Backyard Rink

Anyone here build a backyard rink? Let’s see some pics.

Mine is 48’x72’ this year. Last year it was 32’x56’. Thinking about filling it this weekend with the 14 day outlook looking like very few hours above freezing after Sunday.

It was a lot of work last year but I really enjoyed it. The ice was better than some indoor rinks.

Here’s this year’s setup.

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I do a 28×60. going on season 3. Yes, they can be a lot of work, but my kids love it and spend lots of hours out on it no matter how cold it is. Thats a huge plus to me now days with all the electronics. ><((((> Wallster

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@willie

Nice! Looks like you’ve maximized your space well.

Here’s the lights I bought for my rink. They work pretty good if you need more light. It’s a 2 pack for that price.

HYPERLITE LED Flood Light 70W 7,700Lm 5000K Daylight IP65 Waterproof Flood Lights Outdoor UL Listed for Garden Backyard Garage 2 Pack Flood Lights with Brown Shell https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089DZFQ8K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_CBJ5BR9S8KGQZ59HJSS7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Hopefully my kids will help shovel like yours.

Nice work guys. I grew up with an outdoor city rink in my back yard. Spent almost every day out there. Debating with my two buddies which one of us is going to build one this year.

We have a outdoor rink a half block away so no need to put one in my yard. Rinks look great

If my kid does hockey again next year, I will put a rink lol.

Any issues with filling with well water seams that might be a lot of stress on the well pump.

A friend of mine tried to do one last year and it was a complete disaster because it was so warm except for 2 bitter cold weeks in February.

I also grew up near an outdoor city-maintained rink and spent a lot of time playing hockey there with the neighbor kids. There is one within about 3 blocks of me right now so when I want to skate I go there.

I grew up on a city rink in MPLS but we did put a small rink in our back yard, it was only about 15 x 20. We built a wall packing snow in buckets then flooding the wall. It gave us a spot to shoot pucks.

Do you guys need to replace your grass every year in the spring?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Do you guys need to replace your grass every year in the spring?

Shouldn’t need to as long as you remove everything once things start to thaw.

My neighbor did a medium sized one last year. Turns out he forgot to account for the slope in the yard. One side was filled about 18inches to the rim, the other was still tarp.

Charles wrote:

Any issues with filling with well water seams that might be a lot of stress on the well pump.

No issues but I do worry. Does anyone know anyone with a big water truck that would be willing to deliver 5-10k gallons of water to East Bethel?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Do you guys need to replace your grass every year in the spring?

I don’t even water mine in the summer so I’m not too concerned about the grass.

The companies that make liners for this claim that the white colored liner as opposed to the clear or black poly is better for your grass. I couldn’t tell you why but it’s what they claim.

Last year I used a clear liner and there was a noticeable brown area where the rink was but if you didn’t know there was a rink there you’d never notice.

Matt, did you check with the fire dept.?

Your well should be fine, I fill our 20k plus pool every few years and never had an issue, most year I pull about 8-10k out of it.

Do you guys use a homemade zam with PVC and a rug or just full re-flood as needed?

Dutchboy wrote:

Matt, did you check with the fire dept.?

Yes. Don’t do that anymore.

onestout wrote:

Your well should be fine, I fill our 20k plus pool every few years and never had an issue, most year I pull about 8-10k out of it.

Someone at work said the same. He uses it to irrigate his yard and it’s almost 20 years old. I don’t irrigate so less wear and tear already. Mines about 20.

tswoboda wrote:

Do you guys use a homemade zam with PVC and a rug or just full re-flood as needed?

I started out hosing it for the first two weeks last year and didn’t like the result. When it was super cold I’d get some big cracks and when you put too much down it would get those ugly bubbles.

I made a pvc Zamboni and the ice turned out better than most indoor rinks. They work awesome. I also use hot water from the house. I might be in the market for a larger water heater though.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charles wrote:</div>
Any issues with filling with well water seams that might be a lot of stress on the well pump.

No issues but I do worry. Does anyone know anyone with a big water truck that would be willing to deliver 5-10k gallons of water to East Bethel?

I’m no plumber or well pump expert…but how is this such an issue if people are filling giant pools or watering their lawns all summer from a well pump? It seems like it wouldn’t be an issue if the well pump is appropriately sized.

We do one on the lake and drill a hole to use a pump to flood it. We’ve had some pretty fun boot hockey games over the years.

Yeah good point. never thought about that.

Well if my kid decides hockey next year I will build one.

I attempted a 20’x40′ last year in an area of the yard that wasn’t landscaped yet, but made my boards too low and on an out of level area, so could only flood about 2/3 of the rink before it reached the top of one side. Lesson Learned #1. I bought poly from Menards for the liner, but it ended up getting a hole punched in it as there was a few larger stumps that were hidden – Lesson Number #2.

Was going to attempt a rink again this year as the kids keep asking, but haven’t put anything up yet. What does everyone do for a liner? Buy one specifically for a rink?

Just because you have ice doesn’t mean you can drill a hole and catch fish.
Nice job on the ice rinks.

Matt: could you post a pic of your pvc Zamboni?

drewbop wrote:

I attempted a 20’x40′ last year in an area of the yard that wasn’t landscaped yet, but made my boards too low and on an out of level area, so could only flood about 2/3 of the rink before it reached the top of one side. Lesson Learned #1. I bought poly from Menards for the liner, but it ended up getting a hole punched in it as there was a few larger stumps that were hidden – Lesson Number #2.

Was going to attempt a rink again this year as the kids keep asking, but haven’t put anything up yet. What does everyone do for a liner? Buy one specifically for a rink?

Plenty of DYI ice liners if you just google them.

Bought my liner from https://www.ironsleek.com/ice-rink-liner

You can get pretty much any size you want. Mine was just under $500 for a 60×80 liner. Smaller ones are considerably less. It delivered in about 3 days after I ordered.

I bought a 100’ x 50’ 6 mil clear poly roll last year for about $200. My rink was 36×56 so I sold the remaining for about $50 on Craigslist.

I had about 6” deviation from one end to the other last year. I’m expecting 8-10” this year with the larger rink. It should be level enough as long as I fill it enough.

Double post

I used these plans for the resurfacer.

http://www.rogueengineer.com/diy-backyard-ice-rink-accessories-tutorial/

I have not had any problems with the lawn come spring. It is actually green grass when I pull the liner up. I use a white liner, have used a white on one side black on the other and that didn’t make any difference. I also have a hand zamboni that I bought from one of the outdoor rink companies. Works awsome. I bought a expandable hose that I hook to my hot water in the basement sink and come out threw my dryer vent for the 10 minutes it takes me to resurface. Then right back into the basement in a 5 gal pail with the hose so it’s ready for the next time and not froze up. The hot water makes the best ice surface after being ripped for a few days.
Wallster ><((((>

On the well pump side, you just want to try and match the output through your hose or hoses to roughly what the pump output is so it doesn’t keeping cycling on and off. Just listen or watch your pressure gauge and try to keep it consistent, which may take two hoses to get enough output. Generally, your well should be able to keep up producing the water but keep an eye out for air or if you have an amprobe, unsteady amperage which would indicate cavitation. Cavitation is worse than short cycling. It’s mainly the initial amperage on startup that heats up the motor windings, once they’re up and running the motors have water moving consistently past to cool them while having a smaller amp load since it’s already in motion. Just don’t start trying to figure out the number of hose bibs you can have on when the wife is in the shower!

These are great, guys! I wish I had a big enough yard. My boys have an open invitation to the neighbor’s rink and they’re out there most nights in the winter. We help him set it up and tear it down, goes pretty quick with a few guys.