Ultra miniature ice rink

[Thombas]

I want to create a 7.5 sq metre (possibly up to 10 sq metre) ice surface in a ground floor room in my house for what would be very limited recreational skating.

Does anyone know if this would be feasible, and if so whether there is a small enough chiller on the market to enable me to do it?

Thank you.

[multisync]

I'm tempted to ask if it's April 1st already but I'll hesitate and ask if you have a budget in mind before we go too far as this is a few grands' worth of project

[lowcool]

as multi says everything is feasible given the size of the cheque book.
you can always buy roller skates

[Colin G]

amazing idea but also financially a crazy idea considering the price of a membership pass to the local 'rink'

[Ray123]

Hadn't designed any system for ice rink before, just some rough calculation, with 75 mm thick insulation for wall, roof and floor, giving the room temperature at 0 deg C, the heat load should be roughly around 24 kW.

At SST -10 deg C, SDT 42 deg C and 20 K superheat, slightly oversize the compressor, a 13 HP compressor should be enough. Judging the size of the ice rink, I would go for direct expansion into stainless steel coil. It should save some cost for having the need to having secondary fluid in the system.

[Thombas]

Thanks for responding and no I am not joking - I live on an island without an ice rink (having been used to using one almost on a daily basis) and it costs me about £200 a shot to get to one if ever I have the opportunity.

I am well expecting the set up cost to be several thousands of pounds but I was hoping it would be a lot cheaper than the £35k I've been told it may take to create an 82.5 sq metre rink with a 38kw chiller. My proposed ice pad will be about a tenth of that size.

Of course there are running costs on top and I have no idea what they would be. If they will involve me spending many £100s per month on electricity then that might put a kibosh on my idea.

I can't work out whether chillers and compressors are different machines or the same by different names.

[multisync]

Thanks for responding and no I am not joking - I live on an island without an ice rink (having been used to using one almost on a daily basis) and it costs me about £200 a shot to get to one if ever I have the opportunity.

I am well expecting the set up cost to be several thousands of pounds but I was hoping it would be a lot cheaper than the £35k I've been told it may take to create an 82.5 sq metre rink with a 38kw chiller. My proposed ice pad will be about a tenth of that size.

Of course there are running costs on top and I have no idea what they would be. If they will involve me spending many £100s per month on electricity then that might put a kibosh on my idea.

I can't work out whether chillers and compressors are different machines or the same by different names.

Isle of Man??


a 20kw unit will be well over £100 pm as it's a 24hr operation. Then you got the cost of your Zamboni. Owning an ice rink is not a cheap hobby. I suggest you contact a ice rink hire company who can be more detailed with costs..

Take the carpet up and try roller blading instead...

[Mark C]

We used to design and construct a small ice rink like this at Cal Poly SLO for the open house/Poly Royal back in the late 1970s early 1980s. If memory serves, we used a modified aircraft chilling circuit from China Lake we got donated and a whole lot of students' hard work.

[Brian_UK]

I know that some towns put down ice rinks around Christmas time using solid board of some sort.

This I assume has a suitable surface to allow ice skates. Anything like that do the job?

edit: Found this via Google....

http://www.creativeleisure.co.uk/viking-artificial-ice-rinks.php

[charlie n]

The cooling load is about 350watts/m2. Refrigerant in the tubes in the ice has to be about -8. If glycol, use a flow rate high enough to get a 1.5 to 2 degrees TD. (-10/-8.5). HDPE pipe is fine for glycol. Copper pipe if you are going to use DX. use 100mm of insulation under the ice & bury the pipes in sand for a stable load although you can simply flood the pipes if you can make a watertight pool. I've never built one smaller than 50M2. Let us know how it turns out.

[Thombas]

I have already looked into synthetic ice and have concluded that it is not an option (nowhere near proper ice and it dullens the skates quickly).

Rollerskating is not an option either as it is a totally different sensation.


The cooling load is about 350watts/m2. Refrigerant in the tubes in the ice has to be about -8. If glycol, use a flow rate high enough to get a 1.5 to 2 degrees TD. (-10/-8.5). HDPE pipe is fine for glycol. Copper pipe if you are going to use DX. use 100mm of insulation under the ice & bury the pipes in sand for a stable load although you can simply flood the pipes if you can make a watertight pool. I've never built one smaller than 50M2. Let us know how it turns out.

So if my rink is 10 sq metres I am assuming I need a 350 x 10 watt chiller i.e. 3.5 kilowatt chiller. Does that mean it uses 3.5 kilowatts of electricity per hour? If so and my electricity is about 14 pence per unit, that comes to about £365 per month in electricity costs.

That sounds rather a lot, then again I'm sure lots of people spend more than that on petrol for their cars each month...

[multisync]

I have already looked into synthetic ice and have concluded that it is not an option (nowhere near proper ice and it dullens the skates quickly).

Rollerskating is not an option either as it is a totally different sensation....


That was my wee jokette.



So if my rink is 10 sq metres I am assuming I need a 350 x 10 watt chiller i.e. 3.5 kilowatt chiller. Does that mean it uses 3.5 kilowatts of electricity per hour? If so and my electricity is about 14 pence per unit, that comes to about £365 per month in electricity costs.

That sounds rather a lot, then again I'm sure lots of people spend more than that on petrol for their cars each month

Electrical demand is roughly a 1/3rd to 1/2 refrigeration duty

However don't forget you will also be running it during off peak which should mean a reduction in PPU. If it was £100pm would you still consider it as an option?