Alex Patterson, Director of Community Services & Tourism has contacted Council and local media. He began, “Unfortunately I have some bad news regarding the upcoming start of the season. We will have to delay our start date.”
He explains in his email that there has been a mechanical failure in one of the two dehumicificaiton units. “This failure took out a motor, relay, and transformer as well as a few other smaller components and caused us to lose one of the units. We became aware of the issue late Tuesday and diagnosed it Wednesday with a contractor and staff working late into the night yesterday to resolve the issue. We have been able to get the unit back up and running, but due to the outside weather and humidity, being down for only 3 days has caused significant dripping onto the surface that will take a great deal of time to fix. We also must let the facility dry further before continuing with the ice install. While it was our goal to meet the current date of September 17, conditions simply will not allow us to deliver a good and safe surface in time.”
He attached some pictures to the media release so everyone would be able to understand what staff are dealing with, and trying to remedy. “These were conditions observed last night before putting the unit back in service. With these on the surface, simply scraping them off will break ice down to the bond, and so we have to chip these individually from the top down to remove them.
They are planning to have the ice surface fully operational for Wednesday, September 19th. Other Municipal programs such as public skate and pickup hockey will begin September 24, 2018.
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That’s my life every year here in the Wadge. I can’t start the ice until mid October. We haven’t a dehumidifier. Those that know this arena, know the huge air space we have. When we get drips, they’re brown resin drips from the wood in the roof. I feel the pain. Doing all that work and having it ruined.