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01-04-15 09:06PM

SIOUXfan1
Knee-Slider

Registered: Dec 2014
Location:
Posts: 4

Humidity issues

Our club seems to be having a lot of issues with humidity settling on our ice. I'm keeping my surface temp at around 25 degrees with the brine going out at 24 degrees. The air temp is set at 30-32 degrees. We are running 2 propane heaters located one each side in the middle. We also have box fans hanging in each corner to circulate air. These only come on with the heat.
Is the propane heat causing my humidity issue or should I lower my brine temp to help freeze the surface? Everything I read it seems like my numbers are in line.

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01-05-15 08:00AM

AlanMacNeill
Super Rockchucker

Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 1064

I'm gonna make a suggestion which improved our humidity problems here in DC (probably the humidity capital of the curling world) by about 4,000,000% (seriously, we went from the frostocolypse every season to consistent humidity and consistent ice).

Dessicant Dehumidifier system.

http://bry-air.com/casestudies/cond...skating-arenas/ is one place that does them, I'd look for one in your area.

It's a more high end solution than you are probably looking for...but...seriously, it's worth it.

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01-05-15 09:08AM

ChiefIceMinion
Harvey Hacksmasher

Registered: Nov 2012
Location: In the crawlspace
Posts: 83

Re: Humidity issues

quote:
Originally posted by SIOUXfan1
Our club seems to be having a lot of issues with humidity settling on our ice. I'm keeping my surface temp at around 25 degrees with the brine going out at 24 degrees. The air temp is set at 30-32 degrees. We are running 2 propane heaters located one each side in the middle. We also have box fans hanging in each corner to circulate air. These only come on with the heat.
Is the propane heat causing my humidity issue or should I lower my brine temp to help freeze the surface? Everything I read it seems like my numbers are in line.

What is your typical relative humidity? I don't think the propane heaters would throw off enough moisture to be causing the issue. More likely than not, your building is leaking in outside air.

Since you have heat, if your club can afford the higher propane bill the air temperature "should" be raised to 38-40�F...that is "typically" where you want it to be. The higher temperature should help a little bit with keeping moisture in the air and not on the ice. Even raising it to something like 35-36 might help.

One way to mitigate the problem would be to pull the ice temperature down overnight (say, 21-22) to remove moisture from the air, give the ice a scrape and raise the temperature back to game conditions. If the ice sits idle for a couple of hours between draws running the mop on the sheets before pebbling might also help.

Alan's suggestion of a dehumidifier would work provided the environmental penetration isn't too severe. However, with the dessicant type models their efficiency is better at warmer air temperatures so you'd want to evaluate your ability to heat the shed at a warmer temperature first (ours double their efficiency by raising air temp from 30 to 40).

Chief Ice Minion

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01-06-15 08:56AM

SIOUXfan1
Knee-Slider

Registered: Dec 2014
Location:
Posts: 4

Our humidity is usually in the 65-70 percent range. I did what you suggested with the temps last night. The ice went from wet all over to just spots here and there. Another question I have is we are a small club that curls once a week. What would you keep the off ice temps at? We curl on Tuesday so my thoughts were to turn the heat down during the week and back up on Saturday or Sunday to give it enough time to fully adjust. What are your thoughts?

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01-07-15 10:43AM

ChiefIceMinion
Harvey Hacksmasher

Registered: Nov 2012
Location: In the crawlspace
Posts: 83

quote:
Originally posted by SIOUXfan1
Our humidity is usually in the 65-70 percent range. I did what you suggested with the temps last night. The ice went from wet all over to just spots here and there. Another question I have is we are a small club that curls once a week. What would you keep the off ice temps at? We curl on Tuesday so my thoughts were to turn the heat down during the week and back up on Saturday or Sunday to give it enough time to fully adjust. What are your thoughts?

If you're only curling once a week I'd suggest keeping the heat turned down (or off) from the time curling is over to a day or two before curling resumes (depending on how long your heater takes to warm things up). Likewise, the ice pad could be turned down and then turned back up to playing temps about 24 hours before play. Both of those measures will save energy & money. If that route is taken the ice should be given a heavy scrape (or two or three) before play on Tuesday morning.

Chief Ice Minion

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