The Blog

Does Your Refrigeration System Offer Flexibility? The day is coming, you know it is. The day your refrigeration system cranks, sputters, coughs and lurches to a screeching halt for the last time or you’re looking to upgrade versus another overhaul. It could be poor brine chemistry, lack of consistent maintenance, R22 is being phased out, or the local municipality no … Read More

Cold Floor Design Emerald Environmental Technologies were recently in Minnesota and was asked about the original Ice Kube Systems (IKS) cold floor design, which due to its very slow exchange rates, simply didn’t perform as well as expected. Emerald Environmental Technologies recognized this problem from the beginning and set out to redesign the floor system. The ice3 Cubes you see today … Read More

What are you getting when you choose Emerald’s ice3 Cube? Quality. Emerald’s ice3 cube testing station guarantees you’re buying quality.   Not just an ice3 Cube Testing Station It’s true, Emerald Environmental Technologies is able to control quality control because we control the process from fabrication straight through testing. Fabrication design allows us to include design elements such as the … Read More

What can it do for your ice arena? HVAC 101 teaches us that all refrigeration systems create heat as a byproduct. The HVAC process revolves around removing heat through condensers and water cooled systems. For most fuel-fired heating equipment, a large amount of the heat produced is wasted as exhaust or flue gases. If we’re told that a piece of … Read More

Or, Is It Time to Look for an Alternative? With so many risks among ammonia refrigeration systems traditionally placed in ice rinks and other commercial applications where nearby businesses and roads are evacuated every time there is a leak. It’s time to ask… is there a reliable, affordable, safe alternative to an ammonia system? As history has shown there is … Read More

Not Your Father’s Refrigeration Control System No matter how energy efficient a piece of equipment has the ability to be, it can only operate at the lowest cost possible if it is controlled correctly. In the ice arena industry gone are the days of running a pump non-stop and refrigerating the glycol and ice slab to a constant temperature no … Read More

How Long Will Our Refrigeration System Last? When faced with a refrigeration system in an aging rink, numbers are numbers. And the number one question we hear is “how long will our refrigeration system last?” Understandably, when a municipality or collegiate board is looking at upgrading or building a new refrigeration system for their ice rink, more often than not, … Read More

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly If that’s your first thought when comparing refrigeration systems, we don’t blame you. Now add the variety of statistics you’ll find with a single google search, information on legacy systems, word of mouth, and new technology. Simply put, comparing apples to apples is nearly impossible. The question then becomes: “Which system is the … Read More

Ammonia Vs Freon? Whether to choose an ammonia refrigerant or an alternative CFC refrigerant is an all too frequent debate. Meanwhile, the operator or operating board is simply looking for the best solution to their maintenance, upgrade, and cost concerns. The question then becomes: “I’ve got an aging system. What would happen if a leak occurred and leaked into the … Read More