Connecticut hockey rink concrete failure

Black polyethylene tubing in a Connecticut rink laid in August heat. Exothermic concrete cure plus solar-heated black tubing caused the tubing to collapse inside the concrete. Whole rink had to be rebuilt.

Concrete's also an interesting material in that mixing it with water is an exothermic reaction. It will get up to about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. I had a hockey rink that was put in Connecticut in August, and they used black polyethylene tubing — they had the tubing all laying there in the rink to pour the concrete on. Of course on a hot summer day the black was hot, they poured the concrete on top, and as it sets, concrete is not a very good thermal conductor, so it basically heated up the pipes and they collapsed inside the concrete. The whole thing — they had to rebuild it. You need to keep it cool. Many times in concrete curing, if it's a very thick slab, they actually have to run some pipes through it to keep it cool, because it does heat up pretty much. There's lots of little nuances of things like that.