I understand that the hot water loosens the crystal structure of the old ice, so a new solid surface is created when it freezes, but is it very important? I'm totally new into this backyard rink, and I'm still waiting for my "swimming pool" to freeze.
I mean, is it "pointless" to resurface with cold water from my well? How important is it?
And the hotter the better? Like 60C/140F?

The great thing about hot water, is that it melts all the high bumps and re freezes just as fast. Also if there is light snow on the surface, cold water will sometimes leave lots of bumps if it doesn't melt the snow fast enough... just my experience.

I have found that using cold water makes an ice layer that does not really "stick" to the rink and can flake off with aggressive skating. The colder the air temperature the worse this is. I now use only hot water and do this repeatedly in layers to build up ice. Another benefit of using hot water is that a warm hose is much easier to roll up than a cold stiff one!

Thanks for your replies guys :)

It might just be me, but I try to never over-think things when it comes to rinks. I probably flood less than 10 times per season, sometimes less than five, and even though I have a warm-water spigot, I very rarely use it. I flooded last week with cold water (no homeboni, no resurfacer, just the open end of a garden hose) and my surface was like glass, with no weak ice that flaked off with my 200lbs skating around on it. Don't get me wrong, hot/warm water works great and has its place, but I don't want anyone visiting the site and thinking that because they don't have access to warm water, they can't properly maintain their rink. It doesn't have to be that complicated.

Good point Joe! Keep it simple. I like that :)

Joe,

How did you use the hose? Can you somehow explain how you resurfaced it wthat way. Thank you!

Deke

This makes total sense and I love the idea. Simple and easy. I need to buy a little bit bigger hose and I am all set. Thank you!

Deke

I have never used hot/warm water to flood the ice and I'm going on my 14th year of having a backyard rink. I've never had issues of my ice flaking off during skating because I resurface in very thin layers and try not to resurface again until that layer is frozen. Too much water, whether warm or cold is going to result in either shale ice or ice bumps. Slow and steady wins the race, right?