Backyard rink with a PVC pipe frame
A frame of 2 in PVC pipe is cheap and light, and it makes a very low wall. A pipe like that is about 2.375 in across, so the water has to stay below that at the lowest spot. This page works out what that means for water depth, for the ground you can build on, and for how much pipe a rink takes.
What the sources say
- One seller guide describes it. A rink builder's how-to lists a PVC frame as the alternative to wood: "Twenty 10-foot lengths of 2-inch schedule 20 PVC pipe" for a 20 by 40 ft rink, with T-joints at the corners and straight connectors. It says PVC "works best for smaller rinks under 25 feet wide", flexes more than lumber, and wants supports under 15 ft apart, with rebar stakes driven through the pipes at corners and midpoints. The same guide asks for 3 to 4 in of water.
- A wooden frame for comparison. A hobbyist who built a 25 by 40 ft rink used 2x10 boards because he worried about the weight of the water on the joints. His 2x10 frame was strong enough for the 10 in of water it holds back, and when one corner rose up on the slope he had to dig out the low side before it sat level.
Sources: How to Build a Backyard Ice Rink (PW Ice, a rink seller) and Backyard ice rink build (Mark Claypool, WPI). The numbers below are my own sums, not from either page.
Water depth and ground drop
The 3 to 4 in of water in that guide is taller than the pipe itself. With a single 2.375 in pipe, the water at the deepest point has to stay below 2.375 in, and I would leave about half an inch under the top. That leaves little ground drop to absorb. The table subtracts the water depth at the high end and a 0.5 in margin from the pipe height. The same sum with boards is on the board height page.
| Water at the high end | Largest ground drop | Push of water on 1 ft of wall |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 in | 0.88 in | 0.22 lb |
| 1.5 in | 0.38 in | 0.49 lb |
| 2.0 in | none with the 0.5 in margin | 0.87 lb |
| 3.0 in | none with the 0.5 in margin | 1.95 lb |
| 4.0 in | none with the 0.5 in margin | 3.47 lb |
Pipe height 2.375 in (a nominal 2 in pipe measures about that across, so check yours). Push of water = 0.5 × 62.4 lb per cu ft × depth squared, for one foot of wall, ignoring the ice.
Two things follow. A pipe frame wants ground that is flat to within about half an inch over the whole rink, and 1 in of water is thin. And the water pushes with under 4 lb per foot of wall at these depths, so a stake and a liner tucked over the pipe matter more for holding the frame in place than the pipe's strength. If your yard has a drop of an inch or more, measure it first with the slope guide and compare it with lumber on the sloped yard page.
Pipe, stakes, liner and water by size
Pipes are 10 ft lengths, counted per side and rounded up like the boards materials list. Stakes sit at the corners and at most 15 ft apart. The liner is the rink plus 2.375 in of wall and 12 in of overhang on each side, rounded up to the next foot. The seller guide's twenty pipes for a 20 by 40 rink is more than one course takes, so I assume it counts spares or a second course.
| Rink (ft) | Around | 10 ft pipes | Stakes | Liner (ft) | Water, 1.5 in | Water, 2 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 × 28 | 88 ft | 10 | 8 | 19 × 31 | 419 gal | 559 gal |
| 20 × 40 | 120 ft | 12 | 10 | 23 × 43 | 748 gal | 997 gal |
| 24 × 48 | 144 ft | 16 | 12 | 27 × 51 | 1,077 gal | 1,436 gal |
Ice that thin is fine for skating on a cold stretch and a poor fit for a thaw, so read the ice thickness page before you settle on 1.5 in. To build the ice up past the pipe, flood in layers as in the flooding guide; the liner then holds the extra water only as far as the pipe reaches.
Pipe or boards
| Your yard | Pipe frame | Boards |
|---|---|---|
| Flat, rink under 25 ft wide | Works, with thin ice | Also works, deeper ice |
| Drop of 1 in or more | Water tops the pipe at the low end | A 2x8 (7.25 in) covers about 2 in of drop with 3 in of water and 2 in of room |
| Pucks and sticks | Pucks fly over it and blades can reach the liner | A wall the puck stays behind |
The last two rows are my reading of the numbers above, so check them against your own yard. Put your size in the calculator with a 20 by 40 ft pipe-frame rink filled in and the liner and water follow. For a rink with no frame at all, see the packed snow base page.