The Moose Jaw Events Centre nearly had a catastrophic incident over the Christmas holidays. 

Between Christmas and New Year's, an emergency refrigerant relief line fitting failed, resulting in a significant loss of refrigerant. 

General manager of the Moose Jaw Events Centre Ryan MacIvor told city council on Monday that they were lucky they didn’t lose the hockey and curling ice. 

“In between Christmas and New Year's, we were not maintaining the temperature levels of the ice pads, and with that, we're at risk of losing both ice surfaces,” he said. 

The line was temporarily fixed so that refrigerant levels could be brought back to an acceptable level. The contractor is now working with the Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan (T-Sask) and engineers to provide a permanent fix. 

T-Sask regulations will only allow the work to be done during the off-season as the line needs to be brought up to code with an additional safety valve and ammonia sensor along with repairing the fittings. 

The emergency repair cost $12,560, while the permanent repair is expected to cost $27,500. Along with $5,500 for refrigerant charges and $7,440 for contingency, the total cost is expected to be $53,000. 

Because it is an unexpected cost, the $53,000 is not in the Moose Jaw Events Centre budget. The funds will be coming from the Moose Jaw Events Centre and Yara Centre Reserve Fund which was invested in the city’s moderate-term portfolio. 

City council also passed a motion to refer a Moose Jaw Events Centre and Yara Centre building reserve to the 2024 budget deliberations. 

“Those are two facilities that, I think as we look forward at budgeting, we need to look at starting to put aside provisions on an annual basis for these types of repairs. As the buildings get older, there's going to be more and more repairs,” explained Director of Finance Services Brian Acker. 

Coun. Heather Eby said $53,000 is a small price to pay considering the consequences. 

“Fifty-three thousand dollars is significant enough, but not nearly as significant if we had a catastrophic failure of the plant and impacted all the events there, including hockey and curling and everything, so it definitely needs to be done,” Eby said. 

MacIvor and the Moose Jaw Events Centre have also identified several significant ice plant parts that will be brought forward to the 2024 capital budget for city council to consider. These parts include: 

  • Liquid injection solenoid valve 
  • Cooling tower shaft and bear kit 
  • Chiller level control NH# 
  • Cooling tower fan motor 
  • Pump 5 motor 
  • Pump 10 motor 
  • Shaft seals/gaskets, and bearing head assembly 
  • Compressor 3 motor 
  • Pump 1