A final total to fix the clogged pipes at the Sports palace in Kapuskasing was presented to town council on Monday night. It cost just over $227,000 with nearly three quarters of it in labour costs. The pipes that freeze the ice were clogged with sludge after they were not cleaned properly when the arena’s system changed from Brine to Glycol. Mayor Dave Plourde says there was no choice, but to get this work done.
“In this case it was a difference of making ice and not making ice,” he said. “As you heard the use of glycol and changing what they used to make the ice requires some flushing of the system. And it costs money to do that.”
Town staff told council that the work was carried out with proper consultation and the costs were unavoidable at the time.
Plourde says the repairs at the rink were managed as best as they could by the town staff.
“When it was pitched to us in the summer time about the repairs, I think it was something that was understood that kind of figured that the heat pumps and the fact they were pumping sludge was one of the problems that occurred,” he said. “And since that problem, the ice is in much better shape.”
