Flooding a backyard rink
A liner rink gets water twice over: one big fill to make the base, then many thin floods over the winter to smooth the surface. They are different jobs. The first one is about volume and patience, the later ones about thin layers.
The first fill
Wait for the ground to freeze and for a forecast with several days below freezing in a row. Water poured on warm ground or just before a thaw can sit as slush, and a liner that sags can leave gaps where water collects.
Fill until the shallowest part of the rink has the depth you planned. EZ Ice, a rink kit maker, suggests 2–3 in at the shallow end. On a sloped yard the low end will be deeper, and the calculator shows how deep and how many gallons. The first fill is the slow part: a 30 by 60 ft rink at 3 in is several thousand gallons and many hours of hose time.
Then leave it alone. Deep water freezes from the top down, and the low end of a sloped rink can stay liquid underneath for days after the top looks solid. How long it takes depends on depth, temperature, wind and snow cover, so there is no reliable number to give here, but the freeze time guide has forecast rules of thumb and a best-case table. Snow on top slows freezing, so clear it off gently if you can.
Top floods
Once the base is frozen, skating, snow and sun scuff the surface. A thin layer of water on a cold night fills the scratches and freezes smooth. Thin layers freeze faster. A thick layer takes longer to freeze and can end up bumpy.
Clear the snow and shavings first, since water on top of snow freezes into a rough crust. Then spray or spread the water evenly, starting from the far side and working back toward the hose. Many people use a homemade resurfacer: a pipe with holes drilled in it, wrapped in a towel, that drags a film of water behind it.
Cold, calm nights work best. Some rink builders use warm water from an indoor tap, because it melts the top a little and bonds to it. Others use cold water from the outside tap. Both are common; try what your setup allows.
Water for one top flood
Gallons for one even layer on a level rink, and the hose minutes at 5 US gallons a minute (a starting guess; time a 5 gallon bucket to measure your hose). Real floods are uneven, so treat these as a guide.
| Rink (ft) | 1/16 in layer | 1/8 in layer | 1/4 in layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 × 40 | 31 gal 6 min | 62 gal 12 min | 125 gal 25 min |
| 30 × 60 | 70 gal 14 min | 140 gal 28 min | 281 gal 56 min |
| 40 × 80 | 125 gal 25 min | 249 gal 50 min | 499 gal 1 h 40 min |
A 1/16 in layer is about 0.04 US gallons per square foot.
Things that go wrong
- Water near the boards stays soft. Boards and liner warm up in the sun. Shade or snow banked against the outside of the boards helps.
- The surface cracks or sounds hollow. Usually water underneath that has not frozen yet, or ice that has pulled away from a sagging liner. Give it more cold days before using it.
- The rink keeps losing water. Look for a tear or a seam at the low end, where the pressure is highest. A rink on a slope also loses water over the shortest board first, so check the low side height in the sloped yard guide.