Typical Recreational Ice Floor Configuration
The cooling floor brine is usually a calcium chloride solution mixed to a freeze point of -5°F to -10°F. The heating floor brine should be kept at a freeze point of 10°F to 15°F.
Solving Humidity Problems in Ice Rinks
If you can control the humidity in your facility you are one very large step towards creating the ideal ice skating environment.
Sand Floor versus Cement Floor
There are good reasons for installing both sand floors and cement floors in an ice skating facility. Hopefully the following should make your decision easier.
1" pipe in cement versus ½" mat style
On floors with end headers, the 1" pipe permits higher glycol flow rates at lower pressure drops. This results in reduced temperature drops across the grid, faster temperature recovery, and superior temperature control. Better ice surface conditions are maintained during varying conditions.
Calcium Chloride versus Glycol
On an indirect refrigeration system a choice must be made between the type of secondary coolant that you select. Both Calcium Chloride and glycol have been successfully used over the years and there are applications where both secondary coolants have an advantage. To a much lesser degree other heat transfer mediums such as methyl alcohol have also been utilized in the ice rink industry.