The Village of Burns Lake held their regular board meeting on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.
The board discussed the current ice problem at the Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena and the curling rink.
Lewis Jones, Director of Recreation Services for the Village of Burns Lake, proposed to the board to replace the arena chiller with a plate and frame style.
The estimation for replacing the arena chiller will cost $265,000 which will come from the Comfor Reserves.
“We’re actually replacing one large chiller with two smaller plate and frame chillers,” Jones said.
“We need the ice, like yesterday, so whatever gets it here faster even if it costs us more bang for our buck. I’m all supportive,” said Councillor Charlie Rensby.
When the plant was started to install the ice, the gas detectors alerted a Freon leak.
The plant was shut down and refrigeration technicians came to inspect the plant.
During the inspection, it was determined the chiller had failed on one side, leaking Freon into the brine for the arena floor.
“We can’t operate because part of that unit has failed. So, in the worst case scenario, when something happens down the road, if something needs to be serviced on one of those; we can still run one system. It’s a completely separate system and does provide us more serviceable unit,” said Jones.
The lifespan expectancy of the new chiller will be 30 years and it will take about 12 weeks to arrive. Once the new chiller is installed, it would take about two to three weeks for the arena to have ice and the same period of time for the curling rink.
The arena and curling rink facilitates winter sport activities that is highly valued by the community to promote physical and mental well being.
It is expected that Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena and the curling rink will have its ice during the month of January 2024.
“We will work with user groups to examine extension of the ice season. If there is sufficient demand for the ice, we will extend the ice season longer than usual,” said Jones.