Building a new rink involves many decisions before ground is broken. “What is our marketing plan to capture sales and sell our rink services now and, what could it be in 20 years? Will we grow to become a year-round facility? Will we offer off-ice programs or have ice year round?” Trying to predict future growth and facility use naturally leads to trying to adapt your best-guess choice of refrigeration system to match the best-guess future facility growth. “Do we put in a refrigeration system that is oversized now for what could be the future use? Will or could we have summer ice ultimately needing more refrigeration?”
The Refrigeration Plant Conundrum
If a standard industrial plant is chosen, its fixed size must be built and installed for the larger load day one. Two or three compressors to accommodate the industrial plant may also need to be installed day one at a premium cost. Until that day of facility-growth arrives however, the over-sized model’s operation and maintenance costs are eroding your profits. Worse still would be the need to purchase and install a whole new plant later to serve the needs that a larger more aggressive marketing and business model would require. Of course all these “what-ifs” depend on facility growth, town growth, customer base growth, and the economy.
Emerald has a Simple Solution
Emerald has a simple solution for you: flexibility in sizing your refrigeration plant utilizing Modular Technology. What this means for you is the whole “what-if” stress of trying to guess the size of the refrigeration plant you may need in the future is simply a non-event.
For example, Emerald’s ice3 Cube Modular Technology allows us to install three ice3 Cubes now for seasonal ice at 27 Tons each or 81 Tons total in a standard facility. When installing the first 81 Tons, the pumps as well as the piping systems, controls, electrical and heat rejection are all sized to accept ice3 Cube #4 in preparation for future growth. This additional ice3 Cube (27 tons), places your rink refrigeration total at a total 108 Tons easily accommodating summer ice in a standard facility, and is costed in the future as an add-on.
In that same example, a 108 ton traditional refrigeration plant, sized for future facility growth, has an automatic energy usage penalty on day one due to the requirements to run the larger motors and compressors, even though the facility load doesn’t require it. Comparatively, Emerald’s Modular ice3 Cube Technology, using variable speed drives on pumps and heat rejection fans on the cooling tower, match the initial design load of 81 tons and only consume the amount of electricity required to support three ice3 Cube units. Since everything is pre-piped and programmed for future expansion, when the facility eventually does grow, your refrigeration plant can grow with it. By simply installing the additional ice3 Cube unit, in some instances as quickly as a one day process, your refrigeration plant can now handle the additional required capacity with zero changes to any installed pumps, fans, or other major rink infrastructure as well as zero shutdown time!
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These upgrades are nominal in cost during initial construction. In our example, adding that ice3 Cube #4 in the future, as needed, is quickly installed with a couple of piping drops controls and electrical connection. We are speaking of a mere day to add this 25% increase in capacity.
These are not pie in the sky ideas, we have applied this common sense engineering at the University Of New England rink where summer ice and air conditioning of the gym became a requirement beyond the initial opening. Take a look at our case studies for more information.
New Hampton School, prepared for future growth by pre-piping for an additional ice3 Cube and as of this writing, is adding an additional ice3 Cube to allow expansion by providing summer ice and air conditioning for additional facility programs.
Bottom line: preparing for future growth is no longer a guessing game when you have Emerald’s ice3 Cube Modular Technology available. Pre-piping for the additional ice3 Cube alleviates the what-if’s and allows you to confidently prepare for future growth by deferring first costs until the business model requires it.
Request a Consultation
The expert team at Emerald Environmental Technologies can help define and customize which ice Cube combinations are ideal for your community/municipal/outdoor, upgrade project, or collegiate rink. Emerald Environmental Technologies is based in New England and services the entire east coast up through Canada. Please contact us today to request a free consultation.
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