Once stones are on the ice they should remain there for the entire season unless there is an ice plant failure, at which point the stones must be removed from the ice, totally dried, and then run through the entire freeze-down procedure once again. This will mean your club will probably lose two days of curling after the plant has been repaired. But you must not subject your stones to excessive moisture. During the curling season, the area the stones sit on between games should be cleaned, hand scraped and pebbled as often as you do maintenance on the rest of the ice sheets. Do this by moving the stones from the end area out onto the playing surface.
Hand scrape the entire area behind the hacks and stone areas.
Clean up and then repebble. Move the stones back into place and proceed to do maintenance on the rest of the curling ice. The only time the stones should leave the ice is during reflooding, hot washing or when the melter is used. Also, the cleaner you keep your carpets and ice surface, the less dirt and grit there is to wear or scratch your stones. They must not be piled on top of each other.