Cold weather brings ice skating, heating issues

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — It's cold! Freezing cold! If you needed any indication of the season, the Empire State Plaza ice skating rink opened for business on Friday.

With the mercury plummeting below freezing – the condition of the ice is good for skating, said one sign. Jacob Birch and Serenity Boettner took it at its word.

“It’s calm –” said Birch describing the ice sport. “You're in a group of people, but no one can see you. You’re in your own world" Boettner added.

Joshua Rivenburgh laced up his skates and hit the ice as well. If you’re griping about the cold, a reminder that ill will toward this weather is not universal. "I love this weather more than the warm” Rivenburgh stated. “Open ice skating year-round here some indoor rings have it I prefer an outdoor rank over an indoor rink" was his reasoning.

One of the worst things to happen on a frigid day like Friday is for your heating to go out. That's just what happened to homeowners in Troy, so they had to call in some professionals. HVAC Service tech Ryan Hanlon responded to an air furnace overheat code.

“Pretty common issue this time of year, so one of the things you can do to prevent overheats in particular is to make sure you change your air filter,” said Ryan Hanlon. “There are days in this area where we dip below what we consider design temperature…” the Crisafulli Bros. HVAC Service Tech added.

To keep your home heat system functioning well: “Your system is going to struggle to maintain temp regardless of age, health. One of the things you can do to try to help that: not use a setback feature on your thermostat" Hanlon explained.

Back at the rink, for a pair of longtime figure skaters, Albany’s ice was lightwork. “It was very fun to start skating as a kid and now going back to skating it's so much fun, like remembering all of the past times," said Gaizka Maejon from Spain. He was accompanied by fellow skater Eduardo Montiel from Mexico.

The Empire State Plaza Ice Skating Rink is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. until March. They're also offering free learn-to-skate clinics. For more information CLICK HERE.