Rink

July/August 2020

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S o you just completed repainting your arena and cleaning up all the rusty ceiling structure, mold stains and drip- marks on the bleachers. The roofers have completed their repairs and have left the site. Your shiny new dehumidifier is out back, next to the cooling tower. It's the end of October and your ice is installed. All systems are go for another season. Business has been good, and the owners are happy. Spring comes with the first days of new green grass and the sharp, biting tang of winter air fast becoming but a memory. The weather is milder and the welcome southerly breeze hints of the summer to come. Now it's July. You're looking forward to taking down the ice. You've been chipping off bumps every day and the ice-paint is a disaster. Some rust stains are again evident through the new paint on the ceiling joists above the ice and a couple of troubling black streaks have appeared on the north wall. That red- headed kid on the high school team managed to loft a puck into the rafters (better than you hit your sandwedge last weekend) and punctured the plastic insulation liner. About a gallon of water poured out onto the ice. The other kids thought that was great fun and spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to duplicate his achievement. Dramas like this are too common. So, what's going on here and why is it so difficult to diagnose and correct? Ice arenas that operate in warm and humid months have to keep out the heat and moisture so that a good environment exists to support the ice sheet and be pleasant for the skaters and spectators, but because of the large difference in both temperature and humidity between indoors and outdoors, the forces that drive heat and moisture are also large. Unfortunately, typical arena construction is often less than perfect and large heat and moisture loads exist. Building designers generally have a good understanding about heat transfer and insulation, so any modern arena will have adequate insulation to retard heat-flow, 42 / JULY.AUGUST.2020 USICERINKS.COM by MARK BRADLEY RINK ISSUES Dehumidification PHOTOS: COURTESY OF RINK ARCHIVES Hot, Hot Summer How to handle the heat on your ice sheet

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