Taking Ice Out of a Rink

[thefatguy]

Some of you know, some of you don't, I work at various arenas in Calgary. Yea, I drive a Zamboni.
SAIT post secondary took their ice out this week, and I took pics to show you what's involved. If I can get back here in July I can show the ice going in...

The crew the night before started to shave as much as they could. I came into this on Tue morning. You can see they've hit some of the lines and shaved right down in the higher spot on the floor/low spots on the ice. The Ice was between 1" - 1 3/4" in some spots! (Corners were especially high)

At this rink, we have to get all the melted ice with the whitning into this little hole cut out of the boards. The puck board comes off and exposes the little hole :| Bad setup here.

 

[thefatguy]

This is the back side of the boards. Below the posts is the gap to get the water out. Exposed is the header trench. It is graded to a drain at the end. The bottom layer of pipes carry the cooling agent from the compressor to the slab (I think it's sodium something), then the top row returns the heated liquid back to be cooled. You can also see some of the wires that monitor the slab temp.

 

[thefatguy]

You can see the Zam on the ice taking out as much as we can. The more that goes to the snow pit in the back, the less we have to do by hand.
All the lines were painted this year, so there's no tissue paper to worry about. Usually, the lines are just big sheets of tissue, so laying out a rink is nothing. Paint gives you a much brighter line, but takes a little longer to setup.

 

[thefatguy]

My boss is on the left with the hose. Hes melting the ice on top and around the Pizza Hut logo so it can be reused. They are printed on a fabric, so that when you lay water over it will stick to it as well as seep through. The giant trojan head is about $1800. You can see the Trojans logo behind, drying out on the seats.

 

[G $MONEY$]

interesting thread jesse! Did u get caught up in that storm last night? That was something else. We were without power for 2 1/2 hours last night.

 

[thefatguy]

We were okay. Had a few surges, but didn't lose power luckily.

Here's what I came into on Wed AM. The crew Tue night took most of the ice out and let the rest melt (the plant was turned off Tue AM).

We dragged the hose from one end to the other like a giant squeegee.

Then we power washed the floor with the hose, dragged it about 3 more times, and let it dry yesterday to this today. The crew (which isn't here yet) will be cleaning it with a ride on floor scrubber.

The whiting had to be flushed down the trench, so thats what we did tue afternoon and yesterday. The floor is all back together now.

 

[wideright]

Great pics Jesse!! I'd never seen that process before so that is cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pghbuccos]

Jesse that was very interesting. thanks for sharing the pics and explaining how it's done. hopefully you make it back there in July because I would love to see the process of putting the ice back in.

 

[thefatguy]

The floor is half cleaned. She's riding around on her little floor zamboni

SAIT has told my boss that we need to take the ice out in December for exams now, too. What a waste of money and time.
Hes suggested a lay down insulated flooring system so that the ice can stay in. There would be too much lost revenue, plus having to pay at least 2-3 guys to do the labor. With the floor, 2 guys can lay it in a couple hours, plus then you can have trade shows and such. Warren said that Mercedes brings cars to show off all the time to SAIT, GM too. (Its a tech school)

 

[sabresfreak]

Thanks for showing the pictures. My local rink is done for the season on the 16th. I hope to get another skate in.

 

[thefatguy]

Some places have sand floors. There, you just shut the plant off and let the ice melt.

Here's a good pic. I forgot the extra layer of floor heating in the sand, then the concrete is poured on top.

http://www.paceindustrial.com/content.php?id=26

 

[G $MONEY$]

Before you guys put the ice back in, you should organize a ball (floor) Hockey game. Those last pics look perfect for some good ol ball hockey. Would SAIT allow something like that?

 

[Groat]

I've never really thought about the whole process of getting the ice out. Do arenas normally do this thing once a year?

 

[thefatguy]

Before you guys put the ice back in, you should organize a ball (floor) Hockey game. Those last pics look perfect for some good ol ball hockey. Would SAIT allow something like that?

Oh yeah. If it was me, I think I could get away with not paying.
It's booked for Lacrosse all summer. I was up putting the protective netting around the scoreboard yesterday.

Groat...I think all but 5 or 6 are taken out in Calgary. It allows the cooling plants to get work done, fix floors, headers.
You really need dedicated ice techs for year round ice too. The heat can mess with the surface, humidity, other things.
Surprisingly, there isn't that much ice time available in Calgary in the summer.

I was working with a couple guys that work at the Olympic Oval. They have 2 rinks to take out, plus the 400m ice!! But, they have a drain grate in the middle that runs all the way around, so its much easier to empty the big track than it was here.

 

[thehamiltonian]

When teams change the logos on the ice during the season, do they have to take all the ice out, or do they just go down a bit and throw the new logos down?

 

[thefatguy]

When teams change the logos on the ice during the season, do they have to take all the ice out, or do they just go down a bit and throw the new logos down?

they probably do entire ice maintenance and shave down. You have base ice, whiting, then your lines and logos. If you plan on having a different event during the season, like the Olympics, I could see them planning on making the layer above the whiting quite high, before they paint the lines, so they could take the lines out, but leave the white layer, then put all the Olympic stuff in.

And by thick we're talking maybe 1/4" at most. At the beginning of March, our ice was about 1 1/4-1/2 thick in total. You do want alot of play for non-Pro ice so amateur Zam drivers, like me (only 2nd season, but always learning) don't take out lines. at SAIT, the logos were laid with the paint layer. Probably for spacing as well. The NHL has much smaller margins of play, and you can tell just how much when you see how much brighter the lines and logos are.
Smaller logos are probably melted out with minimal extra water, and the holes just patched.

For the Brier, the ice was taken down to the white, then the rink built on top. They had to lay those magnetic strips for the hog line violation too.

 

[thefatguy]

This was on the last weekend. I was taking full buckets just to get the grooves out. That's alot of ice, but we only shave after games, not periods, so thats not so bad. There will always be groves during games. I see them the day after the Mens Varsity team games. Its my job on Sundays to rebuild the ice, or if there's a game, get the ice ready....long floods, lots of water, make thick ice that day.

 

[thefatguy]

The Saddledome has taken out the Flames logo and put in the Hitmen mask for the rest of the WHL Playoffs. They've also added some other sponsor on ice logos.

 

[G $MONEY$]

The Saddledome has taken out the Flames logo and put in the Hitmen mask for the rest of the WHL Playoffs. They've also added some other sponsor on ice logos.

I noticed that when i was watching the hitmen game last night. the Hitmens logo looks really sweet on the dome ice, ill get a pic of it tonight

 

[thefatguy]

The Saddledome has taken out the Flames logo and put in the Hitmen mask for the rest of the WHL Playoffs. They've also added some other sponsor on ice logos.

I noticed that when i was watching the hitmen game last night. the Hitmens logo looks really sweet on the dome ice, ill get a pic of it tonight

Heh, I was going to ask, but didn't want to impose! If we didn't have plans tonight I was going to try to get to a playoff game....either gm 5 or 7 I guess or hopefully net round. Gm 5 would be next Fri.