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Western EC Iowa | Anybody help me with this? First time this year we have a local outdoor ice rink. No one really 'schooled' on how to maintain it. A few nights ago it was flooded with 1/2 inch or a little better to relevel and make a new, fresh surface. With a little research, it looks like it should have just been a skim or multiple skims. Now it is full of chunks of ice dollar bill sized and under and completely un-skatable. It almost looks as though the new water started to freeze and didn't bond with the old ice if that makes any sense. Is there any hope of getting it leveled back out and continuing to be able to use it? Current local thought is to wait for a warm day and flood again, but nobody really knows... What is the best way to maintain once we do get it leveled back out? Thanks, Ben |
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Pine City, MN | Keep putting down layers. Spray it let freeze do it again. Then when it's close to skating on you want hot water to get a nice surface. |
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Franklinton, LA | Several years ago we had a real cold winter and it got down to about 20 degrees for 2 or 3 days. I sprayed water on the patio and adjacent carport with a garden hose. After about 6 hours of spraying a little bit at a time my two boys and the kids in the neighborhood had about 1/2" of ice to slid on. They had a real good time and did not break any bones. I hope you can solve your problem before Christmas. |
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Southeast Wyoming | I'm not at all familiar with an ice skating rink but just from frozen stock tank experience I'd say 1/2" was far too much water at one time. The volume of water keeps it from freezing between the original ice layer and the ice that is formed on the surface. As the water cools, an air layer is formed so your new ice is not bonded to the original ice, but just crusted on top.
As another posters said, I'd think spraying water on in thin layers which freeze almost immediately would be the best way to build it up. Keeping it smooth probably will be a problem.
Please keep us informed on what you find.
Edited by Gary Lyon 12/22/2013 16:02
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Near-north Ontario, French River | If you are going do a general flood, you want the water to be as hot as you can get it. The equipment you are using will determine how much to put on. Indoor rinks shave the ice and only put a thin layer on hot water down, it will refreeze in very little time ( probably less than a minute depending on ambient air temps). For an outdoor rink you will probably want to sweep the pad to remove as much snow/ice shavings as you can, then do your flood. Ideally if you had an old sprayer , booms removed of course, you could make a boom maybe 10-15 ft wide with large water outlets on it to do your flood, attach( to the boom) and drag a width of cloth over the surface before it freezes to smooth things out. . I think if you go the hose route you are probably going to end up with uneven ice, with lots of ripples etc as the water will refreeze unevenly. |
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Treynor IA | Get out your zamboni. |
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Western EC Iowa | Zamboni is in the shop. ;)
Little more info. Right next door to a car wash. May be able to get hot water. Also have a fire hydrant right there and the fire dept. is a block away, so water availability isn't an issue.
So, my hypothesis was right regarding the new water not bonding with the ice. Thin layers, no flood. Anything else mechanical? Thanks again! Ben |
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Lubbock, Texas | the only thing I know about ice is that I quit jogging because it would spill out of my drinks, but perhaps you can get a propane burner and go around and heat up the layer you laid down to get it to melt a bit and let the air pockets out and bond with the layer below
that might take too much propane and time though as well |
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West Union, IOWA FLOLO Farm 52175 | 2 local rinks......Hollar if you need a contact... |
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NESD | I was the rink manager of our local Hockey Assn. for several years, when we made the ice for the rinks it is built up in 1/16 inch thick layers until it is 1 1/4 thick, by using thin layers it allows the cold water to slightly melt the ice to allow it to bond. Not sure how you are going to fix what yopu have now short of having a Zamboni to shave it down. |
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SW Ontario | Sounds like water may have escaped between the two layers. If you do not have a perfect moisture seal like plastic underneath, the only way to build it up is with thin layers as mentioned. The plastic may also have some holes or tears after a while allowing the water between the base and top freezing layer to seep out and create air pockets. |
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just a tish NE of central ND | I don't know darn thing about ice rinks...Cant even skate, never learned as a kid.. As a kid we would overflow our windmill stock tank(against my folks wishes of course)Then run sleds downhill a hundred feet or so on the ice....One thing I learned was it cant be windy or it will freeze ruff. When we got the windmill to runing it was always windy and the ice was ruff...If we had no wind we used a electric pump and the ice was a lot smoother.You might put down a thin layer first to freeze any loose particles in place and then re-flood to put on a smooth layer. |
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South Central Manitoba | Made outdoor rinks many, many times. It sounds like you flooded cold water onto a cold ice surface in cold weather. Remedying the problem is not that difficult. Wait till the temp pops up a bit (-10C would be ok already) and then flood again with cold water if you want until all the holes are filled and it is relatively smooth. Then flood with thin layers of hot water to create a seal. Keep skaters off until the hot water seal is on.
Don't make the ice too good or all those little American boys are going to give us Canadians headaches later in international competition. :) |
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North of London | Have made outdoor rinks for many years.
Posts are correct keep layers thin, just spray and repeat.
Now I will flood it when it is mot level to flow water into low areas but have to be careful of amount.
You should be able to fix the surface you have by cleaning loose ice etc. and then 'flooding' carefully to fill holes but keep it light on high spots.
If you really want to get fancy fix up a pipe with several holes in a T shape, holes in the top of the T and attache a hose to bottom of T.
Now fix some burlap bags or something similar to the top of the T and drag this around to smooth out your water layer and pick up little bits of snow.
Have never used hot water.
Flood lots on cold nights to build up a good base to last through warm spells.
BTW I do mine on snow on lawn, no containment so excess water can run off if I tried putting on a coat like your rink had.
On a really cold night you will hear the ice 'cracking' when you are flooding it and too much puddling/depth of water will turn scaly. |
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Western EC Iowa | Thanks again guys. What do you think about a small Harley rake? Walk behinds are available, not sure there is one locally, however... Get the bumps leveled off, then start over with small lifts. Not going to have time for a few days, will see what we come up with. Ben |
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Ice rink problems
