For good outdoor ice, the ideal surface is level with at least two inches of snow pack, said Mike Jones, operations supervisor with the city’s public works department. Jones has nearly 20 years experience flooding rinks for the city.
If the area isn’t level, low spots can be built up with snow. In the absence of snow, grass should be short or it will take a lot more water to establish a base, Jones said.
To prepare a surface for flooding, pack the snow down flat (a scoop shovel works.) Once you’ve established a level base, apply water and allow it to melt right through the snow pack until it turns grey.
“You want to put the water right to the ground surface right through the snow,” Jones said. “If it’s really cold it will freeze up quickly and you’ll have two inches of ice to start with.”
With the base frozen solid, creating a smooth surface requires many thin layers of water. Each layer must freeze solid before the next is added, Jones said. It may take 15 to 20 such floods to complete the surface for skating.
Laying down a hose and letting a whole bunch of water pool up may seem like a quicker way to establish a solid sheet, but it’s actually slower and brings a risk of poor freezing, which means air pockets and poor ice.
“We’ve actually had little competitions here where people have done it certain ways,” Jones said. “My way has smoked them every time … thin layers of water. It’s way faster.”
