Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction making the perfect ice rink on my pond in WI

This is my first winter in WI in 34 years. (sold my house in FL)
I have a bunch of questions about building an ice rink on my pond.
Can I use my hydrant 11 GPM and 150 ft of hose in winter?
How to keep the hose from freezing?
How to put the hose away after use? (it's no longer flexible)
I saw an ad on this site for a scraper with hose attachment to evenly distribute water and smooth the surface of the rink. ($250 - $750)
Has anyone used one of these?
same hose management applies.

Any info is appreciated!

Thank you and Happy New Year

As long as water is flowing thru the hose it wont freeze up, when you shut the water off, take a nozzle with compressed air and blow the remaining water out of the hose, probably not a good idea to even attempt to roll it up, although you will find that some types of water hoses will roll up pretty decent, the ones with a higher rubber content usually work way better, your cheaper ones that are mostly plastic will not fair very well when trying to handle them in cold weather. I don't even bother purchasing those.

As for the chlorine content in the water that you are adding, it will probably evaporate away and be OK to add to the water by the time the ice melts slowly, but that's just my theory, some professionals may chime in with a better answer to that.
Hope that helps.

We use hoses to water cattle all Winter long. Immediately after use, coil it up while it is as soft as it is gonna be. If the hose will remain outside, pulling it over a raised surface will allow the water to drain out as you coil it up.

These methods work in Ohio, where personal ice rinks are not really feasible.

I agree with the above posts. Gleason is unincorporated, so your water is probably not chlorinated (if it comes from a well).

Flood the ice rink completely if possible, let it freeze, repeat. It will be smooth and flat. I wouldn't worry about trying to scrape it if you can flood it 100% before it starts to freeze up. Water seeks it's own level and it will self-level if you can get enough water on the surface 10 cover 100% before it starts to freeze.

I have enjoyed about 10 years of maintaining a skating surface on our small pond (about .20 acres if measured in winter) The dual advantage to all the hard work of keeping the ice clear of snow is that more sunlight gets to your plants that are under the ice which allows them to make oxygen for any living critters also under the ice on top of creating lots of outdoor fun for kids of all ages while skating. Some years our ice can't support an ATV to plow it so then we have to let the snow and slush pile up but we at least try to get some cleared on the edges if safe enough to stand and shovel by hand.

This year so far no snow or ice so actually used the well to top off the pond just for the ducks to have more fun in the shallows and in case it freezes we'll have a bigger ice rink.

I would say the slowest and most frustrating part about flooding a pond is the sheer volume of water it takes early on to fill in the cracks, cover any residual snow or ice chunks left from when you shoveled last or skated last. The zamboni in the ice arena uses warmer water and is resurfacing a very smooth surface. They mostly have to remove the top layer of loose ice/snow and squeegie on a thin layer of warm water. In a natural pond there will be much more irregular surfaces and cracks to contend with if the temps get cold enough to heave the ice. You just need a huge volume of water to overcome this.

A garden hose even with a big well behind it just doesn't put out the volume and you will get sick of standing there. This is why when flooding a big area on a lake they often dig a hole a ways off from the skating and put a large trash pump sized hose down to move a lot of water.

I found someone selling some 'date expired' 1.5" diameter knit material fire hose. I believe they were 50' each and I use two. I'm connecting out at the pond to a frost free hydrant with a 1 1/2" riser galvanized pipe and a similar size poly pipe going about 150 feet from my house down to the hydrant underground. The restriction is clearly in the top of the hydrant and perhaps a little resistance in the long line going out to the pond. My well only can do about 15gpm and it feels like 10 or less by the pond as it can't keep the fire hose pressurized when the adjustable fire hose nozzle is on a less restricted flooding pattern. It still takes a couple hours to flood my pond with me wishing I had at least 25gpm and a continuous 1.5" line unobstructed by 90 degree fittings and the narrow garden hose attachment on the frost free hydrant.

Once you get a somewhat smooth ice surface you can probably resurface it in half the time with enough volume of water. I don't squeegee mine, I just lay a big puddle of water on it and work backwards toward the hydrant leaving a big smooth pool of flooded pond behind me. Works awesome on a still night in zero F weather conditions (slight breeze and even a little snow fall during the flooding leaves things a bit wavy/bumpy when frozen) but then you have to hustle to drain the hoses and get them wound up in that cold weather. I have a natural slope between house and pond so I run the 100 feet of fire hose uphill towards the house to let gravity drain it out but still by the time I have it wound up on the big hose reel it is freezing on the inside of the hose. I then store everything inside for next time.