Loading...
5.7. SR 10-13-2003HEHORANDUH Item ~5.7. TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Mayor and City Council Pat Klaers, City Adminstr~.~./~,. October 13, 2003 Ice Arena Floor Discussion Hopefully the floor in the barn will be able to handle ice for this upcoming skating season without a major delay or expense. However, as outlined in the memo from Ice Arena Manager Rich Czech, this may not happen. In this regard, we are moving forward on a "dual track" as if: (1) the floor is not going to work this year and we need to do a major reconstruction ASAP, or (2) that ice will be available in the not-to-distant future. Rich is doing everything he can in order to try to get ice on the barn floor this season. In trying to be prepared if this does not work, we have advertised for bids for the reconstruction of the floor and planned for this work to begin in November. Funding for this floor has previously been discussed in a preliminary fashion. The city can either pay for this project with liquor store funds and/or NSP funds, or these funds by can be used way of an internal loan and this project can be funded with the government building monies (landfill host fee dollars) when they become available in 2005. The funding for the floor-dasher board project can be discussed later with the capital improvement program review. The key issue or question is whether or not the City Council wants to fund this project with government building reserves and part of the answer to this question is what other uses (and when) are there for the government building reserves. The list of possible uses for the government building reserve is quite lengthy and the decision by the City Council will depend on needs and priorities. If government building funds are not to be used for this project, then as noted in the previous paragraph, funding will come from the liquor store enterprise fund and/or the NSP reserve fund with a (likely?) possible combination of these two funds being used for the project. S:~Council~Pat~2003~icearenafloor.doc ELK RIVER ARENA 1000 SCHOOL STREET N.W. ELK RIVER, MN 55330 (763) 635 - 1141 Fax (763) 635 - 1144 To: Pat Klaers, Elk River City Administrator From: Rich Czech, Arena Manager Date: October 9, 2003 Subject: The Barn's Rink Repairs As I stated in my last memo, we were not able to pull the temperature down during the start up procedures. This was due to moisture in the system that was freezing once the temperature of the refrigerant got below freezing. Since 1988, pipes in the floor have needed to be repaired. Every summer we check the floor for leaks and then repair the leaks that were found. This year was no exception; we made over 30 repairs to the floor this past summer. During this year's start up we have been dealing with two different problems, moisture in the system, and excessive leaks in the pipes in the floor. The moisture in the system was caused from years of opening the floor for repairs and from this past year when a pipe was sheared while the concrete was being sawed, introducing water in the pipes. The excessive leaks in the pipes in the floor this season were caused by all the times the floor was opened for repairs. The best way I can describe this is to compare it to a cancer. Since 1988 we have gone into the floor to repair leaks (cancer). For many years we were able to stay ahead of the leaks. Eventually, the cancer in the floor has spread to where the floor might be beyond repair. From my understanding, there are three issues that occur when the pipes in the floor are repaired. First, once the refrigerant and oil in the pipes were exposed to the atmosphere, it created acids and alkalis that continue to rust the pipes in the floor at an accelerated rate. Second, the piping in the floor has a natural electrical current. This current is changed when the new piping is installed. The new pipe and the fittings that were used to repair the leaks creates a different current that actually removes material from the existing pipes, starting corrosion on the existing pipes in the floor that eventually results in the pipes failing. Third, the jack hammering that we use to get at the leaks has loosened the concrete around other pipes exposing them to the water when flooding the rink, which starts corrosion on the pipes. With all of this in mind, here is a summary of what has been done to correct the problem and what still needs to happen before the system can be operating. Over the last three weeks we have made over 70 repairs in the pipes that are in the fink floor. These repairs were needed not only to hold the refrigerant in the pipes, but also to hold a vacuum on the floor. We have introduced over 24,000 pounds of nitrogen into the pipes in the floor to remove moisture and any other impurities from the pipes in the floor. A vacuum has been put on the pipes in the floor to remove any other moisture that still may remain in the floor. This will take about a week, until approximately October 16th. A micron gauge will be used to determine how much vacuum is on the floor. A new floor should be able to hold a vacuum of about 500 microns over a 48 hour period, a floor that is in relatively good shape should be able to hold a vacuum between 1,200 -1,500 microns in a 48 hour period. We are hoping that the Barn's floor holds a vacuum between 2,000 and 2,500 microns in a 24-hour period. If the vacuum works, we will then install dryer cores in the system and start the ice plant. The refrigerant will be kept above freezing while the dryer cores remove additional moisture and impurities from the refrigerant. Once we feel that we have done the best we can to remove the moisture and impurities from the refrigerant, we will then start lowering the temperature of the refrigerant to start cooling the floor. If this works, we should be able to start making ice about October 21 st, and have ice available to skate on by October 24th or 25th. This could vary depending on if we experience any problems along the way. The costs for the repairs to get the rink running are close to $12,000.00. If we are able to get the Barn running by the 24th of October, we will have lost close to $20,000.00 in ice sales due to the delay. If a new floor is needed and is approved this fall we will loose about $113,000.00 in ice sales, prior to the new floor being ready for use in January. If the Barn does not operate at all this season we will loose about $170,000.00 in ice sales, admissions, and programs. There are two scenarios that could prevent us from getting the system started this year. First, if we cannot get the floor down to a vacuum below 2,500 microns, we will know that there are too many leaks in the floor to start up the system. At this point it may be unfeasible to try to fix any more leaks in the pipes in the floor. If we could find all the leaks we would be looking at November, early December before we could possibly try to start the system. At that time there would be no guarantees that we would be able to get the system operating correctly. The other scenario is that there is still be too much moisture and impurities in the system to have it operate correctly. We will know more once we start bringing the temperature of the refrigerant towards the freezing point. Either scenario would force us to move forward on a new floor or to not have ice until the fall of 2004, when the floor is scheduled to be repaired. With your approval, I moved forward in the process of getting bids to replace the floor. In the bidding documents there is a base bid that moves the project forward to this fall and an alternative bid that moves the project forward next spring. This will give the council the options of rejecting the base bid if the repairs we've made worked and we're able to operate this year. If they choose to reject the base bid, they could then award the alternative bid for next spring. If the repairs do not work, they could award the base bid if they choose. If the repairs are needed this fall, we would be looking at a completion date of about January 17th with ice time being ready January 22nd.