flooding rinks

[gun 0]

This time of year its great to skate outdoors, but our city rinks don't seem as good as they used to be. Is there a product or a technique used in flooding the local rinks i can pass on to my city. When its colder all the ice chips up, can this be avoided? we want good ice! thanks

[logan 0]

Ice gets more brittle when it is cold. I spoke with one of the rink maintance guys at my rink and he was asking for my feedback about the ice quality, so he could actually do something about it too.

He also added that making ice outdoors is very demanding, with the fluctuations in temperatures. The biggest problem outdoors is snow. After a big snowfall the ice will be both chippy and bumpy caused by air being trapped in the ice, and from uneven flooding.

[irbenaid 0]

I use hot water on my rink. I just put the hose down close to the ice and walk along. Smooth as glass almost everytime and I'm a rookie at this too.

[thunderbirds_are_go 0]

Hot water is good, as it partially melts the ice below it and then bonds into the existing ice better, plus it smooths out some of the bumps in the underlying ice. Or so I 'm told.

[irbenaid 0]

Thunderbirds,

Exactly. I had horrible ice last week due to a snow/ice storm. Within 2 days the ice was perfect again using the hot water.