Ice Ice Baby

very cool. the rest of the week looks super below freezing, i assume this is good
 
pearl said:
very cool. the rest of the week looks super below freezing, i assume this is good
Click to expand...

Yes! Sunday will actually be nice for smoothing out the surface then a deep freeze for the next week. I am hoping by the end of next week it is frozen solid. I think I saw single digit lows for tuesday/wed. 😎
 
Let's get business out of the way first.
Recent Workouts:

Monday - It looked like the best day o the week to get an outdoor workout in, so I did a 5k run before work

Tuesday - Morning swim, first one in a while so I stopped at 880 yards

Ice rink:

Saturday weather produced about an inch of snow on the ice which quickly turned to slush with Sunday's temps in the low 50s. I didn't bother shoveling the snow off since I figured it would all melt and it did.

Yesterday after work, I stepped out on the ice and was surprised to see that it was actually in pretty good shape, with the exception of a bunch of leaves and some branches that fell in the gusty winds. I cleaned off the debris as best as I could and laced up my son's skates, however it quickly became dark so I strung up some temporary lights so he could see.

Last time I was at home depot I found a couple of those outdoor lawn stake lights on sale after Christmas, score. I attached them to my deck with some bungee cords, but the long term plan is probably to get an electrician here to mount something more permanent on the back side of the house. I will also try to dig up some holiday lights and string them across the back railing of the deck to help provide some light.

1907925_10152926120706206_364695250680980750_n.jpg
 
Do you have a hose connection inside (no freeze) to resurface the ice with water? That think would be so flat and clean after a few coats of fresh water and these low temps...
 
Wobbegong said:
Do you have a hose connection inside (no freeze) to resurface the ice with water? That think would be so flat and clean after a few coats of fresh water and these low temps...
Click to expand...

I have an outside spigot that I shut off from inside the basement.

This is what I built to smooth out the ice. It is all done, I just have not taken a picture of it yet. My biggest problem with the ice surface right now is the misc crap that falls from the trees - leaves, twigs, etc. I am hoping that the ice will freeze solid over the next day or two.

homeboni_assembly.jpg
 
Wobbegong said:
Excellent!! You should have it dialed in over this period of super cold weather.
Click to expand...

Meh. So I went home today to go put some more water in and some water just have froze between the spigot outside and the value inside the house so no water is flowing.

I am out of the house now, but my hope is that I can get some water to flow out of the spigot on the other side of the house, otherwise I may need to run a hose out a window from the washing machine hookup.

I am bummed bc I really wanted to get more water on it tonight to increase the ice thickness with the super cold tomorrow.
 
SpartaBard said:
Meh. So I went home today to go put some more water in and some water just have froze between the spigot outside and the value inside the house so no water is flowing.

I am out of the house now, but my hope is that I can get some water to flow out of the spigot on the other side of the house, otherwise I may need to run a hose out a window from the washing machine hookup.

I am bummed bc I really wanted to get more water on it tonight to increase the ice thickness with the super cold tomorrow.
Click to expand...

propane torch Brad, about 5 minutes or less and it will be flowing. If you don't have one go buy one they are cheap. i should say heat it up from the outside and not near a solder joint, this is if your spigot is through concrete of course and not vinyl...
 
Last edited:
mattybfat said:
propane torch Brad, about 5 minutes or less and it will be flowing. If you don't have one go buy one they are cheap. i should say heat it up from the outside and not near a solder joint, this is if your spigot is through concrete of course and not vinyl...
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was thinking but I don't own one. Probably best if I dont, I would end up blowing up my house. My spigot is definitely through concrete though.

Let me see if my neighbor has one.
 
I found a workaround to my frozen outdoor spigots. My laundry room on the first floor has a window right next to the water hookups. So I dragged out my hose to the window opened it and slid the hose through and attached it to the indoor spigot. I threw some towels at the cracked window to try to keep the cold out, which worked minimally.

The big bonus for doing this is that I now have access to hot water using the other spigot which will be a much better option for resurfacing the ice. You want to use hot water because it melts the top surface and then refreezes giving you a nice smooth surface.

edit: how do I make pics smaller, Pearl will be mad

ok, I attached a new image in the next post
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6150.jpg
    IMG_6150.jpg
    332.9 KB · Views: 227
Last edited:
we don't have an outdoor outlet, so when vacuuming out the car when cleaning it, we do something like this through our kitchen window with an extension cord
 
hopefully the frozen pipe didn't expand and crack. they do sell hose bibs with bleeder screws to drain residual water left after you shut the feed valve.

bard we want to see pics of ice rink, not pics of your hose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom