Skylands Ice World

To Visitors, Customers and Employees of Skylands Ice World: 

The matter of indoor air quality is controversial, much discussed and vitally important. From time to time we are asked about it at our facility.  The purpose of this note is to describe the steps we have taken to address the issue and to assure you that we take air quality very seriously at Skylands Ice World.  It’s our understanding that the State of New Jersey has not mandated indoor air quality standards for ice rinks, but we maintain an environment that would easily satisfy the requirements of the most stringent state-imposed regulations.  We believe that the air inside our facility is safe. 

Due to the use of the ice resurfacer (Zamboni) to maintain a high quality ice surface, it is possible to have carbon monoxide in the rinks.  Skylands Ice World strives to reduce or eliminate carbon monoxide in order to make our arena as safe as possible for customers and staff.  The EPA has established a carbon monoxide permissible exposure level that is 35 ppm (parts per million) for an 8 - hour period and our tests reveal levels that are consistently at negligible levels. 

We have done the following to reduce or eliminate carbon monoxide from the rinks:

Our ice resurfacers are fueled by propane, not gasoline, and are frequently tuned to minimize the exhaust of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.  Our resurfacers have catalytic converters which are designed to further reduce emissions.  The Zambonis are warmed up in an enclosed and ventilated room so they will be at their lowest emission state when brought onto the ice.

Unlike other rinks that use an edger that is powered by a gasoline engine, our edger has an electric motor.  As a result, our edger emits NO exhaust.       

EACH RINK IS CONSTANTLY MONITORED for Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide by sensors which are positioned where gases would be most concentrated.  Should the level of any of these gases approach levels well below the EPA threshold, the fans and louvers automatically open in the rink HVAC system and bring in fresh air.  This system was installed at the time Skylands was built.  A similar and redundant system is embedded in the dehumidifiers that we installed more than two years ago. 

If you have any questions regarding the air quality in the rink please speak to Bradford Johnson, General Manager, or Anthony Rosta, Director of Operations and Maintenance.