By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Osoyoos Council has approved the purchase and installation of a new chiller for the Sun Bowl Arena at a maximum price of $241,967 plus GST.
In his presentation to council, Director of Community Services Gerald Davis noted that during the startup of the ice plant for the summer of 2022, staff identified an ammonia leak in the chiller.
The plant at the Sun Bowl Arena uses ammonia to make and maintain ice and the current chiller is 16 years old with a normal life expectancy of approximately 20 years.
Upon further investigation with the BC Safety Authority it was recommended that the Town repair the current chiller and plan to replace it for 2023.
A specialty welder was contracted to make the repair following which several tests were conducted to comply with the BC Safety Authority.
The repair was only to be short term, and the Town and the RDOS have committed gas tax funding to cover the costs to purchase and install.
Davis noted that town staff worked with a mechanical engineer to identify energy conservation methods and decided to replace the existing shell and tube chiller with a plate and frame chiller.
“The plate and frame will allow us to install heat exchangers in the future to recover heat. The unit is smaller in size which will easily meet our refrigeration needs for both the arena and the curling club. Its capacity for ammonia is only about half of what we have onsite now,” Davis said.
A request for proposal (RFP) closed on December 7, 2022 with three proposals evaluated with Interior Purchasing. Complete Climate Control was the lowest priced proposal meeting the requirements of the RFP.
Councillor Jim King asked how long the facility would be shut down for the changeover, to which Davis replied that work would begin immediately after the normal May 1 closure with operations beginning by June 15.
