How to build a backyard Zamboni
Now that you’ve built your backyard ice rink you need the most important tool to get the best ice…a Zamboni! Actually, the smallest Zamboni you can buy is a tow behind unit for your tractor. For small backyard rinks the solution to getting smooth ice is much simpler and cheaper. There are numerous hand held ice resurfacers you can buy on the internet. After looking over the options and prices I decided I could build one myself and went to Lowes looking for parts. The entire project cost only $15 and took about 15 minutes to complete. Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
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NOTE: When trying my first test run I discovered I bought the wrong PVC adapter. I bought a female unthreaded to male threaded adapter when I should have bought a female unthreaded to female threaded adapter. I’ll need another trip to Lowes to get an adapter before I test it out. |
I didn’t see any threaded PVC at Lowes so I decided to try using PVC cement for the first time. As you can see a big chunk of my sale was buying the cement and primer which I used very little of. I’ll have to think of some more PVC projects now that I have the glue  Test fit everything at the store to make sure you have the right sizes. The adapter should be threaded on one end and fit on a garden hose. The shutoff valve is optional. At right is the picture of all the parts prior to assembly on my dirty garage floor. The PVC cement is foul stuff with lots of warnings so do this project in a well ventilated area. |
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Assembly
- Cut one of the PVC pipes in half. I also made the pieces a little shorter.
- Start priming and cementing. Follow instructions on jars and put the pieces together.
- Let cement cure per instructions on jar (2 hours in my case)
- Drill 3/32″ holes along top of your T 1″ apart. Lay the T flat, drill down from ceiling towards floor, but be careful not to go all the way through.
- Test it out!
Here are pictures of my finished Zamboni. Excuse the dirty garage floor and the sloppy purple primer. Final dimensions are 5′ wide and 5′ 6″ long.
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I made something similar. A few tips:
I zip-tied some rags to the pipe to help smooth out the ice more. I’m not sure if this is better than just having the water, because I end up with very smooth ice, but it still has larger bumps. I notice another site mentioned using a towel – maybe I will try that.
I got some quick-release hose connectors. This makes it easy to disconnect the hose from the faucet and the “Zamboni” from the hose. I then bring the hose and Zamboni into my heated space to keep them from freezing.
I just finished my rink rake. The only difference is I used schedule 80 PVC vs schedule 40. A little more rigid and worth the extra $1. Just finished the 2nd fill of the rink using the rink rake and it worked perfectly.
Thanks for the quick release reminder. Saved me a trip:)
So…… I tried this idea last week after my ice had rozen, we had a very mild two days after giving me a horrible ice surace and after two floods with my new home made zamboni my ice surface is as smooth as it was after the irst freeze. I also added some painters rags to the bottom pipes. I have glued them at the top and wrapped them once leaving approx 3 inches of rag dragging behind my zamboni. This seems to even out the water flow and give me a clean smooth surace. Great idea and easy to make(took me about 20 minuites from start to finish) Question ? I am using hot water as I think it will finish better. Does it really matter ?
How do you add these rags? Any specific way? Do you have a picture or detailed description?
Do the rags cover the holes? Or do you wrap them in a way that leave the holes open?
@ Norm,
I have been building a backyard rink for 4 years now, and i usually use the water from the hose. It is fairly warm, and it seems to melt any bumps on the ice before freezing. If there are any deep fractures in the ice i bring out a kettle of boiling water and use that to basically drill out the hole and then it freezes over well. So to anwser your question, i think that luke warm water is better than cold water because it melts the rough top layer of your ice before freezing. This gives you a very flat surface. There must be a reason why the water that the use on real zambonies is piping hot!
When i first built my rink, i would jsut sit there and spray with the hose. I quickly found out that filling massive 12 massive tupperware containers with water and then dumping them all on at the same time worked much better. The ice surface was remarkably smooth, similar to that on a real rink. Problem is that you cannot do this until there is a significant amount of ice bulit up, beause you dont want to melt through it. Now i am looking at building myself a ice rake so i dont have to put on such a heavy flood each time. My quesiton is does anyone know what the best material is to use for the back of the rake? Does anyone know what they use on real zambonies? I would think this would make a big difference in the smoothness of the ice.
i work at an ice rink in fredonia new york. the flap on a real driving zamboni is a 6″ peice of rubber dragging behind. knowing that, what i use to resurface my rink is a floor squeegee. its like a giant windsheild wiper on a pole used for spreading blacktop sealer. you can get them at home depot for like 10 dollars. and yes..use lukewarm water to melt away the ice buildup and fill in the divots and cracks.. let me know how it goes..
My Friend just built a rink and on the back of his rake he just wired on a piece of Carpet, Spread and worked Great !!
Do you point the holes up or down when you use it. Do the holes ever freeze closed if you point them downward?
This is my rookie year with a rink. I am having problems on the initital fill with air holes from the plastic liner. We had a heavy snow after first fill and now I have a crusty, air filled snow base. Do I just keep filling? Any tips??
IceMan, I am in the same boat as you. I am a rookie and the recent snow created havoc! I have a huge bump and many smaller ones and I’m not sure the “rake” will take care of them. This is my rookie year as well. Good luck.
BigEd…Here is what I have figured out. I cleared as much snow as I could and then let the sprinkler run for a few hours. After that froze I used a real heavy steel shovel and knocked off as much of rough spots as I could. We got 6 ” more snow today but I have shoveled it off and the “bumps” are much smaller. I am making headway!!!!!
This is my first rink this year and I went with no liner..Saskatchewan style I guess. It too about four days of misting to get a water tight sheet complete with bumps. Next year I’ll use a liner. Once I was able to flood the rink, I got a fairly flat surface, but still had some bumps. I found my angle grinder worked great at taking them down a few millimeters below the ice surface and then a final flood and presto.. a flatish rink. Kids love it and I’m hooked. Next year it will be the whole yard!
My outdoor rink hasn’t gone too bad this year. The problem I am having is that I get bulges in it (5 Right Now) I tried chipping them out and refilling but the ice was really brittle in these areas. Then I tried hot water and it made thin crackly ice all over. The temp has been -18 to -30 so far from December to now. How can I prevent the bulges in my ice? My rink is built across a concrete pad onto the grass and is approx. 24×36 with boards.
Think I will build a rink rake a try flooding with it currently i just run the hose down a piece of plywood in numerous spots from the top of the boards down.
I make a rink on the lake in my back yard. to make the ice level and help remove ridges I do a series of floods. at first I just let the water flow. With each flood after that I use thinner and thinner layers. Usually takes about three layers to get a good surface.
I drill a hole and drop a sump pump in. unlimited water supply.
This past week we had a windy, warm day. It blew snow drifts on to the surface, half melted them, then it got cold and refroze. I’m gonna loose about 3 feet of width. I think when you start a rink make it about 10 feet larger on all sides so that as winter progress when you loose area it isn’t a bid deal.
Iceman..We skated once and I have built a rink rake. I stopped before I drilled the holes. I assume they face toward the ice? It makes sense to me but I am trying to find out now. Any ideas?
how long does it take to build?
took me about 20 minutes
@Wes
The reason Zamboni’s use hot water is because hot water has less dissolved oxygen (air) than cold water. Air that is entrapped in your ice makes bad ice.
Im looking into building a rink this winter. I know its pretty late but is there any problems building in mid-winter as opposed to late fall (besides it more of a hassle because of the cold)?
I finally put my rink up last week and finished filling it last night. Still plenty of winter left for skating. My only caution is to get as much snow away from where the rink will go. If you put the liner and boards on top of snow, the warm water will melt it and could cause a tear in the liner as everything settles. If its your first rink, probably a good idea to start small and simple.
graham…if your talking about the rink rake it takes about 20 minutes…..tops!
Ugh. People have always told me that it is important to read instructions. I have fully assembled and glued my rink rake and now I have a male threaded end that will not accept the male end of the hose (even though I do live in Massachusetts). Now I have to head out and get some kind of adapter. I assume they would have a female threaded to female threaded adapter so I can make this work. The alternative, I guess, would be to saw off the end of the handle and attach the correct adapter.
Don’t feel bad, I did the same thing
Yeah, you did the same thing and WARNED everyone in your post. Still, I went and did it. No biggie. Lowe’s had a female-female coupling for 77 cents.
The underground sprinkler system section at Home Depot has threaded plastic pipe in various lengths, ie 12″, 18″, 24″, 36″. This pipe has the same thread as the PVC connectors. Just bought my material yesterday and am assembling/drilling this weekend. I had purchased a true “Rink Rake” three years ago but it broke over the summer (got dropped while cleaning the shed) and I didn’t want to spend the $45 listed on the web site. My total cost was $13.
Mario- great tip! I looked for the threaded stuff in Lowes when I was building mine and didn’t find what I wanted in the right sizes. A big chunk of the cost of my design is buying the PVC glue.
Hey guys, just finishing up my rink rake. I’m going to attach a garage door sweep to the pipe to see how that works.
I still haven’t read anywhere whether the holes are on the bottom or the top. Anyone??
I point them down for flooding, flip it over and point them up for a light resurface. I think this was in the directions for the rink rake I bought, but not sure what the reasoning is.
Unfortunately I found this site after I built my own rake. I made holes a little larger than the suggested 3/32″. I tried it once but was unsure how to use it properly. Could you please post some quick tips on resurfacing such as water flow and speed of travel? Thanks!
Ryan – I think the techniques vary from rink to rink. Some people uses towels on the rink rake, some say it doesn’t work. I think it depends on water temp and climate.
The basic principle is go slower when ice is real rough, this will flood more water and melt the bumps down. Go quicker when doing a routine resurface – you’ll know the speed by watching the water. Just enough so it completely coats the ice. If the results aren’t good, just try again and change your method a bit. I get amazing results, just watch your footing…a light dusty of snow can make it treacherous if you’re not on skates.
My rink rake works awesome. I decided to drill the holes facing down (50/50 shot) and it works great. I also use the hot water hook-up for my washer to wet the ice. I lay down two beach towels on the ice (wet them first with the hot water otherwise they freeze to the surface) and then place the rink rake (holes down) over the middle of the towels and fold them over so that you are dragging the towels over the ice. Turn on the water and your all set. Been skating about a week now and I resurface it after we are done skating and the results have been well worth the rookie-year aggravation. Good luck.
Ryan…..as far as water flow goes…….I keep adjusting it as I go because I “slow the flow” when I get to the corners to avoid flooding. The rake is a little cumbersome and awkward with the hose and all, so I am continuosly adjusting it. One other thing I “figured” out is that if you use hot water DO NOT LET THE HOSE SIT ON THE ICE AS YOU RAKE IT. You can probably figure out why. Any other questions feel free.
Lol – I made the hose on the rink mistake my first year. Even with cold water it is amazing how fast it will melt into the ice.
I built an ice rake very similar to what you have done. I attached mine to an old push broom for great stability (cutting off the bristles of course). I also used an old 38″ hand held sprinkler with a built in water adjustment valve that connected nicely to my PVC fitting. Purchased several years ago at Lowes for $7. Similar to this( http://www.builderssquare.com/xp_81074-38_Hand_Held_Shower_Sprinkler_311MTL_Gilmour.aspx )
I will try putting a carpet or towel on the back and see how that works. So far my first 20×25 ice rink has been a success. Next year I’m shooting for a larger rink. What do you guys suggest for a liner? Anyone tried rinkrake.com ‘s liners?
Recycling the pushbroom is a great idea.
I’m also planning on a bigger rink next year. Was hoping to do it this year, but stuck with the 16 x 24 to use up the last of the 20′ wide liner. I’m going to try hitting the local hardware, garden, marine, and farm stores during the offseason to track down a large 6mil white liner. There are liners available online, but the shipping is pricey. Silage tarps, greenhouse covers, boat shrink wrap…there are so many options out there that I hope to find one close to home.
Weeverman – Only thing I’ve found at the retail chains is 20′ x 100′ clear rolls at Lowes. I was tempted to try making a seam this winter, but my rink was already late going up so I decided not to bother this year.
I’ve heard success from other people at local hardware stores that either carry large liners or special order. I found a 30 foot wide silage tarp at a local store, but unfortunately it was black.
I keep meaning to get more topsoil to make my yard smoother. What I did this year that helped was make new boards out of plywood cut in half lengthwise. I made a frame of 2x8s which I attached the plywood to. This is more labor intensive, but I’m very happy with the results. 2 foot high boards let me add plenty of water and plenty of wood to keep pucks in. In the off season I’m going to paint them white and if I get real motivated I’ll try making a rounded corner for my extension. I’ll get pics posted soon of this years ‘new model’ with some instructions.
I have been building my own ice rink for the last three years and have been using my own hand made Zamboni. Using a Zamboni rake is critical in keeping your ice rink smooth. I used pvc at the base with 3/32 holes drilled 2″ apart use caps and connect them the caps to each end with plastic cement. Attach a rage using plastic fasteners to base piece so it will sweep the snow and ice shavings and melt it back onto the surface again. For the vertical connecting rod I used a metal pipe which will last longer and a metal shut off valve connected to small fitter for the garden hose. Run the hose to your hot water valve located near the boiler and you will have piping hot water to smooth out the rough areas. Good luck.
If you find a large 6 mil liner from a retail chain… let me know. I looked everywhere this year (locally) and could only find a 20x 25.
What’s the easiest way to level your rink before you get started? I have a slight slope which wasn’t a huge problem but I would like to make adjustments before I start filling it up next time.
I made a water level to level our rink out and it worked like a charm. I would say that the top of the boards are level to within 1/8″ and it didn’t require a lot of effort. The level consisted of an old 50′ garden hose that I cut the ends off and attached a 2′ piece of clear flexible pvc tubing. I used silicone to make the seal between the rubber hose and pvc tubes and then taped over the joint for strength. I built my rink frame on the uneven ground and then raised everything else up to level with the highest point. I basically used anything I could find (rocks, old bricks, dirt) to raise and support the boards every 10′ or so along its length. Then I packed leaves in to fill the gap between the ground and the boards and this supported the liner. Then I hammered in stakes and nailed the boards to the stakes to keep it on the level. The water level was easier to use with 2 people one at each end.
Duuuuuuuuudes
my brother and neighbor and I have been using our back pond for about 2 years now
its a perfect size about 70 yds. long and 30 yds. wide
and the ice is about 1 foot deep
and it freezes over hard as a rock and nearly perfect
EXCEPT for the occasional surface disfigurement
we always have the little bumps everywhere and thats really it
and we could never find a cheap and easy way to resurface it well
so i think im gonna give this homemade “rink rake” a try
im so pumped to see the results
any tips on resurfacing a super bumpy ice surface? we had a light, wet snowfall that completely jacked up our ice surface. it’s super bumpy as a result of the slush. also, for a rink liner, i purchased a roll end from nice rink. it was around $70 for a 30 by 25 roll end. if your rink is small, or you’re comfortable making a seem, it’s a pretty good deal.
That ‘zamboni’ looks almost exactly like the one I made. it’s served me well for 2 years, although I did break off the end where the hose attaches due to stress – so now I keep extra PVC pipe parts on hand, just in case. and I second the ‘quick connect’ comment, it’s nice to be able to connect or disconnect it quickly.
as for the towel/squeegee discussion, I usually zip-tie a piece of foam pipe insulation on it – using a diameter that’s just a little small, so that it doesn’t wrap all the way around. leave the open part around the holes on the bottom and this way the water comes out easily and then gets pulled along and squeegeed by the foam. seems to work well.
I thought of doing the “seam” thing but it a risk. The last thing I would want is a leak.
Here in Indiana we have had rain, snow, ice, freezing rain, etc and it hasn’t bothered my ice too bad. Just give it a good flood every evening and you’re good to go. Before I built my rink rake I simply used a garden hose with a shower spray. Direct spray is a BAD THING — it will cause holes leading to “shell ice” a layer of ice with an air layer beneath. It can be fixed however.
Also…
Check out this video on How to Level a Backyard Ice Rink: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-level-a-backyard-ice-skating-rink-270011/
Karen Tom – I’ve had that beffore, and ended up using an ice scraper to just scrape down the bumps. took lots of elboy grease, and then a couple nights of grooming with a topcoat (use rink rake or zamboni or whatever your preferred method is).
We want to drill a hole in our lake and pump water to help w/ resurfacing. We have no experience. Can we get some knowledge from some of you ?
Thanks.
How is the grass area that the rink covers affected in spring/ summer? (I like my lawn)
The kids have been out all day on our rink. I bought a 35 x 100 sheet of plastic from the local buiders supply (next time I’ll try Lowe’s should be less $). Some of the neighbors helped and we built a 25 x 50 frame using anything from 2 x 4′s to 1×12″s depending on the slope of the yard. I wanted to go bigger but the deep end would be 18″! As it is, we did have a partial collapse on the deep end, so the actual skating area is closer to 25×45, still not bad. It was cold enough here in Ann Arbor to build the rink in November. Next year I’m going to experiment with some type of filler for the deep end to reduce the amount of water needed. Maybe 4″ styrofoam sheets under the liner.
I also built a rake and will try out the towel method tonight when I resurface. Put some lights on the rink , add some music and your place will be “the” place for the neighborhood kids to hang out.
I’ve made the same rink rake and this is my second season. I use thin wire and drag an old folded up blanket behind, which has worked great.
Tip-the problem I’ve had, twice-because I didn’t learn the first time, was the strain the weight of the water placed on the T-junction on the rake-snapping it twice. Just today I drew two pieces of wire from the ends of the rake, up to the middle-distributing the weight of the blanket/water to three seperate spots. Tonight will be my first night, but I’m confident this will reduce the stress.
So the consensus would be to use my hot valve outside instead of the cold?
I went from the laundry room utility tub faucet and connected directly to the hose. I hook everything up, stick the “zamboni” out of the window and turn it on. I used a tee higher up on the pvc pipe, this branches down using 90 degree elbows to tees on the bottom. It can drag a old beach towel with no problems. I agree, hot water and a towel leaves a much smoother surface. It doesn’t take much water, in fact too much will result in a bumpy surface as the water does not freeze evenly. If the kids use the rink I can resurface in about 15 minutes tops.
i just shoveled off a pond on my property to skate on. i have a bit more shoveling to do.. the surface is snowy and there are many chunks and divots.
i’m thinking about making an ice rake but my problem is that my house is pretty far from the pond.. maybe 50 yards.
given the distance. if i bought a long hose and attached it to the long hose i already have do you think the pressure would be enough for this rake contraption to work?
any other tips for resurfacing a pond that is 50 + yards away from any spigot?
Nick,
I use a 50 foot hose with low pressure from the spigot and it works. The answer for you might be to drill smaller holes. If it seems like you’re getting enough pressure you can always make the holes bigger. I’d also recommend finding threaded PVC that way it would be easy to replace pieces if you decide to change the size/frequency of the holes. Worth experimenting with and the PVC is cheap. The hose will be the expensive part.
Anyone know if you can flood while it’s snowing? It’s going to be snowing for a while here, south of Buffalo. Our pond has about 6 inches of ice on it now but it’s rough! My husband snowblowed it today – but it already has an inch of snow on it. This is our 3rd year with the pond (technically lake), we had a backyard rink for 2 years prior to living here.
We’ve cracked hoses, plastic tubs, and hose nossles in the past. Tonight we are going to pick up a sump pump and parts for a rake! Can’t wait and either can the neighbors.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks afanara@yahoo.com
Depends on how much its snowing. I wouldn’t do it in a blizzard. Flurries is ok. Especially when its so cold that you water freezes fast.
BTW – I’ve heard of people who make rinks on large ponds and lakes simply drilling holes in the ice and pumping the water from underneath.
I live in southern Pennsylvania. I want to build an outdoor rink and my obvious concern is temperature. We have the gayest winters in the world here. The last three weeks it has only gotten above freezing about three days and except for a 48 degree day last week it has been to about 35. I can keep the rink in a pretty well shaded portion of my yard (where the snow, if we ever get any) melts last. The night temps are mid to lower 20s. I am thinking if i can keep the water/ice depth to about 4″ it will freeze and stay mostly frozen. Any thoughts or tips, or am i plain nuts to think it might work?
Matt,
My tip is to start small. Visit Lowes or Home Depot and find your liner first. Something inexpensive and 6 mil thick. If they have a 20 x 20 liner that’d be perfect. Then buy enough wood for a 16×16 rink and try it out. Worst case you can use the lumber for another project in the Spring. If it works you can plan a larger rink for next winter. The key for you will be the liner – you will have warm spells and you want to liner to hold the water until it freezes again. The shallow depth will help it to freeze fast, but it also means it might melt fast too. Having it in the shade makes a HUGE difference.
Hello
I used your plans for the rake and it has worked amazingly. The rink that we take care of is 48 X 110. I can flood by myself in less than 20 minutes. When we built our rake we used all threaded connections so that if a piece breaks or get clogged up it’s easy to fix. We also added a ball valve shutoff so it made it easier to turn the water on and then walk around with the rake, we also have more control of how much water flow we release.
Thanks so much!!
Hey just wanna say thanks for all the great tips! Ive lived off a canal and played canal hockey my hole life and tried flooding the ice in everyway possible and nothing came even close to how the results turned out after the backyard zamboni… And wraping the towel around the bottom seems to work the best…. Had such a sucess this year ive even sprayed lines down on the ice and ran the zamboni over top of them and they look like they have depth like a real rink. everyone is so impressed. thax again!
i haven’t built the rake yet.. i don’t think i will because honestly the pond is too far away from the house.. it’s 50 yards.. not feet.. so approximately 150 feet.. could be more..
we got another foot of snow today but i went and shoveled the entire pond off again..
rain for the rest of the night tonight.. hopefully that will freeze flat..
i’m just going to have to get out there with a steel shovel and flatten it out the best i can and just deal with that..
thanks for the help
Nick
Nick,
Thats only 3 sections of hose to make it to the pond if you are using 50′ pieces not that far at all in my opinion. My pond is 1500′ from the main house. We make due with a generator and an electric sump pump dropped thru a hole in the ice. Maybe look for a 75′ or 100′ hose sections if it is all down hill which I would think it is you can shut the water off from the top and let the hose drain and then roll up empty much lighter for storing inside to keep it from freezing again.
my 2 Cents.
Happy Skating !
David
so the rain definitely helped the other day.. but there are still some pretty big chunks i have to get the steel shovel to.
check out a pic here… it’s not too big.. but it’ll be enough to screw around on..
http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2064/36/42/1634215479/n1634215479_100253_1406.jpg
Hi John,
The rink is now finally smooth…… I put a sprikler on it a few days ago when it was really cold. Now, it will be time to smooth it out with the zamboni. Although, I am having problems with finding the time. It is really going to warm up in Mass. this weekend. I think for today, I will use a towel with warm water and then wait for the next cold snap. I hope it doesn’t warm up too much, I am afraid that the whole thing will start to leak again. Thank God….. we have so much snow packed around the rink!
I am just happy we were able to skate on the whole thing. The weak thin spots seem to have improved after the little thaw last weekend then the cold and snow. Do you think some melting helps to build the ice surface?
Louise,
I am in Mass as well. The recent warm up didn’t effect the rink too much. The worse thing that happened is that a bunch of leaves blew onto it because the snow in the yard melted. Even on a cool day the leaves absorb the heat from the sun and melt right into the ice leaving holes everywhere. I put down a moderate flood of hot water and went back and was able to scoop all the leaves out of their individual “holes”. Very tedious as you can imagine but tonight I went back out (24 degrees) and used the rake with hot water and things are looking good for tomorrow. Good luck.
How is everyone else’s rink doing?
Our rink melted quite a bit during the warmup, but this was actually lucky since we had some bad frozen bumps after the rink rats scampered over the rink after a sloppy snow/freezing rain. Refroze bumpy, but flat. A few passes with rink rake and we will be in business.
I’m in Mass also and have had a great year, until we had those warm couple of days. I have been trying to deal with the same problem Big Ed (above) spoke about, the leaves making divots in the ice. I’ve used the rake, trying to fill those holes, but the holes seem to absorb it, and it hasn’t worked. I’ve done this a few times, but end up with the same result, continued indentations.
I’ll try melting it some and pull off the leaves, hadn’t thought of that. Yes, tedious.
I’m also contending with a few rips, which have lowered my water level.
I really can’t copmlain, it’s been an amazing year, but just frustrated this past week or so.
Any other thoughts?
Kevin,
Are you going to get any of this snow tonight? If so, after you shovel your rink, pack some of that snow into the holes. Then use your rink rake, but make sure the snow absorbs the water, but doesn’t melt. This will patch the hole and freeze as cloudy ice which will hopefully hide the leaf from the sun.
I am having a bunch of my son’s hockey team over to play on our rink tonight. I’ve had good surfaces of late but for some reason the last few resurfaces have resulted in worse ice. I’ve been using the rink rake I made per this website (thank you!!!). It seems when I’m done and it freezes I get lots of air in the ice and shelling…very brittle. I’m in a panic, I have people coming over in 3 hours.
Any suggestions? Why is this happening?
I’ve been getting the same thing lately. Only thing I can think of is that the warmer temps have made it ice porous? So my nightly rink rake freezes on the surface, but is absorbed undeneath, causing the shell ice. I don’t have a quick and easy solution. You could try packing some snow in the bad areas and lightly flooding to see if the slush will freeze and give a better base.
how do you do those holes in the pvc pipe.
i mean which meterial do you use
I am building my first rink , its 42×62 . I built 2foot walls on the sides and 3 foot walls on the ends using treated 2×4 for the framing and 1×6 treated deck boards for the uprights . The walls are siting on railway ties which are flush with the ground, the area is sand covered (beach volley ball court ) I went to Champion feed(farm store) and purchased a 50×100 silage wrap for the liner , its black on one side and white on the other, 6mill . I am levaling the sand this weekend and then putting the liner in . I roughly calculated the amount of water to start and 2inches of ice is 3400 gallons of water , now I have a drilled water well within 10 feet of my rink , but I may get a water truck in to do the first flood so to speed up the process . Does anyone know if this is a bad idea … to put that much water in at once ? or should I use the garden hose and flood slowly , I figured about ten hours total for 3400 gallons of water .
Wow, that will be a really nice first rink. We are doing a 30×50 this year for our first rink and I already made my rink rake, with many modifications for stability and years of use. I will be using the garden hose so not sure if it is bad to do a quick fill, I don’t see why not as it will all be water and have to freeze. I would really like to see the photos of this rink Travis when you finish it, sounds impressive.
I would fill it slowly so u can correct any problems you may have such as note enough support for your walls; liner issues; or level issues.
Travis,
I would be intrested to hear how the Silage cover worked as I was looking at that stuff over the summer. Also where abouts are you located?
First of all, I am glad to hear that I am not the only one already working on my rink. Last year I did a 20×40 rink and learned a lot from my MANY mistakes. So this year I am going to do a 40×80 rink! I have lost my mind I think but hopefully all turns out well. On one end of my rink this year I decided to “round” the corners and so far they are coming out nicely. Again I will keep everyone posted and if anyone has any questions who is new to this than feel free to ask. I know last year I had more than a few questions and everyone on here was great. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!