Ice Rinks » Cross Hire Services

Build Perfect Ice Rinks With Our Portable Chillers

Are you building an ice rink? Rent a unit from our diverse range of portable chillers and you can create perfect ice rinks, as well as delivering the essential air conditioning and process cooling to keep it in top condition.

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Our temporary ice rink chillers are a popular rental product all year round. In winter, Cross Hire is able to provide portable chillers for short-term ice rinks across Ireland – keeping the ice slush free and fun for all!

We create ice rinks for both recreational and professional use. For this, we use the Trane AquaStream 2 Chillers – the most effective portable chillers on the market. Up and down the land, our team provides seasonal town centre ice rinks.

We also work with a major production company to ensure the smooth running of professional ice skating shows – at home and abroad. With our high level of expertise, we are the partner you can trust to deliver a curtain-ready ice stage.

CREATING PERFECT ICE RINKS ON A THEATRE STAGE

We know how vital it is to have ice rinks ready for rehearsals. It starts with two 45ft trucks arriving at your venue with rink equipment, as well as sets, costumes, sound and lighting equipment. And it takes 18 technicians to unload all of this!

The ice rink is put together in parts. The base and sides are first, which are are made from marine-reinforced plywood. The second phase are the sides, which use waterproof timber. At this point, the ice rink will look like a giant baking tray.

Next, we lay a waterproof pool liner membrane inside. After this, the fun begins as we systematically arrange and secure 15km of piping in the tray. After this, we connect those pipes to the header pipes – and this is an exact science. That’s because, if the spacing isn’t perfect, the rink won’t freeze.

Once the stage is complete, we link the header pipes with the Cross Hire chiller units that are sited outside. This has the job of circulating chiller fluid – water and glycol (anti-freeze) – around the pipe system. Once full, we lower the temperature to -15°C.

A frosty coating appears on the pipes, but – to speed the process up – 4 tonnes of crushed ice is spread across the pipes to create the icy surface. To get the ice to the desired three-inch depth, we spray the rink every 15 minutes. The surface then receives a final treatment to create the perfect smooth surface.

The process takes around 34 hours from start to end. To keep the surface at its best and the ice stable, the temperature of the surface is monitored at regular intervals. It is kept smooth throughout thanks to surface scraping and resurfacing with hot water.