I recently shared all of the details about the backyard ice rink I made this winter. It was a ton of work, but it was worth it to see my kids skate in our own yard. Part of making this happen was a zamboni. For those who are not familiar with what a zamboni is… This is what they usually look like. If you have ever been to a hockey game it is what clears the ice in between periods.
A real zamboni spits out hot water, which is then dragged under a piece of large rubber mat, and it melts any small bumps on the surface or the ice, and pulls them smooth. Any extra ice dust, or shavings are also dragged off leaving a fresh layer of water on the top of the ice ready for skating.
I knew that with my own backyard ice rink I was going to need a way to keep it smooth, so that it could actually be skated on. Here is what my zamboni ended up looking like.
Materials:
- lowes bucket
- PVC pipe- 3/4 in
- a PVC elbow connector
- a PVC “T” connector
- a PVC plastic ball valve- rated for hot water and cold.
- 2 PVC end caps
- One plastic spigot with a removable threaded tightening washer
- 2 rubber washers
- zip ties
- Fabric of some kind. I used some I had laying around
- PVC glue
- A moving dolly, and a racket strap
- wood scraps, or something to set the bucket on, on the moving dolly.
Step 1: Cutting and gluing PVC
The first step after getting all of my materials together was putting together the PVC elements. I only had to cut a few piece of the PVC. I cut two longer pieces for the bottom parts that would be touching the ice. I also cut a smaller piece that went between the elbow and the valve.
After I cut the longer bottom parts, I drilled a bunch of holes in the pieces where the water could come out onto the ice.
I dry fitted everything together to make sure it was going to work. I originally was going to put the PVC on the bottom of the bucket so that it would flow out the best, but it just wasn’t working with the parts I had, so I ended up not using one of the elbow parts I had, and just made the spout come out the front of the bucket.
Then came the gluing.
I used a two step PVC glue method. It has little sponges inside the lids that you use on the PVC. The first step is primer etching. The second step is the glue.
First you go through with the primer, and etch all of the surfaces you plan on gluing. After it dries, apply the glue to the same places. Then fit the pieces together snugly, and wipe away any excess glue that may ooze out of the connection. This glue dries pretty quick, but I let it sit overnight just to be sure that it would also be water tight.
Step 2: Cut your hole
Cutting a hole in the bucket. This step was not a hard one, but I did need to make sure that it was a good seal. I originally bought some caulk type water sealer that would go around the spout opening. I tried to use it but it didn’t work great. I found that I had great results just using rubber washers in between the bucket and the spout when tightening it down. I looked everywhere for a spigot and was just going to use that originally but no where this time of year carried them, and I didn’t find anything great online either, since I needed it to be thread-able on both ends.
The piece I ended up using had a threaded washer that could come on and off. This was great for using it on the bucket because I could thread it on once the hole was made, and the spout was pushed through the bucket. Using rubber washers between helped it to be water tight, and really get a clean good seal.
I used a spade bit on my drill to drill the hole into the bucket. I used a bit just smaller than my spout threads so that it would be nice and tight.
Once the hole was made, I used a heat gun. This step is optional but I wanted it to be really tight. I heated up the hole opening. Then I carefully threaded the spout threads into the hole while the plastic I heated up was slightly pliable.
I put a rubber washer on the inside of the bucket on the threads I had just threaded in. I then screwed on the removable washer that came with the spout and tightened it really really well.
Step 3: Combine the pieces
Attach the outside PVC pieces. After I had the spout in the bucket, I attached the outside PVC piece. I set it on a table so that the piece could hang down lower than the bottom of the bucket with out breaking the hole and seal I just made with the spout piece.
I pushed in into the spout and threaded it in. It was looking great.
Step 4: The fabric
For this step, you will just need some fabric. I used the bottom of some old pants I had cut off into shorts. It worked great, but any fabric or tea towel would work. I just zip tied it around the PVC arms that came out at the bottom.
Step 5: The wheels
This part was by far the most redneck part of this whole build. I needed something to elevate the bucket up off the ground since the PVC sat lower than the bucket did. I did this intentionally so that the water would be gravity fed out the PVC and to the rink. But this meant I needed to lift it up off the ground to work.
I built a small wooden platform with some scrap wood I had laying around in the shop. I had some 4 x 4 ends I screwed together that worked great. I sat them on the moving dolly, and put the bucket on top of them. I them ratchet strapped the bucket to the moving dolly. It worked. It was very ghetto looking by the end, but it worked!
Step 6: Fill it with water and drag it around the rink
This last step was one that I had to use some creativity on. My outside faucet had frozen, so I really didn’t have a way to fill the bucket up, without dragging a bunch of bowls of hot water to the rink with multiple trips. No thanks.
So I ended up attaching the hose to my washer and dryer valve in the basement. It let me have hot water instantly. Since it took about 1.5 buckets to flood the hole rink, this was about 7 gallons of hot water I used each time I zambonied it. I put the hose out a basement window and filled the bucket up right there on the rink.
Then I switched the valve to partially open, ( all the way flooded it out too fast) and shuffled the bucket around the rink.
The flat part of the moving dolly on the bottom actually worked great as an extra way to compress and smooth out the ice.
I read somewhere that using hot water made for tougher ice since there are less air bubbles in it, which creates a denser freeze. I don’t know if this is true, but I will say that it did smooth out a lot of the imperfections on the surface, and made the ice a dream to skate on.
The only issue I had was that if I didn’t move fast enough the hot water pooled in some spots, and then it ended up melting a small hole in that part of the ice, which I had to fill in later.
Overall it worked great, and did it’s job.
Tips:
- make sure the rubber washer is the right size, and thick enough to create a solid deal or you will have a bunch of leaking through the hole in your bucket.
- Be careful not to twist/ bump the bottom parts of the PVC arms too much or it will break the seal in your bucket.
- When storing it, move the arms with the fabric into the air so it can drip and not freeze to the ground. I learned this the hard way haha. Storing it inside also helped with the fabric freezing too much. But this was also very messy…
- Make sure to move quickly, as to not let hot water puddle too much in any one area, or you will get pitting and cracking.
I hope this helps anyone attempting to make their own. I know it is a pretty specialized thing, but if you plan to make a rink and get out and enjoy winter to the best you can… this item is a must.
-Amanda