After 25 years of producing dependable rink ice here at Dakota CC the time has come to upgrade our existing ice plant. The upgraded plant will incorporate several environmentally friendly systems designed to enhance our facilities while achieving several environmental goals set by the Federal and Provincial Governments as well as addressing critical building code and worker safety issues. These upgrades will also provide noticeable improvements to the quality of our ice surfaces.

Project completion is anticipated by July 1, 2023.

For further information please feel free to contact Dave Dulko, Facility/Buildings Management Specialist at Dave@dakotacc.com.

Progress Journey

Join us as we document this upgrade journey. We'll showcase photos of work in progress and what's being done in a few segments.

Beginning
At the beginning of the project, the following was completed:

Replacement of old electrical conduit and wiring in the crawlspace.
Replacement and demolition of old plumbing in crawlspace.
Modifications to existing operators office to allow safe access for Olympia machine to snow melt pit from South rink.
Installation of conduits for new card swipe entrance hadware at 4 plant doors to limit public and unauthorized staff access to Olympia room and Machine room.

A few weeks in... (April 10)
Snow melt pit where the Olympia machine will dump all of the snow collected during floods. This pit will significantly reduce amount of snow being dumped in the back forest area where the water is slowly killing trees. The melting of the snow in this pit will also significantly reduce any potential biohazard exposure to the public.

No more Mr. Ice Guy.... (May 1st)
We removed the ice from our rinks on May 1st as part of the upgrade process.

Construction begins... (May 10th)
Washroom construction nearing completion. Photo currently shows without any of the finishes (1). Snow melt pit formed and waiting on concrete pour (2). Machine room vestibule under construction. Shoring of floors to allow for wall construction (3). Machine room shows all old equipment removed and new chiller in place (4). Boiler room with new high efficiency boilers and expansion tanks in place (5).

Construction continues... (June 5th)
New washroom for operators is completed and awaits install of toilets and sink. Olympia room floor has been repaired and a new heavy duty epoxy floor system has been installed. Replacement of existing doors and frames to be completed shortly, including new overhead doors to outside and arena areas (1). Snow melt pit has been completed. All that is remaining is piping of melt coil (2). Demolition of machine room is complete. Installation of all new equipment in machine room is complete other than some final piping and electrical work (3). Boiler room has been renovated to include 2 new high efficiency boilers. Equipment is hooked up and will be operational very shortly (4). New vestibule has been completed into machine room (5).

Construction nearing completion (July 5th)
Snow melt pit complete with grating. DCC used to dump all snow from resurfacing machine outside into forested area. This solution is much more enviromentaly friendly. New ice plant equipment room. 90% of old equipment was replaced with modern high efficiency equipment. New mechanical room with 2 new high efficiency boilers. Newly constructed operator washroom.