a lot of different events in our arena each year and we've noticed that maintaining ice quality is more of an issue during our figure skating events than our hockey games. Any ideas to help us provide good ice for both sports? We've answered this question a lot in these RINK pages. But in case you've missed it, here is our take once again: Control over building temperature and humidity is critical to creating and maintaining a good ice surface. W hile we realize that all buildings are going to be a bit different, and that there are several other factors that are involved with maintaining a quality sheet of ice like , Plan on tempering your ice once per month to heal stress cracks, create a stronger sheet, and remove impurities. Q: A: PHOTOS: RINK ARCHIVE Q: A: , The more spectators you have in the stands, the greater chance air temperature and humidity levels will rise.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Rink - July/August 2019