Zamboni Iue

[-brady2 0]

We have an issue with the zamboni driver here in cold lake. We practice and mainly play our home games at the JR.B rink which is a nice enough rink, a little narrow and the lighting isn't the best but its better than some of the other rinks here. Since around December there has been a girl who has done the zamboni on our practice nights, and it sounds like she does it most of the time too now, and she has done a shitty job of it. The ice has huge ruts in it, pucks bounce around on freshly flooded ice and some guy get caught in a rut and fall, and it has caused some twisted ankles. Our one coach had a little talk with one other guy and he says he knows about the problem and he doesn't let her do it on weekends with games. But the inevitable happened and she did it all this week and she did it during our home game on sunday. The ice was just terrible, pucks were bouncing and it was pathetic, other team complained, we complained, slowed down the pace of our game too. What can we even do about this if anything? It's gotten to a brutal point now and someone is going to get hurt.

[Gummer12 134]

Without more info on the prior sessions of ice.. tough to say. She may not be cutting very deep, not running wash water, not laying enough finish water, going too fast... or Not Being ABLE to cut enough, cuz the ice is shit, and turns very snowy, and therefore fills the dump tank with just the normal snow on the surface without cutting. If That's the case, and time permits, have them do a Dry cut, where they clean the top of the surface without laying any water down, Go Dump the snow, then actually cut the ice a second time normally. That usually gets a good deal of the cuts out of the ice. And be sure to take your time and lay enough water to fill the ones that can't be cut out. Ask the manager what temp they keep their ice surface at. And report back.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

She might not be adjusting the blade properly. All you can do is go to her superiors and explain.

[burrn 0]

I don't think there's really anything she can do about ruts that deep.

even if she lowered the blade, she would have to go dump the snow like how many times, I can't imagine. Also, lowering the blade too much would result in the ice becoming really thin, which is not good news for the rink. Pouring out more water would seem to be a solution, but again, if you want to fill in ruts that deep it would easily take a few hours for it to freeze, and one zamboni run wouldn't be enough. Either way, it's quite impossible to take the ruts away completely, if not moderate them, without enough time.

Well it's probably not personally the zam driver's fault. Only solution is to tell them to lower the blade a bit more. If it's possible.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Yeah it can't be 100% her fault. You have to factor how the ice is when she starts and such.

[-brady2 0]

The ice was great previously, I know because i've played there and practiced there quite a few times over the years.

I have practice tonight and I'll bring these ideas up to the coach

[dix0r 0]

why would use of wash water have an impact on ruts?

she's probably just afraid of cutting too deep. either the ice is down to the paint (doubtful if she "cuts" this way all the time), she inadvertently filled the tank up once and wants to avoid doing so again, or the augers freeze up easy and she's afraid of stalling. the latter two are more likely.

you can get good cuts without wash water. she's probably just not cutting deep enough. does she use the whole 10 minutes, or 15 minutes to cut? (whatever they allow for on the schedule) if not, have your coach ask her to go slower, and cut deeper. i think all zamboni's have windows where you can check how much snow is in the tank, and it's easy to check while driving if that's the problem. and if it's the augers - if she pumps frequently, having them freeze up shouldn't be an issue. if it is - washing the snow out of the conditioner prior to cutting should take care of it.

also you can perhaps have your coach check and see how much snow she dumps out. guessing it's hardly any.

[-brady2 0]

i talked to the rink guy tonight and he said she just is too afraid to wreck the ice so she doesnt push the blade down far enough or whatever.

[burrn 0]

that sucks.

what the f does she mean, "wreck the ice"??

for the few past years i've been driving zams, i have never seen or heard about a zam wrecking the ice.

although i do see stupid kids drilling holes in the ice with the heels of their rental figure skates once in a while

[Gummer12 134]

i have never seen or heard about a zam wrecking the ice.

while it's not completely Wrecking the ice...having one run completely out of gas cuz someone didn't change the other tank last time, and the conditioner sits on the ice can sure mess it up, but it's fixable.

[jcp2 2]

We had a Zamboni driver try to save time by going around a net before it was pushed to the side. He got the front wheel caught over the lower pipes in the back of the net and it took a good half hour to get them untangled. Needless to say, there was a really big pothole there afterwards.

[pmchelli 0]

Wash water seems to help fill in ruts at the rink I drive for. If you don't use wash water, the snow is too much of a powder to properly fill in ruts.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

while it's not completely Wrecking the ice...having one run completely out of gas cuz someone didn't change the other tank last time, and the conditioner sits on the ice can sure mess it up, but it's fixable.

Usually when you run out of gas there is enough forward momentum for you to raise the blade before you stop. As long as you do that, you are ok.

[burrn 0]

wow lots of things I've never seen

but obviously, in those situations the depth of the blade is not an issue.

ok i see brady's point. it's the drivers fault! :D

[dix0r 0]

while it's not completely Wrecking the ice...having one run completely out of gas cuz someone didn't change the other tank last time, and the conditioner sits on the ice can sure mess it up, but it's fixable.

Usually when you run out of gas there is enough forward momentum for you to raise the blade before you stop. As long as you do that, you are ok.

unless your zamboni leaks rag water...

[-brady2 0]

I think i kind of threw up in my mouth a little.

[jon93 0]

the zamboni was leaking antifreeze tonight and tried to get us off the ice. Is this stuff bad by inhaling it?

[dix0r 0]

prolonged inhalation of antifreeze mist or vapor would be bad. i wouldn't worry about it.

[-brady2 0]

What would cause snow to build up quicker than usual?

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Lots of skating, lots of stopping, lots of turning.

[-brady2 0]

And guess what, today a kid was going in on a 2 on 1 and got a pass and went to shoot, got an edge in the shitty ice, fell, broke his femur and can't play hockey for the rest of his life. there was a peice of bone that chipped off onto the ice, his femur is practically crushed.

[shifter 0]

wow? what a coincidence? Is that true of fake cuz how does that happen so sudden O_O?

[-brady2 0]

wow? what a coincidence? Is that true of fake cuz how does that happen so sudden O_O?

honestly, why would I make that up?

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Can you take pics of the ice?

[Jake 0]

And guess what, today a kid was going in on a 2 on 1 and got a pass and went to shoot, got an edge in the shitty ice, fell, broke his femur and can't play hockey for the rest of his life. there was a peice of bone that chipped off onto the ice, his femur is practically crushed.

That's ridiculous.