The Albert Lea City Arena got a facelift prior to the start of the hockey season and it was a long overdue upgrade.

For the past 45 years the arena operated on the same furnaces and last season they started to show further signs of deterioration. Of the four furnaces, only two worked and only half the burners on those two would work. Essentially the arena was down to one furnace.

“As bad as the furnaces were I think the compressors were worse,” said Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Facility Manager Bob Furland. “We were kind of living on borrowed time last year. There were many times last year that we had to have someone come and repair it. As they get older it’s so hard to find parts and some days we were running on one out of two compressors to keep it going.”

The decrepit furnaces and compressors were making the ice conditions worse. When resurfacing was done between periods of games puddles would remain for much longer than other rinks, leaving soft ice — far from ideal playing conditions.

“That condenser we had four fans on it and it was leaking so bad that we had to cut the shaft in half, so two of the fans weren’t even working even moving, but they were filling up with water and freezing so it would shut the whole system down,” said Facility Maintenance Supervisor Jim Osmundson. “That’s why last year we were having such a bad time with ice last year. Pretty much we were running on half a condenser.”

But this past summer the arena was overhauled with a brand new refrigeration system, compressors and heaters perched above the seats.

The project was nearly $500,000 and the new equipment was replacing original pieces.

Eleven heaters above the seats in the main rink were installed and have made the arena warmer. In the back rink two heaters were installed. A dehumidifier above the main rink was installed, which will go a long way to preserve the facility. Three years ago Osmundson said he worked on the roof of the arena to remove black mold that had grabbed a hold. Because of the condensation that would build up on the roof, drops would sometimes fall on the ice and further worsen the quality of the ice. The dehumidifier should take care of many of the headaches the facility staff experienced.

Furland said the project will use less energy as well. The old compressors were both 150 horsepower and ran at the same time. The new compressors are 50 horsepower each and the staff only run one on most days.

The energy bill ran around $13,000 a month with the old equipment, Furland said.

There was some talk of using geothermal equipment early into the planning, but after cost analysis was done, it was far cheaper using something other than geothermal. The decision to go with a system similar to Owatonna’s was made.

The hockey community has enjoyed the upgrades and the response has been positive, Furland said.