NuTemp's Rental Dehumidifiers and Air Conditioners Saved Hockey Playoffs Along with the Super Bowl, the Baseball World Series, and the NBA Playoffs, there is another huge sporting event that draws great crowds and attracts thousands in television audiences - the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The best of the best in the National Hockey League compete for the chance to be hockey champions that year. Although the terms "hockey" and "Southern US" seem somewhat contradictory, perhaps because fans are more accustomed to thinking of hockey players as confident Canadians, not hospitable Southerners, the NHL has been attempting to expand into the Southern parts of the country, holding games in Texas, Florida, and South Carolina, among other states. Tens of thousands of Americans crowd the arenas to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs and root for their team. The problem? Along with these thousands of bodies and hot, muggy Southern temperatures comes humidity. An ice expert knows that moist humid air and hot temperatures are a recipe for disaster when it comes to maintaining the proper ice conditions. The NHL has made the rules for ice hardness very strict in the recent years in order to make the games quicker and reduce injuries. Hard ice also allows for swift passes and prevents the puck from bouncing. Rigorous inspections are conducted to ensure that the ice at all Stanley Cup rinks meets the new stiff standards. As outside temperatures inched up towards the 80s in late April and early May, ice specialists for one of the NHL teams in the Southern part of the country had cause for concern. With humidity, ice becomes "soft" and unsafe for skating, while fog clouds the arena. In order to keep fans comfortable, the thermostat inside the rink cannot go lower than approximately 65°F. In addition, the Southern ice rink did not have a large enough air conditioning system to facilitate late season hockey games. Two dehumidification units were malfunctioning, and the situation was critical. To remedy the dilemma, rink management contacted NuTemp/Longville and rented eight 5,000 cfm desiccant dehumidifiers, two 25 ton and two 30 ton air conditioners, along with two 300 kW diesel generators to provide power for half of the dehumidification equipment. Upon arriving at the rink, NuTemp technicians placed equipment on the east side of the arena, in a fenced area next to the arena's power switch gear room. Thus, the arena's switch gear could be used for power. However, power was not available on the west side. Consequently, NuTemp supplied two 300 kW generators with a 1,000 gallon fuel tank to power the equipment. NuTemp/Longville specialist engineers supplied 40,000 cfm of dehumidification in addition to the rink's dehumidification equipment, giving the rink in excess of 80,000 cfm of dehumidification. The relative humidity at the arena was lowered from ~63% to ~43%. NuTemp air conditioning units were used to return air from the arena and pre-cool the air prior to entering the dehumidifiers. This process lowered the air supply temperature by approximately 20°F. An estimated 1,500 feet of flexible air duct and approximately 1,200 feet of cable were used for this job. The set-up of equipment took four days. The efforts of NuTemp's team were well worth it. Ice conditions at the arena were remedied to satisfy NHL's requirements. The games proceeded, the fans were happy, the show went on. NuTemp/Longville is a worldwide leader, specializing in the rental of complete/portable ice rinks, chillers, dehumidifiers, air conditioners and generators. The chillers, dehumidifiers and air conditioners can be used with the NuTemp rink system or separately to augment failed or overloaded permanent rink system. NuTemp/Longville has over 60 locations in North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific. 1-800-323-3977 www.nutemp.com