Snow on thin ice

[david]

My rink barely managed to get a top frozen layer (1 inch) before some snow came. I obviously can't walk on the ice, but my instinct tells me to get rid of that snow ASAP.


What are my options here?

[david]

My impatience won, so I flooded the rink with hot water. Took about 10 minutes or less on my little rink. Looks very promising at the moment.

[kevmac]

Typically,I recommend leaving the snow on thin ice. Too much of a hassle to remove and the ice will usually thicken under the snow if it's not too-too deep. Or you know, just flood it with hot water! 8>)

[onthinice_10]

I have used a roof rake for same issue I had in New Hampshire.

[Joe]

With that little snow, I'd have been inclined to leave it be. Flooding water over snow over thin ice can be risky unless you can fully saturate ALL the snow (if you have a small rink, or if the snow isn't deep, or both). I've heard stories of folks trying to "flood the snow" and ending up with splattered slush here and there which froze into an uneven and bumpy mess. So it's risky.

I, too, have used the roof rake (my first year, actually), but I only consider it now as a last resort. Someday I'll build this out into a blog post, but my approach for "snow over thin ice is" as follows:

-If it's going to be VERY cold, leave it be. The ice will still freeze in the bitter cold, even if under snow.

-If it's going to be warm and/or it's going to rain, leave it be. The warm temps and rain will melt the snow, or at least turn it to slush, which will freeze once it gets cold again.

-If it just sits somewhere in the middle, right around freezing, but there are cold temps coming soon, I'd consider the roof rake. This gets the thin ice exposed to the upcoming cold air, which will freeze it. But expect lots of bumps and an ugly surface which you'll need to flood to reclaim. I never recovered from my roof-raking that first year, and had a very distinct "good area" and "bad area" for the rest of the season as a result. It's just too difficult to pull snow off a thin slab in such a way that it's all smooth when you're done.