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Water pump = faster ice depth? -

Water pump = faster ice depth?

When to resurface? How to flood? What to do when...
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jschultz
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Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:10 am
Rink Dimensions: 44 x 84
Materials: NiceRink system
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Water pump = faster ice depth?

Postby jschultz » Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:56 am

Beginning our fourth season here in NW Indiana, and while Googling "snow keep rink from freezing", I found the following article.

http://howikis.com/Make_Your_Backyard_I ... er_Climate

I'd never seen a suggestion like this before, using the already cold water in your rink to flood the top to get to your skating depth faster.

I have very very thin layer of snow on top of my rink; and in my deepest section I'm only at 1" ice depth. The guys were hoping for Wednesday night hockey this week, so I'm trying to get to the magic 4" as fast as I can. I'm also leery of ruining my ice before the season even begins.

Has anyone tried this? Thoughts or suggestions on whether this is worth attempting?

Thanks,

Jon

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kevmac
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Re: Water pump = faster ice depth?

Postby kevmac » Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:19 pm

I for one would never do this. Why wouldn't you just flood on top of your existing ice with water from the house? Cold water isn't going to freeze any faster than warm water (look up the Mpemba effect). Added to this, by removing water from below your ice you are creating empty pockets that in theory will make your ice weaker.

Just my 2 cents
Making Backyard Rinks from 1999-2015
Twitter: @kevmac_5 or @macisaac_odr

Please visit your "User Control Panel" and update your location, rink dimensions, and materials used. It helps us when giving advice.

jschultz
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Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:10 am
Rink Dimensions: 44 x 84
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Re: Water pump = faster ice depth?

Postby jschultz » Mon Nov 17, 2014 1:29 pm

kevmac,

Thanks for the reply. Mpemba effect, well that is interesting!

Filling from the house isn't an option, I'm so deep (17" of water up against an 18" Nicerink board) that adding more water isn't going to work.

The pump is going to move a lot more water, a lot more quickly than the water pressure from my spigots. I've got a lot of area to cover (84' x 44').

What "empty pockets" are going to be created under my ice? Air? If I'm pumping water from the rink bottom, and the inch of ice I have is floating on top, how is a pocket going to form? I've had to siphon water out in the past due to heavy mid-winter rains, and that never caused an issue. I'm by no means a veteran so can you help me understand what I'm missing?

Thanks again.

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kevmac
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Re: Water pump = faster ice depth?

Postby kevmac » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:39 am

If you take water from underneath your ice, is your ice is going to lower. Is it actually 'floating' on the water or is it frozen to the sides of your rink? Will this rip your tarp? Stretch your tarp? If the ice is frozen to the sides of the rink and not floating, then removing water from below will cause the airpockets.

If you have 17" of water in one section, then your yard isn't completely level. If you remove enough water, ice in low areas will continue to drop while ice in high areas could possibly end up sitting on the ground, if your ice stays in one piece it's going to start sloping at some point.

This is all theory as I'm just speculating scenarios to think about. Again, it's not something I would ever do. I have 5" of water on my thin side and 14" in my deep end, I just let it freeze as is. My rink is 32' x 71' and I run everything off my house spigot - although I have more leeway on the vertical plane than you do. You need higher boards. :-)

If you try it, I'm sure others out there would appreciate hearing about the experience.
Making Backyard Rinks from 1999-2015
Twitter: @kevmac_5 or @macisaac_odr

Please visit your "User Control Panel" and update your location, rink dimensions, and materials used. It helps us when giving advice.

jschultz
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Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:10 am
Rink Dimensions: 44 x 84
Materials: NiceRink system
Location: Rolling Prairie, IN
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Re: Water pump = faster ice depth?

Postby jschultz » Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:06 am

Kevmac,

Thanks for the clarifications. We got slammed with a snow storm the night I was pondering attempting this, so I didn't get a chance to try it. Too much weight and not enough ice depth to hold the snow, so I had lots of water come up over the edges and trash the surface. Been here before!

My ice at the moment isn't in contact with the liner, only the kickplates covering it, but I would definitely take a sledgehammer to the perimeter to break it free before attempting this. The block absolutely has to be "floating".

If I ever give this a go, I'll come back to the thread and update with the results. There appears to be a warming trend on the horizon so I may lose this block anyway.


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