The University of Minnesota will no longer use the ozone-depleting refrigerant R-22 to keep its ice surface cold at 3M Arena at Mariucci. (Courtesy University of Minnesota) With production of refrigerant ending, all options could be costly A popular refrigerant will no longer be produced after the end of the year, leaving many maintenance managers at arenas with ice rinks with a choice to make: stick with the current refrigerant to keep the ice cold by paying premium prices for a product that’s being phased out, or consider using ammonia, carbon dioxide or a newer, more environmentally friendly product called Opteom. “Ice arenas across the nation will have to find non-ozone-depleting refrigerants to keep ice rinks cold,” said Charlie Muus, director of maintenance and operations at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., home to the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team. The change is due to the Montreal… Continue Reading Cold, Hard Decision for Some Ice Rinks

To access this content you must be a subscriber and logged in with your subscriber credentials here. To subscribe to VenuesNow, click here for more information or here for combo subscriptions including sister-publication Pollstar.