flooding rink issue / question

[deke302]

I tried to resurface my rink by flooding it and I ran the water through the hose. It is not hot water just cold water through the hose. I am not sure how to do it cause I used a nozzle that made the water sprinkle out like a shower head and that roughed up the ice really bad. Then went to friends house and filled two 5 gallon buckets with hot water and dumped those on it and that helped but now the water is ever so slightly uneven. I am not sure what to do, I don't have homeboni at this time but may need to look into it. Any advice....

It is not HORRIBLE yet. My kids skated on it the other day and it clearly bothered me more than them.

Deke

[Joe]

Yeah, when I resurface I either use my homeboni (rarely) or just let the water run out of the hose. Using a spray nozzle tends to create clumps of snow/slush which freeze into rocks.

Bucket dumps will help, but I fall under the camp that they don't have to be hot water. Cold water bucket dumps, an ice/floor scraper, and some skating (which helps to smooth down the bumps) can fix a surface like the one you describe.

[deke302]

Do you move the hose around when you flood it or just let the water come out of the hose and let gravity work? The problem I was running into was that the water was coming out of the hose and would just melt the top layer cause it was so much warmer. I would assume you move the hose around a bit?

[kevmac]

You want a nice thin layer of water on top of your ice. The thinner the water, the faster it freezes. In other words, move the hose! NEVER let a hose sit in one place as that will ruin your rink in a matter of minutes as you will be left with a canyon where the water was running.

Then there would be another post here asking how to fix the canyon... :-)

[Joe]

Yeah, I think I mentioned this on the other thread, but I move around in a grid fashion of sorts. I start out the furthest point from my spigot, and I'll move the hose to create maybe a 6x6 square, then I fill in the square. Then I shuffle over a few feet and do the same thing. The hose is CONSTANTLY moving so I get a thin layer. Often by the time I am 20' away, that first part has frozen. I haven't had an issue with shale ice in years so this method works.

Leaving the hose in one spot and going inside for a half hour will mean your warm water will bore a hole through your ice and you will get close to no resurfacing accomplished.

[onthinice_10]

got a home made thing a friend made for me and it should work but it was such a hassle I gave up.
Used to use a hose but got that popcorn surface texture if I used a nozzle.
With out a nozzle worked better as long as I moved it in a way to keep the working edge wet. (start far away and work closer to the hose bib.)
Last year didn't have hot water available anymore so I used a pair of 5 gal buckets and let one filling at the hose bib and I walked the full one out to the far corner and dumped it. 20 pails did about an 1/8" inch cover. This was good for fixing humps that would be otherwise, unnoticeable. but still had to work a pattern to keep a " wet edge" or I would get ridges where early buckets froze and a new splash would meet it.
This I have 4 Rubbermaid totes on each corner that I fill, once all filled I slide it on to the ice and tip it out. this accomplishes the same thing but never a ridge.
Each night of use, I clean off the snow, scrapings and snots -fill a couple of totes and put them on the ice I DIP a LARGE beach towel into it and walk backwards dragging it for about 20 ft.- then re dip it at the 2nd tote. keep moving the totes or the cold water will still cause a melt imprint. This leaves an incredible finish. Don't stop for a second or the towel will freeze like a tongue to a pole.

[Jeff22]

I use the big rubbermaid garbage pails as well. I only have two, but I made a rig up out of copper pipe, couple elbows, a T, and a shutoff, so I can hook it to my hose and fill my two buckets at the same time. I throw a soccer ball in each one, go inside where it's warm and watch out the window. Once I see my two soccer balls floating near the top, I throw my coat on, go out and dump my two bins, and I'm done. Less time out in the cold, and more time watching the hockey game.