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Speaker 1: Technology with tech Stuff from half staff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I am your host,

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I am a producer executive at how stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot com and I love technology and that's why

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Speaker 1: I've been hosting the show for as long as I

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Speaker 1: can remember. No, I seriously love tech, and recently, due

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Speaker 1: to the hard work of Ramsey the Wonder producer, I

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Speaker 1: was able to have a discussion with some people up

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Speaker 1: on the rooftop click click click of the Pont City

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Speaker 1: Market where we have an ice rink. Now, now, when

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Speaker 1: I actually had this conversation, the ice rink had not

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Speaker 1: been completely installed. There was a distinct lack of ice,

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Speaker 1: for example. But it got me to thinking about doing

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Speaker 1: a full episode about the technology then makes ice rinks

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Speaker 1: possible in areas where it is not below freezing. I mean, obviously,

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Speaker 1: you can have a natural ice rink if you happen

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Speaker 1: to live someplace where it gets cold enough for a

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Speaker 1: pond to freeze through thick enough where it's safe to

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Speaker 1: do that. But as for indoor ice rinks like hockey

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Speaker 1: ranks and ice skating rinks in general, you have to

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Speaker 1: have a system there in order to make it work,

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Speaker 1: So that's why I'm really going to explore today. Now,

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Speaker 1: I'm not really familiar with this from a personal level,

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Speaker 1: and that's because I live in Atlanta. I grew up

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Speaker 1: essentially in the Atlanta area. I am a Southerner. We

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Speaker 1: are not well known for our winter sports. We did

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Speaker 1: once upon a time have an NHL hockey team called

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Speaker 1: the Thrashers that got sold off to Winnipeg. But I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to spend this entire episode grousing about how

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Speaker 1: we don't have the Thrashers anymore. I could do that,

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Speaker 1: but I won't. We do have a few temporary ice

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Speaker 1: rink seasonal ice rinks that pop up during the winter, though,

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Speaker 1: and I've never actually been on an ice rink. The

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Speaker 1: closest experience I've had would be roller skating, and that's

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Speaker 1: obviously similar but not the exact same thing as ice skating.

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Speaker 1: But I do know I'm terrible at roller skating. I mean, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: hilariously not graceful on roller skates, so I'm pretty sure

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Speaker 1: i'd wipe out instantaneously on an ice skating rink. But

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Speaker 1: I did want to learn more about how those are

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Speaker 1: created and how they're maintained, particularly in places like here

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Speaker 1: in the South where we have some of these outdoor

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Speaker 1: ice skating rinks. And in case you weren't really familiar

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Speaker 1: with us, our temperatures rarely dip below freezing, so it

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Speaker 1: takes a lot of engineering to make sure that ice

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Speaker 1: rink stays nice and icy. The tech to make an

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Speaker 1: ice rink is pretty cool, pun intended, and a big

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Speaker 1: component of it is essentially the same sort of tech

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Speaker 1: that makes refrigerators or air conditioners work, only on a

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Speaker 1: way bigger scale, but the same basic principles apply. So

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk a lot about the refrigeration cycle, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk a lot about heat exchangers. But first

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Speaker 1: let's get some basic physics under our belts. Now, we've

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Speaker 1: got to talk about thermal physics, as in the physics

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Speaker 1: that are all about heat, and heat itself is a

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Speaker 1: physical process. Heat is not something that is necessarily possessed.

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Speaker 1: Heat is technically the transfer of energy from something of

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Speaker 1: a high temperature to something else of a lower temperature.

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Speaker 1: That process, that exchange, is in fact heat. So a

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Speaker 1: lot of this stuff i'm gonna talk about you've probably

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Speaker 1: heard plenty of times in basic science classes. But if

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Speaker 1: you're like me and may have been a very long

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Speaker 1: time since you've had a physics class, and you might

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Speaker 1: need the refresher. And I always feel it's important to

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Speaker 1: start simple and then you build from there. So first

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Speaker 1: things first, heat always moves from an area of high

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Speaker 1: temperature to an area of lower temperature within a system.

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Speaker 1: That's how you do not have heat move from low

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Speaker 1: temperature to high temperature. That would be crazy. It only

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Speaker 1: goes high to low. That's just how our universe works.

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Speaker 1: You cannot transfer the other way around. So any object

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Speaker 1: that has a higher temperature than its surroundings within a

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Speaker 1: system will gradually transfer heat to those surroundings and its

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Speaker 1: own temperature, assuming there's not something actually generating the heat

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Speaker 1: within this object will decrease until both the object itself

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Speaker 1: and its surroundings will reach an equilibrium, that meaning they

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Speaker 1: reach the same temperature. Similarly, if you have an object

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Speaker 1: that has a lower temperature than its surrounding environment within

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Speaker 1: a system, it will gradually warm up. Now this is

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Speaker 1: not to say that cold is leaking out or escaping.

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Speaker 1: Cold does not transfer. Only heat transfers. Heat from the

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Speaker 1: environment moves into the object, ject gradually increasing its temperature.

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Speaker 1: Until again it reaches an equilibrium. Now, in the real world,

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Speaker 1: we would typically call this room temperature, because the systems

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Speaker 1: we operate in on a day to day basis are

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Speaker 1: these rooms and basic environments. So if you have a

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Speaker 1: hot cup of tea and you leave it sitting on

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Speaker 1: the counter for several minutes, it starts to cool because

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Speaker 1: it's releasing that heat. That heat is transferring to its

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Speaker 1: surrounding environment that is at a lower temperature than the

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Speaker 1: hot cup of tea. Uh. Likewise, if you have a

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Speaker 1: nice frosty beverage and you leave it on the counter,

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Speaker 1: it will start to warm up. It'll start to absorb

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Speaker 1: heat from its environment as it transfers in, until again

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Speaker 1: it reaches that equilibrium. From a macro level, we could

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Speaker 1: say that the heat is this flow of energy, So

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Speaker 1: just keep that in mind. Generally speaking, if you want

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Speaker 1: to make the base of an ice rink colder, technically

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Speaker 1: this works for anything, but we're gonna use ice rink

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Speaker 1: specifically because that's what this episode is about. If you

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Speaker 1: want to make the base of an ice drink colder,

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Speaker 1: you have to expose it to something that has a

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Speaker 1: lower temperature than the rink base. So here in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: it's in I think the low sixties right now on fahrenheit,

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Speaker 1: and we want to get the temperature of the base

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Speaker 1: of that ice rink below the freezing temperature of water,

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Speaker 1: which in fahrenheit would be thirty two degrees. It means

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Speaker 1: that we have to expose that base of the ice

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Speaker 1: rink to a temperature that's actually significantly lower than the

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Speaker 1: freezing point for water in order to make this happen.

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Speaker 1: Then the rink base will transfer heat to that lower

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Speaker 1: temperature object, in other words, whatever we're using to cool

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Speaker 1: down the base. Technically, what's happening is that the base

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Speaker 1: is actually transferring heat to that system, and thus it

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Speaker 1: will grow colder. Now, on principle, that's pretty simple, right,

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Speaker 1: It's not a very amplicated thought. You just have to

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Speaker 1: get something that's colder than what you're working with and

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Speaker 1: move them within the same system, and then it will

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Speaker 1: gradually make the other thing colder because they'll start to

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Speaker 1: absorb the heat from that other thing. That's not that complicated.

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Speaker 1: But then when you start actually looking at practical applications,

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Speaker 1: you realize, all right, we've got to solve some pretty

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Speaker 1: big problems. Requires a lot of engineering So, for one thing,

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Speaker 1: if you want the ice rink to remain ice even

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Speaker 1: if the surrounding temperature is above the freezing point for water,

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Speaker 1: for example Atlanta, Georgia, and the winter tends to be that,

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Speaker 1: you'll have to continuously chill the base of that ice rink.

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Speaker 1: You can't just get it cold and leave it. You

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Speaker 1: have to keep it cold. And since the base of

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Speaker 1: the ice rink will continually transfer heat to that colder object,

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Speaker 1: that colder object will eventually warm up. So whatever the

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Speaker 1: system is that you're using to chill the base of

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Speaker 1: the ice rink, it's absorbing heat. That means it is

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Speaker 1: warming up. That means you have to have a continuous

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Speaker 1: way to to keep that that's system more cool, to

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Speaker 1: chill it, to use a chiller if you will, that's

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Speaker 1: what they're called. Uh So these are actually pretty complicated. Now.

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Speaker 1: I keep saying colder object because not all ice rinks

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Speaker 1: are equal. They're not all exactly the same. They use

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Speaker 1: the same principle, but the actual application is different. So,

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Speaker 1: for example, if you wanna hockey rink, like a standard

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Speaker 1: hockey rink in HL hockey rink, you're talking about typically

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Speaker 1: a a base. There's a concrete base under which you

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Speaker 1: have a network of steel pipes, and the steel pipes

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Speaker 1: carry an extremely cold liquid, something that's below the freezing

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Speaker 1: temperature of water. We'll get into that a little bit later,

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Speaker 1: and that in turn pulls heat away from the concrete base,

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Speaker 1: making it colder than the freezing point for water. You

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Speaker 1: can then add water on top of the concrete base

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Speaker 1: and start building up layers of ice. Others are a

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Speaker 1: little bit different. The one that's up on the rooftop

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Speaker 1: of our building actually has a series of plastic tubes

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Speaker 1: that are carrying an extremely cold liquid in them being

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Speaker 1: pumped underneath the surface of the ice rink, and that's

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Speaker 1: what allows the water to freeze even in temperatures that

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Speaker 1: are above the freezing point for water. And essentially pour

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Speaker 1: water on top of this or otherwise distribute water on

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Speaker 1: top of it. It's a little more precise than just pouring,

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Speaker 1: and you get your ice rink. Uh So, generally speaking,

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Speaker 1: same approach, just slightly different applications. Now we have to

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Speaker 1: create a system that will hold a temperature below the

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Speaker 1: freezing point of water. Now that presents itself with a

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Speaker 1: few challenges. First, you have to figure out, all right,

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Speaker 1: what substance are we going to use. Clearly, we can't

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Speaker 1: just use plain old water because if we did the

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Speaker 1: water in our system to try and absorb heat, that

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Speaker 1: would freeze and then you wouldn't be able to move

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Speaker 1: it through your pipe system. So you can't just use

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Speaker 1: plane old water. You would need to have a liquid

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Speaker 1: that has a lower freezing temperature than water does. So

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Speaker 1: one way you could do that is by adding stuff

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Speaker 1: to water in order to lower its freezing point. So

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Speaker 1: salt is a good example. Saltwater has a lower freezing

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Speaker 1: point than freshwater, and that freezing point is dependent upon

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Speaker 1: how much salt concentration there is within that water mixture.

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Speaker 1: So some hockey rinks will use a briny mixture, meaning

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Speaker 1: they've got some salt content in the water to lower

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Speaker 1: that freezing temperature. Um if you have fresh water that

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Speaker 1: freezes at thirty two degrees fahrenheit or zero degrees celsius, seawater,

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Speaker 1: which obviously is not the same thing as being used

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Speaker 1: in hockey rink systems, uh seawater freezes at twenty eight

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Speaker 1: point four degrees fahrenheit or minus two degrees celsius. So

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Speaker 1: seawater has a salinity that's salt content of about three

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Speaker 1: point five percent. That is not as salty as water

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Speaker 1: can get. Though. You can keep adding salt into water

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Speaker 1: up to the point that the salt makes up about

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Speaker 1: twenty three point three percent of the weight of the mixture.

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Speaker 1: So at that point you reach what's called saturation. You

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Speaker 1: cannot put more salt into that mixture. It will never dissolve.

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Speaker 1: So at twenty three point you hit that maximum salinity. Now,

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Speaker 1: at that concentration, saltwater would have a freezing temperature of

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Speaker 1: minus twenty one point one degree celsius or minus five

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Speaker 1: point nine eight degrees fahrenheit, So very different. Right, You're

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Speaker 1: talking about a vast array of temperatures there, and again

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Speaker 1: it's all just based on the amount of salt in

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Speaker 1: that water. So a lot of ice ranks, like I said,

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Speaker 1: a lot of hockey ranks, use a briny mixture as

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Speaker 1: the cooling mechanism for the base of the rank. And

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Speaker 1: now the ice itself that's on the the rank, that's

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Speaker 1: pure ice. That's just water that doesn't have any salt content,

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Speaker 1: and at all, the only thing that has the salt

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Speaker 1: content is the system underneath the rink that is at

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Speaker 1: a lower temperature in order to allow the ice to

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Speaker 1: form the one that's actually being or one that's in

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Speaker 1: use now on the rink. When we went up to talk,

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Speaker 1: they were still putting this all together. Doesn't use a

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Speaker 1: briny mixture. Instead, it uses glycol, which is a type

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Speaker 1: of alcohol, and glycol also has a lower freezing point

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Speaker 1: than water. In fact, glycol will remain a liquid until

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Speaker 1: you hit about negative seventy four degrees fahrenheit, which is

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Speaker 1: about negative fifty nine degrees celsius. So if you can

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Speaker 1: cool glycol down well below waters freezing temperature, but still

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Speaker 1: above the freezing temperature of glycol itself, you're in business.

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Speaker 1: You can keep pumping liquid glycol that's at a very

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Speaker 1: low temperature at the very base of your ice rink,

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Speaker 1: and that will provide the heat sink to pull heat

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Speaker 1: away from water and allow it to freeze. But this

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Speaker 1: leads us to our second big problem to solve. How

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Speaker 1: do you get the cooling liquid to that low temperature.

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Speaker 1: How you keep your glycol or your briny mixture, and

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Speaker 1: they'll temperature lower than the freezing point for water. If

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Speaker 1: the water you are adding is constantly transferring its heat

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Speaker 1: to the system, how do you then get rid of

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Speaker 1: that heat, because if you don't do that, you're cooling

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Speaker 1: pipes will gradually warm up and then your ice rink

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Speaker 1: will just become a very shallow swimming pool and people

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Speaker 1: will not have very much fun. That is where the

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Speaker 1: chillers come in. Chillers are all about transferring heat, so

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Speaker 1: as you can siphon it away from one area and

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Speaker 1: dump it in another area. You cannot destroy energy, but

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Speaker 1: you can move it from one place to another. So

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Speaker 1: you can't destroy heat, but you can pull it from

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Speaker 1: one location and disperse it into a different location. Chillers

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Speaker 1: do this by taking advantage of thermal physics. And there's

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Speaker 1: several different types of killers that use slightly different approaches,

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Speaker 1: some of them dramatically different approaches, but they all have

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Speaker 1: essentially the same end goal, which is to facilitate heat transfer.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna look at a general approach and talk about

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Speaker 1: the types of chillers you're likely to run into if

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Speaker 1: you were, I don't know, going to an ice rink

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Speaker 1: or installing a massive HVAC system for an office building.

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Speaker 1: So think of chillers as three loops that are adjacent

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Speaker 1: to one another, but they don't connect to each other.

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Speaker 1: So almost like three rubber bands that are very close together.

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Speaker 1: Within one loop, you have the chilled liquid. That is,

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Speaker 1: this is the stuff that is creating the heat sync,

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Speaker 1: that's pulling the heat away from whatever it is that

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Speaker 1: you want to cool down. This might be an air

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Speaker 1: conditioning system, or it might be again the basis the

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Speaker 1: foundation for your ice rink. Uh. So you've got that,

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Speaker 1: You've got the second loop that takes the heat gathered

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Speaker 1: from the first loop. So that first loop starts to

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Speaker 1: heat up as it's absorbing this heat. You've got to

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Speaker 1: find a way to remove that. You've got to find

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Speaker 1: a way to dump that heat someplace. There's a second

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Speaker 1: loop that it essentially does that. It takes the heat

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Speaker 1: from the first loop and then finds a convenient spot

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Speaker 1: to dump it. And then you have a third loop

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Speaker 1: that is your refrigerant that kind of acts as the

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Speaker 1: facilitator between loops one and two. In fact, it's the

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Speaker 1: most important component of the entire system, is your refrigerant

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Speaker 1: uh loop. Now there are four different pieces to the

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Speaker 1: chiller system. Within that refrigerant loop then make all of

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Speaker 1: this possible. You have a compressor, you have a condenser,

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Speaker 1: you have an expansion valve and you have an evaporator.

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Speaker 1: And this leads us to another element of thermal physics,

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Speaker 1: which is if you crank up pressure on a gas,

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Speaker 1: for example, you not just increase the pressure of that substance,

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Speaker 1: you also increase its temperature. And it also means that

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Speaker 1: you can push up the boiling point of a substance

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Speaker 1: by putting it under pressure, which is also a great

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Speaker 1: song with Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. So if you

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Speaker 1: take a gas and you pressureize it enough, you can

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Speaker 1: convert that gas into a liquid, even if the temperature

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Speaker 1: of the substance is above its normal boiling point at

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Speaker 1: regular air pressure. So it will end up condensing into

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Speaker 1: a liquid, whereas it would normally evaporate into a gas

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Speaker 1: under that under a normal pressures, as long as you're

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Speaker 1: cranking up the actual pressure of the gas. So here's

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Speaker 1: how I think about it. On a molecular level, it's

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Speaker 1: really easy to understand the behavior of solids, liquids and gases.

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Speaker 1: A solid substance has its molecules pretty much locked into place.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's always some little movement, but it's more

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Speaker 1: or less locked into place. They hold their positions relative

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Speaker 1: to each other that keeps a solid consistent. But a

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Speaker 1: liquid has molecules that can move around more freely. They

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Speaker 1: spread out a bit, they get to wander around, they

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Speaker 1: test their boundaries because the liquid always is going to

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Speaker 1: take the shape of whatever container it is in. Then

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Speaker 1: a gas goes even further with molecules spreading out even more.

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Speaker 1: But if you do put that gas under pressure, you're

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Speaker 1: effectively forcing those molecules closer together as if they were

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Speaker 1: in a liquid. So if you do that enough, the

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Speaker 1: gas condenses into a liquid. You push those molecules together

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Speaker 1: enough to convert it into its liquid form. So how

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Speaker 1: does a chiller take advantage of this? All? Right, this

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Speaker 1: is gonna be a little tricky to describe without the

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Speaker 1: use of visual aids, but I'm gonna do my best.

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Speaker 1: So let's just imagine the system as simple as we

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Speaker 1: possibly can. Imagine a rectangle, and it's wider than it

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Speaker 1: is tall. So you've got a wide rectangle. Now in

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Speaker 1: the center part of the base of the rectangle, that

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Speaker 1: bottom border of the rectangle, just imagine a circle right

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Speaker 1: in the center of that. That circle is going to

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Speaker 1: represent our compressor. Now at the top of the rectangle,

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Speaker 1: opposite of our compressor will draw a little triangle, and

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Speaker 1: that triangle is going to represent the expansion valve. So

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Speaker 1: you can think of these as two gates. They keep

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Speaker 1: the pressure different on either side of the gates. On

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Speaker 1: the right side of this rectangle, we're going to imagine

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Speaker 1: that's the condenser, and on the left side, we're going

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Speaker 1: to imagine that that is the evaporator. So refrigerant moves

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Speaker 1: from the evaporator side through the condenser side via the compressor.

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Speaker 1: So you have the refrigerant moving from evaporator into compressor

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Speaker 1: where it gets compressed, thus the name, and then pushed

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Speaker 1: over to the condenser side. So we're going to take

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Speaker 1: a journey with the refrigerant to understand how this works

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Speaker 1: from a technical perspective. From the evaporator side, just as

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Speaker 1: you get to the compressor, that refrigerant before it goes

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Speaker 1: through the compressor is a low pressure arm gas. Typically,

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Speaker 1: the compressor then compresses this gas so that the output

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Speaker 1: on the other side, on the condenser side is a

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Speaker 1: high pressure hot gas. This hot gas then moves through

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Speaker 1: the condenser and that's typically a long length of pipe

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Speaker 1: or tubing that folds back and forth on itself. If

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Speaker 1: you've ever looked into the back of a refrigerator or

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Speaker 1: in an air conditioning unit, you've probably seen this where

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Speaker 1: you've seen these these pipes that do these tight s

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Speaker 1: curves over and over and over again. Well, that's the

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Speaker 1: way it's laid out. In a condenser. The high temperature,

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Speaker 1: high pressure gas moves through this length of pipe and

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Speaker 1: it can start to transfer some of that heat. Some

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Speaker 1: of it gets transferred straight through the pipe, some of

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Speaker 1: it typically gets transferred through fins that are uh connected

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Speaker 1: to the pipes so that it can draw heat away

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Speaker 1: through conductivity. It's it's conducting the heat and you then

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Speaker 1: have um a fan typically that blows air across the

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00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,400
Speaker 1: system that uses convection to pull heat away as well.

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Speaker 1: So this gas starts to lose some of that temperature.

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Speaker 1: As it's moving through this series of s curves, it's

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Speaker 1: transferring heat to the air around it. Now, the higher

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Speaker 1: pressure means that as this happens, the gas begins to

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Speaker 1: condense into a liquid. As it makes its journey through

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Speaker 1: this part of the loop, the liquid is still under

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressure that you can't really pressurized liquid

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Speaker 1: the way you can with gases, but it's still under

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Speaker 1: a great deal push, you could think of it in

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Speaker 1: that sense, um, but it's reaching more of a regular temperature.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the condenser side, you have that

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Speaker 1: expansion valve which leads to the evaporator side. Now, the

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Speaker 1: reason its valve is so that it can again create

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Speaker 1: this partial seal. It's sealed. Whenever it's shut. You have

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Speaker 1: a low pressure side on the other on the evaporate

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Speaker 1: raator end of this loop the circuit, if you think

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Speaker 1: of it that way. So you have high pressure on

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Speaker 1: the condenser side, low pressure on the evaporator side. That

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Speaker 1: expansion valve allows for one way travel, so it goes

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Speaker 1: from condenser to evaporator, and pressure, like temperature, is all

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Speaker 1: about moving from areas of high concentration to low concentration.

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Speaker 1: So the expansion valve allows this pressurized substance, this refrigerant,

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Speaker 1: to pass through into that low pressure side, the evaporator side,

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Speaker 1: and when it does, it suddenly finds itself with a

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Speaker 1: lot more room to spread out than on the high

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Speaker 1: pressure side. Right Suddenly it doesn't have that high pressure

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Speaker 1: to cram it together, and so the molecules of the

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00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 1: refrigerant end up spreading out and as a result, the

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Speaker 1: temperature begins to drop, so at the beginning of the

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Speaker 1: refrigerant journey around the evaporator, it becomes a low pressure

368
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Speaker 1: cold liquid, and as it moves through the evaporator, it

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Speaker 1: starts to absorb heat from the system. Whatever it is

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00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 1: you're trying to cool. In this case, it would be

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Speaker 1: the the stuff that's running underneath the rink, whether it's

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00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 1: the brine or whether it's glycol, that would be tangential

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Speaker 1: to this refrigerant system, and the refrigerant would be absorbing

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Speaker 1: the heat from there, and as a result, the refrigerants

375
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,879
Speaker 1: starts to boil off, it starts to evaporate, thus the

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00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: name of operator. In air conditioning systems, this heat would

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Speaker 1: be from the air of whatever area you were trying

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Speaker 1: to cool, But in the case of the ice rink

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00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,679
Speaker 1: on the roof of our building, the heat is in

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00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,880
Speaker 1: that glycol that's running through the tubes that are under

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Speaker 1: the rink itself. The refrigerant boils as it moves through

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00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: this part of the loop and evaporates, and that turns

383
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Speaker 1: into the low pressure warm gas that we started off

384
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Speaker 1: with when I began talking about this refrigerant in the

385
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,200
Speaker 1: first place. That low pressure warm gas that immediately moves

386
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 1: through the compressor and becomes the high pressure, high temperature gas.

387
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 1: So we're back at the beginning, and we just keep

388
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,600
Speaker 1: going through. It's a close system, so it doesn't go

389
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 1: anywhere else. The refrigerant does not mix with any of

390
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: the other loops. It just continuously goes through this process.

391
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 1: Now the glycol again access that separate loop, comes into

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00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: close contact with a refrigerant, but it never actually shares

393
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 1: a common line with it, so you never mix them together.

394
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,719
Speaker 1: The glycol will transfer heat over to the refrigerant, and

395
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,560
Speaker 1: because it's transferring heat, the glycoal itself becomes colder as

396
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,160
Speaker 1: a result, or if you prefer, the temperature decreases due

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Speaker 1: to this heat transfer. The glycol then moves through its

398
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 1: own pump to travel underneath the rink through lots of tubes.

399
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 1: I mean there were hundreds of these tubes underneath the rink,

400
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,439
Speaker 1: and it absorbs the heat from the environment as it

401
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,040
Speaker 1: moves through until it gets back to the heat exchanger

402
00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 1: part of the loop, and then again transfers heat to

403
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,480
Speaker 1: the refrigerant and goes all the way through it again.

404
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 1: So again closed loop systems. It's just pumps moving liquid

405
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: through at this point. Typically you then would have a

406
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: third loop, and this is the one that picks up

407
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 1: all the heat that was pushed out from the condenser

408
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 1: side of that refrigerant when it was that high pressure,

409
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:08,720
Speaker 1: high temperature gas. So there's some that are air cooled,

410
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 1: but a lot of them end up being water cooled,

411
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: so you have this water loop again on that side

412
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: of it. You can use water in this particular system

413
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 1: because you're not you're dealing with temperatures that are well

414
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: above the freezing point of water. You just have to

415
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 1: make sure that the water is at a lower temperature

416
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,919
Speaker 1: than the gas going through the condenser, because again, heat's

417
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,159
Speaker 1: going to only move from high temperature to low temperature.

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00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 1: So if the water you're using is high temperature and

419
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,160
Speaker 1: the condenser is at a high temperature, it's not very efficient.

420
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:37,959
Speaker 1: You need the water to be cool enough to actually

421
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: pull heat away, or rather to accept heat that's being

422
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 1: rejected from the condenser. This water would then typically be

423
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,359
Speaker 1: pumped up to some sort of cooling mechanism like a

424
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 1: cooling tower, and these are the big things you see

425
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 1: on top of buildings that often emit enormous amounts of

426
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: steam on cold days. If you've ever seen that. That's

427
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: typically a cooling tower on the top of a building

428
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 1: that's part of the HVAC system. The hot water will

429
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 1: go into the cooling tower. It drips down over fins

430
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: that are inside the cooling tower. You typically have a

431
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: fan or maybe a couple of fans at the top

432
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: of the cooling tower that is drawing air into the tower.

433
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: Their vents along the side that pull air in. The

434
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: air moves over these fins that have the hot water

435
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,919
Speaker 1: on them, thus cooling the water, some of it evaporating

436
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: away and then ejecting out the top of the cooling

437
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: tower being pushed out through that fan. So it's kind

438
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: of like a vacuum cleaner, but instead of sucking up dirt,

439
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: it's sucking up heat and air from the water, or

440
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,199
Speaker 1: heat from the water, but air in general, and blowing

441
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 1: it up through the top. The cooling water ends up

442
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 1: dripping down these fins, typically collects at a basin at

443
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,200
Speaker 1: the at the base of the cooling tower and then

444
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: drains back down into the system. Uh and then back

445
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 1: down to the heat exchange, your part of the chiller

446
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: that I was just talking about. So that's your basic

447
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: parts of a chiller. And again it's the same principle

448
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: that's working with things like refrigerators, it's working with air

449
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: conditioners and also ice skating rinks. Now I've got a

450
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 1: lot more to say about the technology behind ice skating

451
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 1: rinks and maintaining them, but before I do any more

452
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 1: of that, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor.

453
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: All Right, So we've talked about how to get the

454
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 1: temperature down low enough to freeze water and keep it

455
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,879
Speaker 1: at a temperature where you still have solid water a k. A. Ice.

456
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: But how do you fill up the ice rink. The

457
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: answer is that you do it very carefully, or if

458
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: you prefer, meticulously and slowly. So a large permanent ice

459
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:51,119
Speaker 1: rink typically will have that concrete foundation, and underneath that

460
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 1: you have a network of pipes that carry the cool

461
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 1: liquid that keep the concrete foundation nice and chili. The

462
00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,639
Speaker 1: concrete will be at a temperature that is below the

463
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 1: freezing point of water. Uh. You fill up the rink

464
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:07,159
Speaker 1: by spraying it with a fine mist of water onto

465
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,119
Speaker 1: the concrete layer to start off with the temperature of

466
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: the concrete so low that those tiny water droplets pretty

467
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: much freeze as they make contact with the concrete, it

468
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,399
Speaker 1: doesn't take along at all for it to freeze to

469
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: the surface. The first couple of layers of ice are

470
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 1: always extremely thin, So for a typical hockey rink that

471
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: uses this concrete approach, you're talking about an inch thick,

472
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 1: which is about point eight five millimeters, and once those

473
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: layers are down, you paint it. So most ice rinks

474
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: will lay down a layer of paint on those first

475
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 1: couple of layers of ice. This helps do a few things.

476
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 1: For one, it hides the base of the ice rink away,

477
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: so you're not looking at clear ice and seeing a

478
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: concrete floor, or in the case of the ice rink

479
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 1: that's on the roof of our building, you wouldn't see

480
00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,640
Speaker 1: a series of tubes that are pink because call has

481
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: a the glyde call they're using has a pink tent

482
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,199
Speaker 1: to it, so you would otherwise see just lines and

483
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: lines and lines of pink tubes. So they paint the

484
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,919
Speaker 1: ice that it obscures that. It also will allow for

485
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 1: good contrast with any logos or words that you want

486
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,800
Speaker 1: to paint on the ice rink. So, for example, with

487
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: hockey rinks, you would typically paint the name of the

488
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 1: hockey team on there, maybe put their logo on, maybe

489
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,640
Speaker 1: a sponsor logo could go on there. But you want

490
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,679
Speaker 1: there to be good contrast, so that's why you have

491
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,439
Speaker 1: that white base. Also, it creates great contrast for the

492
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 1: puck in hockey because you want to be able to

493
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 1: see that if you're a player or or an observer. Really,

494
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: So after that layer of paint would come another layer

495
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 1: of ice. This one is a little more thick. It

496
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: is one of an inch thick, that's about one point

497
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,959
Speaker 1: six millimeters, and that acts like a seiler for that

498
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: layer of paint that was just laid down, and then

499
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 1: you could put more paint down on top of this layer.

500
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 1: So this is where you would paint logos or the

501
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 1: lines and circles and arcane symbols that make up the

502
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: rules of hockey that I never got a chance to

503
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: understand because Atlanta's team was taken from us before I

504
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: could ever get a full grasp on the rules. And yeah,

505
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: I know, I said I wouldn't talk about it, but

506
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: I'm still angry about it. Anyway, after that you would

507
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: add your final layer of ice on top. But this

508
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: actually would happen in several stages, so it's one solid layer,

509
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: but it's done in phases. This is the actual surface

510
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: that people would skate upon. Now. Typical hockey rank, which

511
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 1: again is much larger than the one that we have upstairs,

512
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:46,720
Speaker 1: would require between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand gallons of water,

513
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 1: that's forty thousand to fifty seven thousand liters. Most of

514
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: that water gets added in that final layer. The overwhelming

515
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: majority of the water is added in that last layer.

516
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 1: And whereas the early layers get added as a fine missed,

517
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 1: the final one is a bit less delicate. They typically

518
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 1: will just use a flooding hose to pour water out

519
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: on top of the rink, and we're talking about ten

520
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: thousand gallons of water at a rate of about five

521
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: hundred to six hundred gallons per hour, which means it

522
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,719
Speaker 1: can take about twenty hours or so to add that

523
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 1: final layer to the rink. And according to Don McMillan,

524
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 1: whom hell Stuff Works, interviewed for an article on how

525
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 1: ice rinks work, most rinks will allow each five hundred

526
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: or six hundred gallon amount in that hour to freeze

527
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: completely before they start adding more water. So again in phases,

528
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: and that helps maintain a really good quality of ice

529
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 1: and ice quality is really a thing. You can have

530
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 1: good ice and you can't have bad ice. If your

531
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: temperature isn't right, you're gonna have some issues. So for example, um, outside,

532
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: if you don't have the right temperature, it's gonna start melting.

533
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: You'll have some slushy ice at the top, and that's

534
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 1: not great for skating. Um if you have really high humidity,

535
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: you're gonna end up with a lot of fog over

536
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: the ice, which happens here because we have a lot

537
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: of humidity in Atlanta. And uh, it's pretty spooky looking

538
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: in the morning to walk up to Pont City Market

539
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 1: and see the the the mist pouring off the top

540
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 1: of the building. Professional ice skaters tend to like their

541
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: ice at a relatively warm to twenty degrees fahrenheit at

542
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 1: the surface. That's minus three point three three to minus

543
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,560
Speaker 1: two point to two degrees celsius. Hockey players like it

544
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: a little colder because the ice is harder, it's more resilient,

545
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 1: doesn't grip the ice skates quite like the softer, less

546
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: cold ice does. They prefer the surface to be closer

547
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: to twenty four to twenty six degrees fahrenheit or minus

548
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: four point four four to minus three point three three

549
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 1: degrees celsius. Now, I had a chance to chat with

550
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: the project manager for the ice rink installed on the

551
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: roof of our building, and we cover some of the

552
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: stuff I just mentioned, but I think it's a pretty

553
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: interesting discussion, including all the work that was required to

554
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 1: install an ice rink on the roof of a nine

555
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 1: story building in Atlanta, Georgia, and just the amount of

556
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: sheer effort it required to do that. So here's what

557
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,239
Speaker 1: he had to say. Oh and just so you guys know,

558
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: we were talking up on the roof on a windy days,

559
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: so it was also during while you know, construction, they

560
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 1: were still playing the ice ring together, so the audio

561
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:24,880
Speaker 1: quality is a bit atmospheric. But here he goes, so basically,

562
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: you got to have a level surface. Obviously, if you're

563
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 1: gonna make guys it's greight water, you can have it

564
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,680
Speaker 1: running downhill. So we were fortunate enough to already have

565
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 1: a basically a perfectly leveled deck up here. So then

566
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 1: we put in foam insulation over that deck, uh, and

567
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: then a biscuen plastic and then we put these mats together,

568
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: and each of these tubes is a circulating system that

569
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: will run the glacoll pump pressurized probably minus ten twenty

570
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 1: degree claike all through and as the glacoll is running

571
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 1: through it and freezing, you basically take your standard garden

572
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: host and start missing water. And as soon as the

573
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: water hits that minus twenty degree glycol to being, it

574
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: starts to freeze. And so you start building that that

575
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 1: base of ice. And they'll basically take it from from

576
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 1: below the glacoll t being that you see here to

577
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 1: about a half inch above it, and then they'll paint

578
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: it white so that you don't see everything all this

579
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 1: pink glacol underneath. So then they'll put after they've got

580
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 1: that basecoat of white paint on it, then they'll put

581
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: another layer of clear ice on it. So it looks

582
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,719
Speaker 1: just like any other ice skating rink in America, hockey

583
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 1: rink that you would see on TV. And if we

584
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: wanted to, you could paint lines, or we could have

585
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: a sponsor, we would have a how how stuff works

586
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 1: out there, and you know, logo in the middle and

587
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 1: everybody skating would be skating over it, and that's pretty

588
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: much that. That's you know, that's the the end of

589
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 1: the process, and it's pretty simple. It's what happens prior

590
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 1: to that where all the engineering comes into play and uh,

591
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 1: all the hard work happens. So in order for us

592
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,520
Speaker 1: to create this on the roof, a lot had to happen.

593
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 1: We had a hundred and twenty ton chiller that we

594
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,880
Speaker 1: had to crane to the roof, and so that was

595
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,839
Speaker 1: we had a three hundred foot crane basically that we

596
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: hooked that up to. But before we did that, you

597
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: just can't set pounds plus another three thousand pounds of

598
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: glycol on a roof. It has to be engineered. So

599
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: we did structural engineering analysis and then built a platform

600
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 1: that would handle the weight the distribution, because not only

601
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 1: is it weight, you also need a little shock absorbers

602
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 1: in there to handle any of the vibrations because once

603
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: you tie into the columns and the beams, you don't

604
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 1: want the neighbors below hearing or feeling any any vibration

605
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 1: and rattling. So we isolated that system, craned up the chiller,

606
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 1: and uh and at that point we're running six inch

607
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:05,479
Speaker 1: steel pipe from the chiller up to the rink here

608
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,800
Speaker 1: and it's a closed system. So it's just a massive

609
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 1: circulation of glycol. Because we had to locate our chiller

610
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 1: UM further than about twenty feet from the rank. We

611
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,359
Speaker 1: had to put a massive pump on it too. So

612
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 1: the chillers themselves have a limited pressure capability for runs,

613
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 1: but our run was so long, we we put a

614
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,760
Speaker 1: huge pump on it so that we get the constant

615
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 1: pressure that we need and UM and that we maintain

616
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 1: our ability to keep this thing frozen. We're lucky that

617
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,759
Speaker 1: we're under a tent. If we were outside in Atlanta,

618
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: you know, we we don't have a lot of days

619
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 1: of constantly below freezing here and in the sunshine it

620
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: would probably melt the ice at some of the some

621
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: of the other outdoor rinks struggle with that. UM, we

622
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 1: will not have any issues. I'm told by the experts.

623
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: Without rect sunlight on our rank that we should have

624
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 1: a great surface. We could probably do it all year round,

625
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: believe it or not. UM. I know that this company

626
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 1: UH does things worldwide and they have outdoor outdoor skating

627
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,360
Speaker 1: in San Diego, so and they say to run that

628
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 1: in the summertime there. So you just have to have

629
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 1: a you know, it's all about your how big your

630
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,839
Speaker 1: chiller is, and how big your rank is. In order

631
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,359
Speaker 1: to to make that happen, and then all the six

632
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 1: inch piping of course had to be highly insulated. Uh.

633
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 1: You don't want to lose any of your value, your

634
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 1: temperature values. You know, steel obviously would would bleed out

635
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: and into the ambient air temperature. So we've got about

636
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: the two inches of insulation around all the piping. Uh.

637
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:51,840
Speaker 1: From an electrical standpoint where four naty volts three phase uh,

638
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 1: so lots of lots of juice to run all this,

639
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: as you're probably aware, you know, the bigger equipment, anything

640
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 1: that involves heating and cool really it's gonna pull a

641
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: lot of amps and it's gonna need a lot of

642
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 1: a lot of voltage. So we we actually ran additional

643
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 1: power up here on the roof in order to make

644
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,279
Speaker 1: that happen. Can't just plug it into the outlet on

645
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: the wall, regrettably, because running power from the west side

646
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: of the building to over here is it's it's pricey

647
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: at at the thirty bucks a foot just for the

648
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 1: just for the wire, just for the cable. So they

649
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 1: the power was was a disappointment. My landlord has been

650
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: very helpful with with helping us out on some of that.

651
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 1: So basically what we're looking at here for for people

652
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 1: who may not be aware of how this all works,

653
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,440
Speaker 1: we're looking at essentially a heat exchanger. You've got your glycol,

654
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,960
Speaker 1: which has a lower freezing point than water, so you

655
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,759
Speaker 1: can lower that temperature of the glycol much lower than

656
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 1: the freezing point of water. You run that through the system,

657
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:57,840
Speaker 1: water hits it. Obviously, the heat transfers into the glycoal system,

658
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,200
Speaker 1: which is so cold and so massive and being up

659
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: so quickly that it's not effectively raising the temperature of

660
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 1: glycol enough for it to affect uh. But it's not

661
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:08,600
Speaker 1: like you're going to have one part of the rink

662
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 1: that's slushy, whereas the rest of it's all all nice

663
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 1: and solid. It goes, pumps through the system, hits the chiller,

664
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 1: reduces the temperature of the glycol back down to what

665
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 1: you wanted at the top, goes right back in because

666
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 1: it's a closed loop, and just continuously pumps through to

667
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,880
Speaker 1: keep that water at that that below freezing temperature, so

668
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:28,800
Speaker 1: that you have anice solid rink. Is that more or

669
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 1: less what we're looking at. That's exactly what we're looking

670
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:36,399
Speaker 1: at here, And and In fact, the chiller has got

671
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 1: it the sensors on it, and it will monitor the

672
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,080
Speaker 1: pressure and it will also monitor the temperature. So it's

673
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,680
Speaker 1: kind of a smart system in order to be efficient

674
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: to tell itself exactly what it needs to do to

675
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: maintain the conditions that we're looking that you just described

676
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 1: out here. Well, that's great because this is exactly the

677
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 1: same sort of principle that you would see on things

678
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 1: like air conditioners or a refrigerator, just on a much

679
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,720
Speaker 1: more are massive scale. And it temperature is far lower

680
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:04,759
Speaker 1: than what you would I mean, I like a nice

681
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:09,800
Speaker 1: cool man cave, but minus twenties is low even for me. Yeah,

682
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:11,800
Speaker 1: you know, it's not something you want to walk around

683
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 1: barefoot on in the garage or in your cave. So

684
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: that's great. About how long would it take to go

685
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 1: from from dry to full rank? Uh? Knowing that this

686
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 1: is going through phases right once, once we're at this

687
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 1: point where the system is set up, the grid is

688
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,719
Speaker 1: laid down, and once we flip that compressor on within

689
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,440
Speaker 1: an hour, we're gonna start making ice. As soon as

690
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: we reach the right tempts that are circulating through the system,

691
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,120
Speaker 1: we're gonna start spraying down that that first coat of

692
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: water in order to uh to build up that ice.

693
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,640
Speaker 1: So it should happen very quickly. Uh, you know, we

694
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: probably will. It'll take hours, of course to build up inches.

695
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,080
Speaker 1: Will probably get to about three inches of ice out here.

696
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,880
Speaker 1: That may take some time. But again, because we're not

697
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: interact sunlight, we're and it is cool at night. So

698
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 1: if we start this in the afternoon and work into

699
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,799
Speaker 1: the evening, we should have a solid rink within a

700
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,320
Speaker 1: matter of four or five hours up here to skate on.

701
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: That's incredibly one of the do you happen to know

702
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 1: the dimensions of this rank? Yes, this rank is fifty

703
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,959
Speaker 1: by seventy, so we're right at suare feet here, So

704
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 1: just five hours or less for that much that much

705
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: square footage is really impressive when you sit there and

706
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: you think about the energy requirements, as you were saying,

707
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,439
Speaker 1: just for the equipment is incredible, but if we're talking

708
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,799
Speaker 1: about just physics, the energy requirements to remove that much

709
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 1: heat so that you can convert water into ice for

710
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 1: that much square footage, it's it's phenomenal and it's an

711
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 1: elegant solution to I'm sad that my listeners won't be

712
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: able to see this. Well, we'll share some images on

713
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,719
Speaker 1: social as well to kind of get a look at

714
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 1: how this works. But when you see it and you

715
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:58,120
Speaker 1: see the solution that was proposed, from an engineering perspective,

716
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: it is simple and elegant and yet incredibly effective to

717
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 1: be able to turn that much water into that much

718
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: ice that quickly. Um Again, when you start looking at

719
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,600
Speaker 1: it from a physics perspective, like that's a that's a

720
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 1: lot of energy that you have to take into consideration.

721
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,360
Speaker 1: And of course that's before anyone that tries to manage

722
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: a triple axel out here. I will not be one

723
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,320
Speaker 1: of those people. I might try my hand at skating,

724
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 1: but considering my lack of grace just on roller skates,

725
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:34,319
Speaker 1: I suspect spectacular white belts would be to followed so

726
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 1: well when they when that ice has finished and ready

727
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 1: to skate on, you're gonna hear me tap out at

728
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,240
Speaker 1: the other sides and turn it over to another group

729
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: of people to handle it from there on out. You know,

730
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: to your point, the amount of energy and and everything

731
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 1: that goes into this, you know the I think only

732
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,680
Speaker 1: mother nature really does it better than what we're doing here,

733
00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: and it is it is when you start to think

734
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,239
Speaker 1: about the the energy and the physics involved, it is

735
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 1: h s daunting really sure. Yeah, yeah, And as you

736
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,399
Speaker 1: we were pointing out, just the just taking into consideration

737
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,239
Speaker 1: and how they handle the weight is an enormous undertaking

738
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: because you're on we're on the rooftop of an existing structure. Obviously,

739
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 1: Uh one, the rooftop was not necessarily intended to hold

740
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 1: a ton chiller plus a rinkfull of solid water, uh

741
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 1: not dimensional people on top of it. But that's incidental

742
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:30,319
Speaker 1: compared to everything else. Uh So yeah, having to take

743
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,279
Speaker 1: that into consideration and look at and how is the

744
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:37,319
Speaker 1: building built, how does that weight distribute already? Love would

745
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 1: you need to do in order to offset that in

746
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:41,920
Speaker 1: any way? If there's a point where you think, well,

747
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 1: we'd love to play it here, but the roof literally

748
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,520
Speaker 1: can't support it there, There's a lot of things you've

749
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:51,160
Speaker 1: taken into account, and I imagined the whole process took

750
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,640
Speaker 1: quite some time before anything was laid down at all.

751
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,040
Speaker 1: We we should really started visioning this over a year

752
00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 1: ago and started to kind of analyze the hurdles that

753
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,719
Speaker 1: we would have in front of us, and uh, structural engineering.

754
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,800
Speaker 1: Of course, it was our first consideration, can we handle

755
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,720
Speaker 1: the pounds per square foot up here? What's the rating

756
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,319
Speaker 1: of this ice gonna be? And how well is our

757
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,120
Speaker 1: deck engineered? And and so we had to bring in,

758
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 1: you know, the brainy acts to help us out and

759
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: figure out exactly what we could handle up here, because

760
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,799
Speaker 1: it's not just ice. We have wind load up here,

761
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,399
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna have a human load as well.

762
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,480
Speaker 1: So if you really start to factor in all of that,

763
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 1: and the math kicks in. And we were fortunate that

764
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,759
Speaker 1: we have very robust engineering up here and that we

765
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,919
Speaker 1: were able to to pull this off. But uh yeah,

766
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 1: almost at every turn of the project we were we

767
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 1: were surprised by the complexity of it and surprised because

768
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: this was a little bit out of our wheelhouse. This

769
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,240
Speaker 1: was a new venture for us, and so the learning

770
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:53,439
Speaker 1: curve was steep. Well. To me, those are the most

771
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: exciting projects to work on. I've always said that my

772
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 1: job is one of the best I can imagine because

773
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,400
Speaker 1: I get to learn new things every single week, and

774
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 1: that you know, that challenge is what I feed off of.

775
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:09,400
Speaker 1: At times, it can obviously become so challenging as to

776
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 1: be frustrating, but the fact that we're looking at a

777
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:16,920
Speaker 1: project that's so close to being ready for the public

778
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 1: to see. I'm very excited to actually get a look

779
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:23,560
Speaker 1: at the rink once it's all finished. Being able to

780
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 1: see that in this state is actually really cool for

781
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 1: me because it's something that I typically would never have

782
00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 1: been able to see, you know, outside of just images

783
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,320
Speaker 1: or maybe some videos. So having this opportunity is fantastic.

784
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,279
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it, and I can't wait to see

785
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 1: this chiller I've heard so much about. Well it was.

786
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,040
Speaker 1: It was a beast and and to see it come

787
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,520
Speaker 1: off of a huge flatbed truck and have the crane

788
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,920
Speaker 1: and of course you just don't latch onto it. You

789
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: can imagine, you know, even a five mile an hour

790
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,640
Speaker 1: breeze as you're craning something hundreds of feet into the

791
00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:00,160
Speaker 1: air can get a little bit dicey. So they just

792
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,720
Speaker 1: just watching the crane set up, it's booms and it's

793
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,240
Speaker 1: it's weight distribution. That was a whole another engineering lesson

794
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:10,880
Speaker 1: in itself. Again, the physics involved in every phase of

795
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,239
Speaker 1: this was really amazing, and and yeah it was. It

796
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:16,200
Speaker 1: was an enormous amount of fund for me to be

797
00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:18,720
Speaker 1: a part of this, To go through the learning curve

798
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:22,040
Speaker 1: and I can now speak in in some languages of

799
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,240
Speaker 1: physics that I couldn't have before we started the project.

800
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:27,360
Speaker 1: You never know, and that's gonna come in handy on

801
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:30,880
Speaker 1: the future projects. And that's also well, thank you so

802
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,440
Speaker 1: much for showing the rink. I really appreciate it. I'm

803
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 1: I really can't wait to see this one. It's ways

804
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,440
Speaker 1: ago well as a pleasure having you up here. And uh,

805
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 1: I think we'll force you to get into a pair

806
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:42,759
Speaker 1: of skates and get on the ice when we're done.

807
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:45,399
Speaker 1: I think I have to. At this point, I want

808
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 1: to thank Mr Brett hole Ride for inviting us up

809
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 1: and taking a look at the ice rink in progress.

810
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,840
Speaker 1: It was pretty awesome, not just to see the rink

811
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,640
Speaker 1: itself and how it was laid out and with all

812
00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:02,080
Speaker 1: those tubes of glycol underneath, but also just that massive chiller,

813
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: hundred twenty ton chiller on the roof of this building.

814
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: It was enormous, along with the huge pump that was

815
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,839
Speaker 1: necessary to actually move the glycol through the system, and

816
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:14,719
Speaker 1: we never would have had a chance without it. So

817
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: thank you again, Brett. And I got a little bit

818
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,720
Speaker 1: more to say about maintaining an ice rink. But before

819
00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:22,919
Speaker 1: I go into that last section, let's take another quick

820
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:32,399
Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. Alright, I thought it might

821
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: be fun to end this episode with a look at

822
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:39,879
Speaker 1: ice resurfaceers. Typically, folks would refer to these as a Zamboni,

823
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:43,719
Speaker 1: But just to be clear, Zamboni refers to a particular

824
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 1: brand of ice resurfacing machines. It's just that most folks

825
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,160
Speaker 1: use that brand name to refer to the technology in general,

826
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,239
Speaker 1: much the same way that some people will refer to

827
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,880
Speaker 1: any copy machine as a xerox. Now, the purpose of

828
00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,040
Speaker 1: these machines is to repair and polish the surface of

829
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:02,719
Speaker 1: ice rinks as they experience wear and tear, and it

830
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:05,360
Speaker 1: does not take very long for metal ice skates to

831
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: carve up that nice, pristine surface of an ice rink.

832
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:10,839
Speaker 1: And once in a while you need to fix things

833
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,560
Speaker 1: so that they're more attractive and to avoid situations where

834
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,279
Speaker 1: a skater goes topsy turvy after hitting a particularly big

835
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: divot cut out of the surface. Now, in the good

836
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 1: old days, and by that I mean the awful old days,

837
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:26,440
Speaker 1: this was all done by hand. People would actually venture

838
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: out onto the skating surface with tools to physically chip

839
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:33,560
Speaker 1: away at that top layer in order to get as

840
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:36,640
Speaker 1: smooth as surface as possible. They would use shovels to

841
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,240
Speaker 1: shovel up any of the ice shavings that they created,

842
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 1: either from skating or just scraping that top layer of ice,

843
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:45,640
Speaker 1: and they would use water hoses to pour out more

844
00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:48,880
Speaker 1: water to replace the ice lost from the whole process

845
00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:52,319
Speaker 1: as well, and they'd use squeegees and towels to help

846
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,279
Speaker 1: spread the water in a thin layer across the entire

847
00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:59,400
Speaker 1: surface to get that nice shiny appearance and make everything

848
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:02,839
Speaker 1: clean and beautiful again. And the whole process would take

849
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:08,320
Speaker 1: several hours of backbreaking work. Then in you have a

850
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:12,560
Speaker 1: visionary named Frank Zamboni who decided to tackle this problem

851
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:15,120
Speaker 1: and find a better way to resurface an ice rink.

852
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:18,080
Speaker 1: He and his brother Lawrence had opened up an ice

853
00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 1: rink in California, Southern California at that and they had

854
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,240
Speaker 1: been using a tractor that was outfitted with a large

855
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 1: blade to scrape that top layer before manually shoveling up

856
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 1: all the ice shavings and pouring hot water from a

857
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: hose onto the rink and then squeegeeing it by hand

858
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 1: across the surface. The whole process, even with the tractor,

859
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:41,480
Speaker 1: meant that it would take about an hour and a

860
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 1: half to resurface their ice rink, which was not an

861
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:47,600
Speaker 1: enormous rink. It was a It was a decent size

862
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:49,360
Speaker 1: one is bigger than the one that we have upstairs,

863
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 1: but not the biggest one in the world. And so

864
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,040
Speaker 1: Zamboni thought, there's gotta be a better way to do this.

865
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:57,320
Speaker 1: His solution was to create a new type of vehicle

866
00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:00,360
Speaker 1: that could do as much of this work as pile

867
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,400
Speaker 1: all by itself. And he worked on this concept for

868
00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:08,480
Speaker 1: nearly a decade and created a truly terrifying Frankenstein's Monster

869
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: of a vehicle out of parts that included stuff like

870
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,120
Speaker 1: there was a cylinder from a plane, there was a

871
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:16,840
Speaker 1: jeep engine driving the whole thing. There was an oil

872
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:25,440
Speaker 1: derec chassis. So this invention first debuted in nineteen forty nine,

873
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:32,240
Speaker 1: it obviously went through lots of different evolutionary processes until

874
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 1: it was refined into the sleek, sexy vehicle we all

875
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 1: know and love today. And of course, there's more than

876
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:41,680
Speaker 1: justice Amboni ice resurfacing machines out there at this time.

877
00:49:41,719 --> 00:49:44,799
Speaker 1: There's all sorts of ones that are out there. But

878
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 1: here's what a modern ice resurfacing vehicle actually does. So

879
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:55,000
Speaker 1: underneath the vehicle there's a blade that is positioned inside

880
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 1: an overall structure that's called the conditioner. This you can

881
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: actually raise and lower underneath the zamboni, so when you're

882
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:04,880
Speaker 1: just driving it onto the surface of the ice, you

883
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: can raise it up so nothing is dragging, and when

884
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 1: you're ready to start, you lower the conditioner down and

885
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 1: then you typically have a control that can put the

886
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 1: angle of attack for the blade at such so that

887
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 1: you can cut exactly the amount of ice you want

888
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:23,200
Speaker 1: off the top surface. For hockey rinks, it's a very

889
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:27,320
Speaker 1: very thin layer, but other rinks it might be a

890
00:50:27,400 --> 00:50:30,959
Speaker 1: little bit more more severe, depending upon what they're trying

891
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:34,880
Speaker 1: to do. So the blade is typically somewhere between seventy

892
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:38,279
Speaker 1: seven to ninety six inches in width, which is about

893
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 1: a hundreds and it cuts that top layer of the ice,

894
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: the very top layer, removes any protrusions, helps level out

895
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 1: any big divots. Uh. There are a pair of augers

896
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:53,680
Speaker 1: that catch all the shavings, the the ice chips or

897
00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,800
Speaker 1: the snow and they move it into a snow tank.

898
00:50:56,880 --> 00:51:00,960
Speaker 1: Augers are are essentially large screws, so you rotational force

899
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:05,359
Speaker 1: to move those shavings around. There's one that's horizontal and

900
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:08,319
Speaker 1: it ends up pulling all the ice shavings, are really

901
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:11,560
Speaker 1: pushing all the ice shavings into the center back portion

902
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:15,840
Speaker 1: of the zamboni. Then there's a vertical auger that lifts

903
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 1: from that central packed mass and moves it up to

904
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:23,120
Speaker 1: the snow tank, this waist tank that's typically on the

905
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:27,680
Speaker 1: front of the zamboni or ice resurfacer, i should say.

906
00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,319
Speaker 1: And then typically one of these machines will pour hot

907
00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:35,960
Speaker 1: water onto the ice. Behind this there's maybe it's warm,

908
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,160
Speaker 1: not hot water, and helps level out anything that the

909
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:41,279
Speaker 1: blade wasn't able to get. There's a squeegee that is

910
00:51:41,400 --> 00:51:44,000
Speaker 1: right behind this hot water that then allows that to

911
00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,600
Speaker 1: get sucked back up into the system so that it

912
00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:50,520
Speaker 1: can be recycled. And then there's another hot water emitter

913
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,719
Speaker 1: at the very back of the zamboni just before you

914
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:57,759
Speaker 1: get to the the extreme rear of the vehicle where

915
00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:01,360
Speaker 1: there's a flap. It's essentially a towel at the very back,

916
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,919
Speaker 1: and so hot water drips out and the towel then

917
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 1: spreads the hot water against the surface of the ice

918
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:13,320
Speaker 1: ice free surfacers use hot water instead of cold water

919
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:17,200
Speaker 1: because the hot water, when it makes contact with the

920
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:20,560
Speaker 1: ice rink, will start to melt that surface ice just

921
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:24,760
Speaker 1: slightly before it begins to free freeze into a solid layer.

922
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:28,800
Speaker 1: If you were to use cold water, cold water freezes

923
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,919
Speaker 1: so quickly that you end up more like very thin

924
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:36,120
Speaker 1: additional layers on top, and those chip way very easily.

925
00:52:36,239 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 1: So if you're doing some sort of fancy ice skating

926
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: or you're doing you know, playing hockey or something, you

927
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:45,799
Speaker 1: end up getting these big chips that fly up, and

928
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,840
Speaker 1: that typically is not really preferred. So that's why they

929
00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:52,160
Speaker 1: use hot water. It it melts the top surface of

930
00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:54,800
Speaker 1: the ice just a little bit before it all refreezes

931
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:59,360
Speaker 1: and makes it more of a solid layer of ice. Often, Um,

932
00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:02,000
Speaker 1: you'll have a couple of other elements, like there might

933
00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:05,279
Speaker 1: be another brush. It depends upon the vehicle. Some of

934
00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:08,600
Speaker 1: them run on natural gas, some of them run on

935
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:14,080
Speaker 1: battery power. Um, if you're looking at a full size

936
00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:18,000
Speaker 1: zamboni with a full tank, these things are heavy. They

937
00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:23,439
Speaker 1: weigh about eleven thousand pounds or four thousand ns. These

938
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:28,000
Speaker 1: are massive, heavy vehicles. So running across that ice is

939
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:30,520
Speaker 1: no joke. And they also tend to have a metal

940
00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:33,239
Speaker 1: studs on their tires to give them enough purchase to

941
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:36,640
Speaker 1: be able to actually move across the ice effectively. And

942
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 1: according to Car and Driver, operating a zamboni isn't exactly

943
00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:45,319
Speaker 1: like driving a sports car. The report said, quote, visibility

944
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:48,640
Speaker 1: from the elevated left rear position is poor, the abrupt

945
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:51,960
Speaker 1: throttle tip in takes some getting used to, and the

946
00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:57,720
Speaker 1: vague steering is totally seventies Cadillac end quote. But it's

947
00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:00,799
Speaker 1: still kind of like to ride on one, though, And

948
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:04,440
Speaker 1: that's our show about ice rinks. I'm still not likely

949
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:08,000
Speaker 1: to get on one anytime soon unless I just decide

950
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 1: that a few nice weeks in traction would be a

951
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:15,840
Speaker 1: really good vacation. But like many Southerners, I really only

952
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 1: trust ice if it's in my t That wraps up

953
00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:22,200
Speaker 1: this episode. If you guys have any suggestions for future

954
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:26,320
Speaker 1: episodes of Tech Stuff, whether it's a particular technology company

955
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,120
Speaker 1: that's been important in tech, or a figure that's really

956
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:30,920
Speaker 1: important in tech, or maybe there's someone you would love

957
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:33,560
Speaker 1: me to interview or have on as a guest host.

958
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,080
Speaker 1: Any of those suggestions, I welcome them all. You can

959
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,000
Speaker 1: write me the email address for the show is tech

960
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or you can

961
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:46,200
Speaker 1: draw me a line on Facebook or Twitter. The handle

962
00:54:46,239 --> 00:54:49,400
Speaker 1: at both of those is tech Stuff hs W. Remember,

963
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,800
Speaker 1: you can watch me record this show live on twitch

964
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:56,440
Speaker 1: dot tv slash tech Stuff. I record on Wednesdays and Friday's.

965
00:54:56,520 --> 00:54:59,319
Speaker 1: Just go to twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. You'll

966
00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:02,640
Speaker 1: see the schedule there. You can join in, you can

967
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,560
Speaker 1: join the chat room. I chat with you guys. We

968
00:55:05,680 --> 00:55:08,799
Speaker 1: make jokes, we laugh, we cry. There's a lot of

969
00:55:08,840 --> 00:55:11,160
Speaker 1: bonding that happens. But you won't be a part of

970
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:13,480
Speaker 1: it unless you go to twitch dot tv slash tech

971
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:16,799
Speaker 1: stuff and I'll talk to you guys again really soon.

972
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:25,680
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, is

973
00:55:25,800 --> 00:55:36,720
Speaker 1: how staff works dot com.