For those who are regular attendees of hockey games or figure skating practices you may have noticed that it has been noticeably colder in the Agrena than in past years.
That is because for the bulk of the year parks and recreation staff has been doing everything in their power to keep the Agrena and more importantly the ice surface as cold as possible.
In October, parks and recreation staff noticed that there was a methanol leak coming from the icerink’s ice plant. After an investigation it was found the leak was coming from the evaporative condenser. An evaporative condenser is used to remove excess heat from a cooling system when the heat cannot be utilized for other purposes. The excess heat is removed by evaporating water.
Without a functioning unit, the ice plant unit isn’t able to make ice.
To help extend the life of the unit, parks and recreation director Shallon Touet, said staff has been intentionally trying to lower the temperature around the unit and the ice surface itself.
“We didn’t turn on the heat in the seating area, took all the door stops off the doors to keep as much of the heat away from the ice and in where it is really wanted, the dressing rooms and the foyer,” he said.
Town of Barrhead councellors approved the $150,000 condenser’s replacement during its Nov. 14 meeting. The evaporative condenser in the Agrena is 18 years old. ASHRAE, the industry organization that sets the standards and guidelines for most of this type of equipment, estimates the lifespan of the unit to be 20 years.
“So we really are just in the final stretch of what we can reasonably expect from the condenser,” he said.
Unfortunately, they hoped to have the replacement unit installed before the end of the season.
“It is a relatively easy fix that should take no longer than two-days to install. We would have to shut down the ice plant during the day and turn it on at night for hockey, but we are being told by the manufacturer that they are running about 30-days behind schedule,” Touet said, adding they now expect the condenser to arrive sometime in mid-April.
Which means for the remainder of the hockey and figure skating season fans will continue to have to bundle up for just a bit longer.
The Barrhead Minor Hockey Association season officially came to an end last week at the end of the Interlock-1660 League playoffs there are still a few events scheduled for the Agrena before the removal of the ice.
