Hi, I'm new to your forum. I'm a retired mechanical engineer with limited refrigeration knowledge. I belong to the Guelph Curling club in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. This morning at our club we encountered a problem with our artificail ice surface which we have never seen before. Let me give you a brief overview of the building and the system to help you understand the problem.
The ice surface is approximately 150 feet by 110 feet. The ice is cooled by brine which flows through pipes layed on a sand floor. The feed and return headers for these pipes are on the 150 foot side next to the compressor room.
One of the requirements of the system is to keep all of the ice surface at the same temperature. This morning when our "ice maker" reported for work he discovered that the ice at either end of the 150 foot length (appoximately 35 feet at each end) was significantly warmer than the ice in the middle of the rink. The ice that is warmer is very slick to walk on, almost to the point where it is not possible to curl (the sport that is played on the ice surface)
The refrigeration system appears to be working normally and the brine system also appears to be operating normally.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help and tolerance of my limited knowledge.