Testimonials
Rocky Ridge Royal Oak Community, Calgary, AB
"As a second-generation outdoor rink flooder, I remember the days of helping my father shoveling snow by hand, thawing out fire hoses and then folding them up nicely when we were done. It took some time and some of those nights were cold! Having the ability to create beautiful ice with minimum manpower was something that I thought could not be done. Every outdoor rink rat in Calgary knows that ice making in this city is about as much as an art as it is a science. Well the RinkWater® system has given our teams in Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak that advantage needed in creating beautiful ice on an outdoor rink. We are fortunate enough now to have machines to clear snow but the real magic and beauty is the RinkWater® box. The teams are able to flood the rink in under 10 minutes. When conditions and temperatures are right, the teams consistently were able to flood our rink up to 3 times a night. No frozen hoses, no cumbersome folding techniques, excellent water pressure and a great secure box that is heated which looks nice and stores the equipment in an efficient way. With all that, comes excellent engineering of the box and customer service from the people at RinkWater®. The team at RinkWater® have been very responsive with any questions we had with the system and are always checking in with our community about how their product is working. This is an excellent product which I believe is now the gold standard in outdoor rink flooding with a great team at RinkWater® that stands behind their product."
Kris Kasper
Director of Parks
Rocky Ridge Royal Oak Community Association (RRROCA)
Hamptons Community, Calgary, AB
"I’m fairly new to outdoor rink management as I only started in 2014 at the youthful age of 59 years. The first year or so was a lot of trial and error, mostly error at understanding management of wet hoses during extreme cold and limited help to manhandle the hose while being aware of the fragile nature of outdoor city park hydrants. Case in point, our hydrant was extremely stiff to turn on and off to start and stop water flow. Ultimately, we broke the shear pin in year two and had to wait for the city’s emergency water crew to turn off the supply so a second contract crew could make the repair. This was a week of waiting as it is common repairs happen in cold snaps, which tie up city crews. Roughly a year and half later the hydrant broke again, this time the valve below ground, so again the wait occurred but this time the city evaluated the hydrant and determined a new one was needed. We had water trucks supplying us with water to finish the rink floods that year which can be expensive. Our rink is extremely popular so the homeowner’s board decided to cover the water truck costs for one year until the hydrant replacement occurred. I had heard about a hydrant system that had a recoil hose roller and a heater for drying, plus protected the riser pipe (hydrant) from elements. With some research, RinkWater® came to my attention and I reached out for more information from Don at Ion Irrigation. After discussion, we felt we could coordinate with the city to have the RinkWater® system installed. This of course was at our community expense; however the benefits were immediately realized.
- Quicker floods, thus less time for crews to stay outside
- Hose quickly stored and dried for next flood
- Heated cabinet to protect riser (freezing)
- Auxiliary discharge to refill our Olympia ice groomer
- Attractive cabinet to store tools, gloves etc.
In summary, ice rink management is easier and more efficient and with the helpful people at Ion Irrigation all service needs and support is a phone call away. I highly recommend the RinkWater® system to all communities who maintain outdoor rinks!"
Ron Darling
Maintenance Supervisor
Hampton’s Community Association
Coach Hill Patterson Heights Community, Calgary, AB
"I have been volunteering with the Coach Hill outdoor rink since about 2018. For the first few years we accessed a nearby fire hydrant, but it was so labour intensive it required 3-4 people each time we wanted to flood the rink. The City required us to measure water usage from the hydrant which meant an extremely heavy manifold/regulator with water meter had to be stored in a heated garage and lifted out of the truck to connect to the hydrant. Once the flood was done we had to drain and neatly roll up 4 or 5 hoses, then lift the manifold back into the truck box. In very cold temperatures, it was a race to drain the hoses before they froze.
For the past couple seasons, we have had the RinkWater® system available to us and it has been a total game-changer. No more heavy lifting! A few of the many benefits are noted below:
- Heated cabinet to protect riser from freezing.
- Cabinet accessible by phone app utilizing Bluetooth, and manually for those that do not have the app.
- Electric hose reel to wind up and store in a heated enclosure. We still make sure to "walk the hose" to drain as much water as we can before reeling in the hose.
- Quicker and easier floods. Fewer volunteers required to flood, and less time spent outside in the cold.
The customer service we have received from the folks at RinkWater® has been excellent to say the least. I highly recommend the RinkWater® system to any communities who maintain outdoor rinks.
Jeremy Krislock
Volunteer Ice-Maker
Coach Hill Patterson Heights Community Association
News
The Yorkville community park is looking great, complete with a skate park, playground equipment, off-leash dog park, tobaggan hill, and an outdoor skating surface. This marks our 11th RinkWater® installation in the City of Calgary and 20th overall!
The RinkWater® team spent a chilly afternoon orienting the flooding crews in St. Albert on their new RinkWater® unit at Lacome Lake. It’s looking sharp, and the crews are going to love the speed and ease with which they’ll be able to flood their skating surface.
Check out our RinkWater® operational video. We created the video to show what RinkWater® can do for hassle-free rink flooding, as well as to provide operational support for the end-users (the Rinkrats).
Check out our installation at Coventry Hills Community in Calgary, AB. Looking good and ready to go for what’s shaping up to be a long skating season.
