Things Go Better With Coke

FTLComm - Tisdale - Sunday, December 16, 2001

With ten years of service it was time to replace the Zamboni in the Tisdale RecPlex. A new Zamboni is a cool $65,000. The RecPlex has just negotiated its agreement with soft drink vendors and Pepsi is out and Coke is in. This long term (eight year) agreement sees Coke vending machines installed in the complex as well as dispensing machines in the kitchen and curling bar. But part of the deal was assistance with the new Zamboni and Coke provided $10,000 for eight years for the machine to be "red" and to carry the Coca-Cola signs for the term. The old machine was blue and had been sponsored partly by SaskPower. Here is one thing one would never think about but the new machine has increased maintenance because of its colour. Tisdale's water builds up sediment on the red paint which shows much more than it did on blue meaning that the machine needs to be thoroughly cleaned at least once a week. It is surprising how much work a machine like this gets. The old machine had reached the point where extensive repairs were needed to its bearings and with a new machine the basic mechanical maintenance is drastically reduced as is the reliability. The Tisdale RecPlex Zamboni does about four hundred hours a year and when you realise that this comes from one hours work each Friday when the ice is shaved down and for the rest of the week it is six minutes between each game and each period of play. To maintain the ice at is optimum condition the ice maker wants to have no more than three quarters of an ice of ice and no less than half an inch. With this much ice cracking is prevented with temperature variations and the plant can maintain excellent control of the surface in all kinds of conditions from very warm weather as in spring and summer and to very cold temperatures in January. To compliment the new Zamboni the ice makers have a new edge shaver to handle the area along the boards each Friday morning when the ice surface is overhauled.