Moisture Content of Wood Components and Indoor Climate Records of Three Curling Rinks in Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Technical Note (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1966-04-01

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Moisture Content of Wood Components and Indoor Climate Records of

Three Curling Rinks in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Robson, D. R.

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DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

No.

467

NOTlE

'II'

E

_C

1HIN II CAlL

PREPARED BY D. R. Robson CHECKED BY D.C.T. APPROVED BY N. B. H.

April 1966

PREPARED FOR Inquiry and record purposes

SUBJECT MOISTURE CONTENT OF WOOD COMPONENTS AND

INDOOR CLIMATE RECORDS OF THREE CURLING RINKS

IN HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

The Division of Building Research has undertaken a project to gather field information on the maximum moisture

contents of wood used in certain buildings providing a damp

environment. An exchange of letters with the construction

section of DBR in Ottawa led to the instrumentation of a

curling rink in Halifax, early in December 1963. Data

were collected on indoor temperature, humidity and wood moisture content for the curling season, ending in April

1964. In November of 1964, two more curling rinks were

added to the study to substantiate records from one rink, and results were obtained from all three rinks for the period from November 1964 to the end of April 1965.

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- 2

-INSTRUMENTATION

Moisture content measurements were made every two weeks during the curling season, using an electrical resistance meter specifically constructed and calibrated for wood moisture

content measurement (Delmhorst Model RC 1). At the end of

the season, two pairs of insulated pins were driven into the wood at the Glencoe Club, and the moisture content (m. c.) readings checked with those nearer the surface, using the regular tips of

the Delmhorst meter. Good agreement between these two sets

of readings indicated that the method used of inserting the regular prongs each time for readings was a reliable one, provided the surface of the wood was not wet.

A spring-wound clock-driven hygrothermograph provided a continuous record of temperature and humidity in each rink on

a seven-day chart. In this instrument, changes in temperature

are sensed by a bimetal element, and changes in humidity by a

human hair element. Because the hair element cannot be relied

upon for accuracy over a wide range of humidity, calibration was carried out each week, at the time the chart was changed, by means of a battery-powered wet and dry bulb psychrometer.

Outdoor weather records were obtained from published data from the Public Weather Office, Department of Transport, for the Halifax ar ea.

CURLING RINKS - DESCRIPTION

,

Rink No. 1 (Glencoe) has walls built of 12-in. concrete

block and a wood roof supported by HB beams. The building

encloses eight sheets of ice. The ice area can be heated by

means of two warm -air oil-fired furnaces of 112,000 Btu/hr output each, suspended from the HB beams, one on each side

of the rink. There are no roof ventilators, exhaust fans, or

dehumidifiers installed in this rink. The warm -air furnaces

did not operate for heating during the curling season, but the circulating fan on each furnace ran continuously to circulate

the air in the rink. This rink is the first "pay as you play"

curling club in the area, and consequently, was working at

capacity for most of the season. The photographs in Figures

l(a) (b) and (c) show the installation of the hygrothermograph, and of the warm -air furnace.

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- 3

-Rink No. 2 (Halifax) is the oldest building of the three that were investigated, and is constructed entirely of wood.

It encloses four sheets of ice. The ice area can be heated by

means of a 197, 000 Btu/hr stearn unit heater suspended above

the ice surface, near the centre of the rink. This unit heater,

however, is only used when flooding or shaving the ice. In

addition to the unit heater, ten 1500 -watt portable radiant electric heaters are available for heating, but only two can be used at a time and are of little help in eliminating

conden-sation. Three gravity roof ventilators along the ridge of the

roof are open continuously, and provide constant circulation

in the rink ar ea. A cooling unit with a capacity of thr ee tons

is suspended above the ice surface at one end of the rink and

operates from the brine in the ice system. This unit is

installed to control condensation in the rink.

Rink No. 3 (Mayflower) has walls built of concrete

block and a wood roof supported by steel trusses. The

building encloses six sheets of ice. The ice area can be

heated by means of a 300,000 Btu/hr warm-air oil-fired furnace, suspended above the ice at one end of the rink.

The furnace, however, is only used to bring up the

tem-perature to 48 _500 F in the rink area, prior to flooding or

shaving. In addition, three dehumidifying units are installed

above the ice at one end of the rink and operate on thermostats that are set to turn on the units at 35 0F or above, and off at

33 0F or below. Experience has shown that operation of the

units when the rink temperature is below 33 0 F results in refreezing on the defrost cycle, which is controlled by a

time clock. There are no gravity ventilators in this rink,

but there is a fan installed to provide an exhaust for

cigarette smoke, etc. This fan is very seldom used.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Weekly average temperatures for outside air, ice, inside air, brine supply, brine return, and dew point, are presented graphically in Figure 2, for rink No.1, for the

period December 1963 to April 1964. The monthly average

temperatures over each ice sheet are shown in Figure 3 for

rink No.1. The monthly-average temperatures over each

ice sheet at roof level are shown in Figure 3, for rink No.1; the temperatures over sheet 2 had to be deleted because of

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-

4

-relative humidity, humidity ratio and air temperature in rink No. land outside, are shown graphically in Figure 4 for two

seasons. In addition, the wood moisture content as measured.

is shown in Figure 4. The moisture content. corrected for

temperature (actual moisture content), is plotted on the same

graph as the wood moisture content as measured (1).

Weekly average indoor and outdoor conditions and wood moisture content as measured are presented graphically in Figure 5 for all three rinks for the period of November 1964

to April 1965. The wood moisture content readings have not

been corrected for temperatures as in Figure 4.

A check of the weather records for the Halifax area for the period January to April 1965 disclosed that this has

been the driest on record since 1868 (97 years). Therefore,

conditions in all three rinks should be better than average. Fewer troubles with condensation and relatively low wood moisture content readings should be realized.

With reference to Figure 5. it can be seen that the measured wood moisture content for rink No. 3 is the lowest, and this should be expected as this is the rink with the three

dehumidifying units in operation. Rink No. 2 had the highest

wood moisture content readings, and is constructed entirely

of wood. The other two rinks had concrete block wall to act

as a plating surface for condensation.

Figure 4 represents the difference that can be expected in the wood moisture content reading. when correction is made

for temperature. Although the measured moisture content of

wood in this rink was approximately 15 per cent. the actual moisture content averaged 18 per cent.

From the data collected, it would appear that under normal operating conditions in a curling rink in the Halifax area. wood moisture contents of over 15 per cent could be expected during the curling season.

REFERENCE

1. James, William L. Electric moisture meter for wood.

FPL-08. U. S. Forest Service Research Note,

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FIGURE I

(a) Glencoe Curling Club showing

position of hygrothermograph on side of HB beam.

(b) Glencoe Curling Club showing

entrance of rink looking toward

clubroom end. Note ductwork

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FIGURE 1 (c) Glencoe Curling Club showing position of hygrothermograph (as shown in Figure 1 (a)) in relation to side of rink.

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Outside temperature

Ice temperature

Average inside air temperature

at roof level (lanes 1, 3 to 8)

Brine supply

Brine return

Dew point (from hygrothermograph)

o

1 2 3 DEC 1963

4

5

6

JAN 1964 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 FEB 1964 MAR 1964

TEMPERATURES ARE WEEKLY AVERAGES

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

APR 1964

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.

-e

e

33° DB 25° 0 P 35° DB 29° 0 P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 34° DB 30° DP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 34° DB 27° DP

Temperatures (monthly averages)

over each ice sheet.

(OF)

Dwg. of rink not to scale

FIGURE 3

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'... " ' - - ... ,J Nov 10, 1964 - May 4, 1965

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\Il,'\ " \

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ｾ >- 100 I -0 90 :E 80 ::::l :x:: ₇₀ LLI > 60 I -50 « _{Dec. 3, 1963 - Apr 28, 1964} --l LLI ｾ 0 ₅₀ I

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m 40 >- ｾ 30 I -ｾ

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\_--' LLI 0:: ;: 50 « ｾ 40 0.. u.. :E0 30 LLI I - 20 0:: 10L-L --L -.L. ｾ «

--1965 1964 - Mav 4 Nov 10 I I LLI 0::

［Ｚｾ Moisture content

ot

wood

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for

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ｾｾ 15 :::--- ｾｾＭＭＭＭｾ 15% --- - ... _- ----.... ｾ

0 0 ｾ

-ｾｵ 10 _I Dec 3, 1963 - Apr 28, 1964

LEGEN D

- Rink condition (R. H., Temp. & Humidity Ratio) --- Outdoor condition (R. H., Temp. & Humidity Ratio)

FIGURE 4

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ｾ >- 100 ｾ Cl 90 :E 80 :;:) ::t: ₇₀ UJ > 60 ｾ 50 < -..l UJ ｾ 0 50 ｾ < ₄₀ ｾ CD ;: ::: 30 Ｍｾ Clto:) 20 :E ₁₀ :;:) ::t: UJ ｾ :;:) ｾ 50 < ｾ UJLL 40 0..₀ :E 30 UJ ｾ 20 ｾ <

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CDUJ LL a::: 0.. < RINK 1 -2 - - 3 - WEATHER-FI GURE 5

WEEKLY AVERAGE CONDITION, 3 RINKS AND OUTDOOR WEATHER NOV 10, 1964 - MA Y 4, 1965