27 Apr The Turbocharger at the Heart of the Arena
Some refer to it as if it were a precious gem, like “The Black Pearl” or the “Black Diamond”. Others, yet, call it “The Turbocharger” because of the benefits it delivers. No matter what they call it, our ice makers have one thing in common: they love the ice they’re making using REALice’s cold water treatment technology.
One of the great things about the REALice system, as you can see by the picture of this sweet installation that we got from a customer in Alberta yesterday, is it doesn’t take up a lot of space. And that’s important in the ice resurfacing room where, in some places, it’s a tight squeeze to even walk around the ice resurfacing machine when it’s in its stall.
And it doesn’t take much time to install REALice either. We suggest it will take 1-2 hours of a certified plumber’s time, but we’ve heard of installs that took much less time than that. All you need to use REALice the way it’s intended is to have sufficient water pressure at your facility, and have the ability to move your ice temperatures up.
The turbocharger is reducing energy costs at over 40 installations in Canada. And with new orders coming each week, we see the concept of cold water resurfacing starting to catch on. In Europe, REALice ice was used earlier this month for the World Figure Skating Championships in Finland; it was used in December for the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. From hockey to figure skating, REALice-treated water creates great ice,
So why not you?
Using REALice, Enbridge Gas has estimated a reduction of 872m3 of natural gas each month at the George Bell Arena in Toronto, ON. Over the course of a year’s operations, those savings will amount to over 10,000m3 — or cost avoidance of over $3,000.00. That is what’s being saved just by no longer heating up their resurfacing water.
And then there are the electricity savings!
It’s pretty obvious that when you no longer heat up a hundred gallons of water (or more) each time you resurface your ice, you’re going to save money. Less obvious, but with a tremendous impact on the facility’s annual energy spend, are the arena’s electricity savings.
Because the REALice-treated cold water contains less micro air bubbles than even heated water, once it hits the ice surface, it freezes faster. This let the George Bell Arena go to a higher set-point temperature, resulting in a significant reduction in their compressors’ run time. This has a direct impact on hydro consumption, which Toronto Hydro has verified to be an annual reduction in Hydro usage of 73,512 kWh for this facility. And lower run times mean additional savings with less compressor maintenance in the long term, extending the shelf life of their equipment.
It’s time.
It’s time to switch to REALice’s cold water resurfacing technology. With high energy costs — and incentives available from many provinces — changing from hot to cold water ice resurfacing has never made more sense. To find out what REALice would mean to your facility, check out our Savings Calculator and see for yourself now.
