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2. Automatically cutting back on the amount of ventilation during unoccupied <br />periods. <br />3. Automatically controlling exhaust fans during and after resurfacing. <br />Each of these measures has the benefit of being automatically activated at prescribed times of the <br />day. Once a time of use schedule is developed for each piece of equipment, there is no need to <br />worry about making manual adjustments to operate that system. Installation costs for each of the <br />above measures are typically $1,000 to $2,000 a piece. Paybacks are typically less than 12 <br />months but also depend on the current operation of the arena. Regardless of energy savings, <br />properly programmed time-of--day controls provide optimal space heating and ventilation under a <br />variety of conditions. Night setback thermostats, automatic ventilation systems, and automatic <br />exhaust fans have all been used successfully in Minnesota arenas. Some examples are listed <br />below. <br />A,p lication <br />Setback thermostat <br />Ventilation while resurfacing <br />Ventilation while resurfacing <br />Arena <br />Cottage Grove Arena <br />VFW (E. Grand Forks) <br />Bloomington Ice Gardens <br />Contact Person <br />Dean Mulso <br />Dale Skyberg <br />Andy Baltgalvis <br />Phone <br />(612) 458-2846 <br />(218) 773-1181 <br />(612)948-8842 <br />Spectator Radiant Heating <br />Ice arenas have unique heating requirements because only certain areas of the building such as <br />spectator seating and players benches need to be heated. Heating ice arenas with traditional <br />forced air furnaces can result in high energy costs and overheating of areas that do not require <br />heat. Forced air furnaces draw air from a central location and pass it through a heater exchanger <br />were the air is heated. The air is then distributed throughout the arena to maintain a desired <br />temperature. The air movement around the arena causes a disturbance in the stratification. of air <br />over the ice sheet. Air currents over the ice increase the convective heat loss on the ice sheet and <br />force the refrigeration system to work harder to maintain the ice sheet's temperature. The warm <br />air supplied by the forced air furnace also tends to accumulate at the ceiling were it will add to <br />the infrared heat gain to the ice surface by maintaining the ceiling at a higher temperature than <br />what is needed. <br />Heating with low intensity infrared heaters solves this problem by only heating surfaces such as <br />walls, floors, and people. These surfaces, in turn, act as heat reservoirs and release heat to the <br />surrounding air. Infrared heaters are positioned over spectator areas and players'boxes were the <br />heat is needed. The heaters are also directed away from the ice sheet so that they will not emit <br />any heat towards the ice. The air over the ice is not disturbed so the refrigeration system doesn't <br />have to work as hard as it would with a forced air system. Infrared heating has the added benefit <br />of being a negative pressure system so that the noxious combustion gases are expelled outside <br />and do not cause indoor air quality problems. Low-intensity infrared heating has been used in a <br />wide variety of Minnesota arenas with great success. Installation of infrared heating systems <br />cost approximately $15,000 to $20,000. Paybacks have to be analyzed on an arena by arena <br />basis. Some of the arenas in Minnesota that use infrared heaters are listed below. <br />Page Il Energy Improvements in Minnesota Public Ice Arenas Project <br />Center for Energy & Environment <br />