Since this is project showcase figure id post some pics of the rink.. nothing new this year.. It's made from 1/2" ply for the boards.. the deep end is reinforced with 2x4s and braces with some rebar... the water is 20" deep on the deep end.. there are i dont know how many 2x2 cedar stakes all around the thing... got some conduit to hold up the nets and dowels slipped in to the conduit holding the lights on top... lights hooked up to a remote on off switch..

this is the latest in the winter that we haven't been able to skate.. but it is supposed to get down to 10 degrees over night here soon..

water level is still holding today.. whew.. so i went ahead and finished putting the nets and lights up and attaching the bench..

 

NIce rink !! Enjoy...

Out here in my area all the indoor rinks are closed (covid) and it does not get cold enough for outdoor ice. I might be driving to a colder part of the country with my skates if this keeps up much longer.

 

Same here. There's a few outdoor rinks normally maintained by the township but I don't know what their plan is. Hopefully the nearby town will clear and maintain a spot in their waterfront again this year but it's usually not thick enough until mid-January unless they decide to flood it.

 

Wow. When I was a kid we used to put the sprinkler out when it turned cold and build up the ice over several days or week depending on how cold it stayed. If there was snow we packed it down first by towing someone around on a toboggan.

 

I talked to an older resident in Bangor, salesman for Mr King's sports radio station and he said Bangor used to have close to 20 outdoor skating rinks maintained by the city. That was years ago and even then cold weather was hit or miss. Gradually they have all gone away.

Lakes, when there is good ice can be a great place but the special condition when you could skate for miles are extremely rare, that was really fun. Now locals will come out and plow a large area.

Bud

PS love your backyard project.

 

I've heard some more folks have taken on the back yard rink thing with COVID and all... but let me tell ya.. if you aren't committed to some serious time and effort on maintaining it.. dont do it... it takes a lot of work...

like tonight.. we get 5" of snow... if you dont get the snow off the decent ice you just got is screwed and it could take days to fix it... the way winters have been recently you may only get a few really good days for skating... problem with the snow is that the rink is never really frozen all the way to the ground (at least mine isnt).. so the snow pushes the ice down and water from underneath starts flooding the top...it starts around the boards creating this thick heavy slush. as the snow soaks up more of the water it gets heavier and sinks the ice more etc etc.. and just you moving this slushy mess and standing on the ice can make it sink even more.. so you are standing in 3" of water and slush and trying to clear it off of a 30x40 foot rink... and any piece of slush you leave on the ice becomes a bump you will need to chip off later..

i tell you what.. if i didnt get myself a snow joe to clear off the rink there is no way i could have gotten it done... even with that thing it took me 3 passes across the entire rink the clear the snow and slush enough to salvage the decent ice underneath... and i still had to shovel the snow around the boards to really clear it off..

Is it all worth it? It is to me..

 

I love your rink! Brings back memories of backyard and playground rinks when I was growing up In Minnesota. The ice generally sucked, and we had to shovel off the snow before we could play, but we were out there everyday and we had fun.
Today everything is organized, regulated, and indoors....much better than we ever had it, except for the fun part, that seems to be missing.
Your rink looks like fun!

 

Have been putting up a backyard ice rink the past few years. Got it down again this year and just filled it up before we finally get some cold weather. Annnd.... It leaks... cant find the leak... So I just watch it drop and lose about 3-4" of water out of it... so yeah im screwed before the season even starts... pray that eventually it stops so at least i'd know it's in the real shallow end or along the edge... if thats true at least it wont drain entirely and when it freezes it should stop.. .

But it never stops... i mark it everyday and everyday it's lower... So I got desperate and searched the internet for some sorta leak stop product... came upon this stuff for pools called fix a leak... I never heard or saw anything about it on ice rink forums.. people say drain the rink and replace the liner or just be prepared to keep refilling the rink until hopefully it freezes shut... so that was the winter i was looking at... figure what do i have to lose.. its only around $27 and showed up in 2 days...

So i dropped the hose in to refill it a bit.. i break thru the bit of ice i had already... I rigged up a submersible pump with a splitter to create some water flow in the rink in addition to the water from the hose.. to get this stuff circulating around the rink.. i dumped this fix a leak stuff in a few spots around where i think the leak might be... and no crap.. the leak stopped.. so i am filling her back up full and will be waiting for the next freeze..

anyway... if you have a pool, hot tub, or backyard rink leaking a bit of water from a place you cant find.. you might want to give this stuff a try...

can see the pump i rigged up and the lines i kept making to mark the water level.. the lowest ones washed away... current level has held for 24 hours... or its slowed down enough to be imperceptible... i also no longer have a swamp of water behind the rink... will post pics when I can get some skating in...

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ive got a similar problem with an invisible leak. Going to give fix a leak a try. Any application tips? Also any other tips on invisible leaks generally? Finally, have you tried food colouring/dyes to identify leaks?

 

Hey Penney...

I have tried food coloring.. I have mixed it in milk to weigh it down and frankly I haven't seen good results. It didn't help me find any leaks the 2 separate times I tried..

The only other thing I have heard people try is that basically glow in a black light leak detector. I've heard it can take a couple days to make it's way to the leak. I have never tried it.

But given that both of these products work based on the same premise as the fix a leak..they just flow to the leak over time... I'd just go ahead and try fix a leak. You do need to keep it circulating so I would setup a pump like I did if you can to keep it moving around.. They also recommend to warm it up before you use it. Put it in a bucket of hot water. I have no idea how it might be impacted by extreme cold. I put it in my rink when the temps were right around freezing and it seemed to work fine.

Barring that I also look around and under the boards to see if I can find any wet areas. Problem is water will flow anywhere downhill so finding water in a spot doesn't mean the leak is there. but at the same time it can help narrow down where you search.

And you can just let it leak down and see if it at any point stop. If it does stop then look around the water level for any leaks. The leak might be hidden by the ice. At times skates can slice up the liner at the level of the ice and the slowly leaks as the ice builds up or melts or it rains or snows etc.. I almost always get a leak around the ice line at some point during the season..

Towards the end of the season I have always gotten a leak that I never found. By that point I just say screw it and deal with it the best I can by building the ice back up on top..

Good luck!

 

Hey Penney... I have tried food coloring.. I have mixed it in milk to weigh it down and frankly I haven't seen good results. It didn't help me find any leaks the 2 separate times I tried.. The only other thing I have heard people try is that basically glow in a black light leak detector. I've heard it can take a couple days to make it's way to the leak. I have never tried it. But given that both of these products work based on the same premise as the fix a leak..they just flow to the leak over time... I'd just go ahead and try fix a leak. You do need to keep it circulating so I would setup a pump like I did if you can to keep it moving around.. They also recommend to warm it up before you use it. Put it in a bucket of hot water. I have no idea how it might be impacted by extreme cold. I put it in my rink when the temps were right around freezing and it seemed to work fine. Barring that I also look around and under the boards to see if I can find any wet areas. Problem is water will flow anywhere downhill so finding water in a spot doesn't mean the leak is there. but at the same time it can help narrow down where you search. And you can just let it leak down and see if it at any point stop. If it does stop then look around the water level for any leaks. The leak might be hidden by the ice. At times skates can slice up the liner at the level of the ice and the slowly leaks as the ice builds up or melts or it rains or snows etc.. I almost always get a leak around the ice line at some point during the season.. Towards the end of the season I have always gotten a leak that I never found. By that point I just say screw it and deal with it the best I can by building the ice back up on top.. Good luck!

what was the product you used ??

 

Our daughter has a rink maintained by their neighbour (their house used to be owned by the neighbour's brother). She loves it because the kids are outside playing all the time (well, with Covid home -schooling, inside until mom kicks them out). He also had a small leak this year. He tried to trace it but gave up and just kept adding water until it froze over. He says he will try an fix it in the Spring but admits he will likely just roll up the tarp. He rigged up an old-time resurfacer with some wheels, a leaker hose and probably his wife's tea towels, gravity fed by a hose with warm water in a barrel on the back of his truck.

 

You didn't ask anything about a leak, so I figured you were asking what he used to skate on. Clarity in questions is imperative.