Snow and Slush

[HaleSkater]

Hi all -

Rink newbie here seeking some advice...

Here's some context:
- Small rink for the kids...I can reach a lot of the surface with a shovel from the perimeter.
- Rink can't yet support my weight.
- We're having some snow as of this afternoon and into the evening today... More expected the day after tomorrow (Sunday)
- When I got home today the snow had formed a pretty serious slush around the perimeter of the rink.
- The snow was gathering "normally" toward the center. Clearly the surface temp of the ice is higher at the edges.
- I cleared up most of the slush with a roof rake and a metal shovel from outside the rink...
- This left some standing water in a few spots that are sure to form more slush as the flurries continue.
- I completed the "cleaning" about 30 mins ago and can see the same perimeter slush forming and center snow accumulating.
- I did my best, but what's left is certainly not exactly uniformly smooth.

Sooo...what now? Do I try to keep clearing the slush before it freezes? Do I just let it accumulate and hope that it will freeze smoth enough that I can scrape and resurface to get things where I want to be once it can support me?

I am on a homebrewing forum that is fond of the saying "RDWHAHB" which stands for, "Relax...don't worry, have a homebrew." This is what seasoned veterans advise newbies to do when they are freaking out about some element of fermentation. In my case here, should I relax and sit tight or keep my shovel sharp and try to stay on top of it...?

I attached a few photos that might help...


Thanks all!,
Bob in Minneapolis

[HaleSkater]

I should have added:

Low temps for the next few days are: 27, 31, 4, 12, 19, 24

Highs are: 33, 32, 18, 25, 34

[HaleSkater]

Aaaack! Now its worse.... we are about 50% through a 12"+ snowfall. I tried clearing slush again and ended up cracking the ice...so now I have some spots that are ice with slush, and some spots that are just water, with some floating slush. What a mess...

What should I do here?

Any reactions to this plan...

1) remove as much snow and slush as possible, keep things as tidy as I can near the corners and edges, try for no lumps
2) don't sweat the floating slush areas...
3) leave the rest of the snow that falls today on the ice
4) re-flood/resurface once its hard enough to actually shovel completely

Forecast is for some serious cold starting tonight...lows the next three days are: 7, 8, and 2 degrees farenheit.

I'll take any ideas at this point...

Thanks guys,
Bob

[wilsondmw]

Can you get warm water onto the ice?

might help smooth things out...with temps that low, I think even if you melt the ice a bit, it will refreeze pretty quick...

Am a newbie (using a liner) so not sure, but when I was a kid warm water fixes a lot with regard to bumps in the ice and melting slushy snow...

[HaleSkater]

Yes, I can get warm water to the rink very easily via hose from a laundry room window.

My current plan is to wait until the surface slush is good and hard and then try to add a layer with warm water from the hose. Things don't look awful, but they sure look like they could be better...

It looks like I actually removed a fair amount of water while shoveling out slush yesterday, so my overall level has dropped some. Not enough to cause any depth issues - I hope.

One thing I am a litle worried about is that adding a layer on top to smooth out the slush bumps might backfire...with the water going underneath and heaving what little bit of "slab" I have at this point...and that I risk rupturing the liner. Maybe its best to wait until the thing is frozen solid?

I am kicking myself for not wating until yesterday or today to fill in the first place. It would have been perfect to just fill last night after the 14" of snow fell. Oh well. Can't predict the weather. Such are the trials and tribulations of the dedicated rink newbie....

Any tips or advice out there guys?

[kdukatz]

Last year was my first with a backyard rink, but here's my thoughts.

Don't get stressed out about surface quality at this point. Fighting Mother Nature is a losing battle, so just accept that you'll have some work ahead of you.

You're biggest advantage (IMO) is that you can get hot water on the rink. I would wait until the slab can support your weight. Then go out and scrape off whatever snow/crusty slush you can with a shovel. After this is done, give it a little resurfacing with hot water. If you have some really bumpy spots or frozen chunks sticking up, you might put the skates on and try shaving them down.

It might take a couple times resurfacing with the hot water to get it nice and smooth. I don't think you want to do a huge flood with the hot water, just a nice even coat. But I can't get hot water to my rink so I'm not familiar working with it.

Good luck!

[HaleSkater]

Thanks for the good perspective. Much appreciated.

When folks say "hot" water, does that really mean HOT...as in you'd not be able to keep your hand under it long w/o it hurting kind of hot, or just "hot" as in not cold?

[kdukatz]

To answer the "how hot is 'hot'" question I suppose I'd turn to the workings of a Zamboni. I believe the temperature of the water they lay down is around 140 degrees Farenheit (60 C). By coincidence, this is a fairly typical temperature setting for hot water heaters as well.

Hot water results in a smoother surface as the hot water will do a better job of melting the top layer of ice. I believe you also reduce the risk of shell ice with hot water as the melting process causes the new layer of water to bond better with the existing ice surface. The Google machine should reveal the scientific term for this process which is escaping my brain at the moment.

That said, depending on the size of your rink and size of your hot water heater, doing a complete resurface with entirely hot water may not be a viable solution. For example, to put an 1/8" layer of water on a 32x56 rink, it would take roughly 140 gallons of water. I don't know many people with 140 gallon hot water heaters. :)

I don't have a hot water source close enough to my rink to use that as an option, so I just resurface with the hose. However, if I get a really rough/bumpy patch of ice I will bring a few buckets of hot (as in only from the hot tap) water out to lay on the rough spots and smooth them out. I also use buckets of hot water to deal with shell ice, after I've broken it up and removed the air pockets.

Don't know if that helps or just adds more confusion.

[kevmac]

The phenomenon of hot water freezing faster than cold water is called the Mpemba effect. (Finally my university education pays off!!)

My rink is way too large to justify flooding it with hot/warm water but I do know that buckets of hot water will rectify shell ice in a heartbeat as per kdukatz.

[HaleSkater]

So perhaps I should try some spot treatment with individual buckets of warm water in the worst areas before I try flooding the whole thing with 1/4" of warm water?

I am a little paranoid about putting a bunch of warm water on top, having it go below and then heaving the ice, and tearing my liner...

How cold does it have to be to do a mini-flood like I describe above? Can I do it if the lows are in mid 20's?

Thanks for the replies fellas. It is so great to have a lifeline/therapy group on this message board...