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ELK RIVER ICE ARENA - ICE SYSTEM EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br />Some of the potential downsides, or risks, involved in <br />continuing to operate the existing direct systems for too much <br />longer are as follows: <br />• Continued Equipment Costs: The equipment and parts <br />on the refrigeration system will continue to require <br />replacement in the near term. It's similar to driving a <br />vehicle with high miles; the longer it runs, the more <br />costly it becomes to repair and the lower the return on <br />investment. Parts for the existing York compressors are <br />no longer manufactured and becoming extremely <br />difficult to find and costly to purchase. Some valve <br />manufacturers (like Sporlan) no longer manufacture <br />some of the valves used on the system. <br />• Risk of a Refrigerant Release: As the system ages, the <br />risk of a major release of refrigerant increases. The <br />existing direct systems contain approximately 4,000 <br />pounds of R -22 refrigerant in Rink 1 and approximately <br />6,000 pounds for R -22 in Rink 2. Depending on the <br />availability of R -22 when this occurs, the City may be <br />forced to install a new blended refrigerant which will <br />require additional modifications to the system. <br />• Dependability: The risk of problems occurring with the <br />refrigeration system, and therefore, the risk of losing <br />the ice sheet, increases as the system ages. <br />Option 2 — Make Improvements to the Existing Rink 1 Ice <br />System: <br />Holmsten Ice Rinks provided good quality vessels (e.g. high <br />pressure receiver, pumper drums, etc.) with their systems. This <br />opens up the option of renovating the existing refrigeration <br />system to extend its useful, dependable, and safe life. This has <br />successfully been performed at several facilities such as <br />Gustavus Adolphus College, University of Minnesota - Duluth and <br />others. <br />If the existing refrigeration system is going to remain in place, <br />whether in its current operation as a direct system, or <br />converted into an indirect ice system, we recommend the <br />following improvements be performed on the existing <br />refrigeration system. <br />G Stevens 18 <br />