Watched this video 4 years ago (I think) when we had ice in The Netherlands. I bought all the necessary materials to make the Zamboni when it would freeze again. Looks like this year we can actually assemble and use it 😅🙏🏻❄️
We had a 80’ X 80’ rink in the vacant lot next door. After playing hockey for a couple hours, we shoveled it off in about 5 minutes, then flooded it with a garden hose. We sometimes did this 3 or 4 times a day, with hot chocolate breaks to let the ice refreeze. Smooth as silk, and no lint frozen lint to dull our blades. My dad would boil a pot of water with a drop or two of red food coloring in it. We took the pot of hot water out to the rink and set it in the middle, letting the ice melt a perfect face-off circle. Then pour some of the red water into the hole, and when it froze over, top it off with clear water. The neighbor with a pond would go shovel off the pond and cut a few holes with a hatchet. After that, he would jump up and down next to each hole to get the water to flow up and out over the surface. Again, smooth as silk.
That’s awesome! Yes if there were a garden hose closer it would be ideal to flood it. Unfortunately the nearest garden hose is about 400 ft away. We had thought about drilling a hole and submerging a pump in the pond, but the zamboni works great for what we need. I love that you have those memories. It’s all about making great memories for our kids as well!
@@everythingrachael1033 Turned out awesome! Cost $20 for the parts and sewed 6 1/4" elastics on to the towel for easy removal and washing/drying. A few friends thought it was cool and did the same thing! Thanks again!!
Thank you so much for posting your video. I followed your instructions with a few tweaks, like a 3/4 inch pipe and bigger holes on the end, and it just worked great! Thank you! Thank you!
Definitely always clear the snow! We could have done a better job at that on certain days, our kids are always just so excited to get out and get skating.
This is so perfect and easy to make!!!!! I will be attempting this method and probably make the towel holder wider to hopefully have to do less times through. Thank you!
Hello! Should the male and female PVC fittings go all the way together? I tried several different options at Menards and no combination comes all the way together. I’m left with about and inch of threaded pvc and it would let all the water out of the hole in the tub because the two won’t close together.
I'm trying Teflon tape and pipe dope sandwiches the container between. I have also silicone around both fittings where they meet the container. Hoping to test it out tomorrow
Forget everything she said and bought and use a large cooler and the drain in conjunction with a broom handle towel and bungee to hold it to the back of the cooler. Your welcome
Must be doing something wrong. With hot water the towel welded itself to the ice surface and ripped the piping apart. Now I have a fluffy blue patch on the ice. Water too hot perhaps?
Hmmm it sounds like that could be the case. We haven’t run into that problem, however I know our water cools quite a bit by the time we get it from the house to the pond about 400ft away. We often carry it in buckets down.
I'd love to hear how you clear the ice on your pond or rink. Drop me a note below with any tips you have. I'd also love to answer any questions you have about the zamboni we made.
great instructional video. Just curious how many times did you have to fill your Rubbermaid container. I have a 25*40 rink and just wondering what size container would be optimal. Thanks.
So happy to hear you found the video helpful! If we had have shoveled more snow off to begin with we would have only needed 2 - 3 Rubbermaid’s full to cover it. Our pond is approximately 60’ x 40’ if that helps to answer your question. I’d say you’d be fine with 2 Rubbermaid’s full depending on how cleared off your ice is to begin with. Does that help to answer your question? I’m curious where is your rink? We live in Nova Scotia.
Everything Rachael thank u for your reply. I’m in Niagara Falls where it finally hit below zero last week. I plan on making a Zamboni exactly like yours.
You’re so lucky that it hasn’t been below zero until now. Then again this year it’s been great with it being so cold out because the ice froze early and has stayed that frozen for a while now. I’m so excited to hear you’re going to be making one as well. Please let me know how it goes!
This is by far the best video for DIY ice resurfacing. Thank you for posting and will be building one soon
Awesome- we have planned a pond hockey tournament and I thought the zamboni was unreachable dream. Thanks for showing it so easily!😊
Love this idea. Made it and give it a 7/10. Only problem was the towel freezing to the ice. Solution: shortened the towel. Thanks!
Watched this video 4 years ago (I think) when we had ice in The Netherlands. I bought all the necessary materials to make the Zamboni when it would freeze again. Looks like this year we can actually assemble and use it 😅🙏🏻❄️
You got it Rachael ! Thank you so much ! Exactly what I was looking for.
I built this with my son and we just used it and I worked fantastically Thank you so much for posting this video
You’re so very welcome! I’m glad it worked out for you guys! I hope you have so much fun!
Great idea! Looking forward to trying this out.
I love this this is the best video ever now I know how to smooth out our backyard rink
Please give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Great work. I think i will use a similar setup to ice the toboggan run in the backyard.
Oh that’s a great idea!! You’ll have to let me know how it goes!
We had a 80’ X 80’ rink in the vacant lot next door. After playing hockey for a couple hours, we shoveled it off in about 5 minutes, then flooded it with a garden hose. We sometimes did this 3 or 4 times a day, with hot chocolate breaks to let the ice refreeze. Smooth as silk, and no lint frozen lint to dull our blades. My dad would boil a pot of water with a drop or two of red food coloring in it. We took the pot of hot water out to the rink and set it in the middle, letting the ice melt a perfect face-off circle. Then pour some of the red water into the hole, and when it froze over, top it off with clear water.
The neighbor with a pond would go shovel off the pond and cut a few holes with a hatchet. After that, he would jump up and down next to each hole to get the water to flow up and out over the surface. Again, smooth as silk.
That’s awesome! Yes if there were a garden hose closer it would be ideal to flood it. Unfortunately the nearest garden hose is about 400 ft away.
We had thought about drilling a hole and submerging a pump in the pond, but the zamboni works great for what we need.
I love that you have those memories. It’s all about making great memories for our kids as well!
I wanna use this to help make a smooth rink on the pond behind my house!
Awesome! Thanks so much! We also just made a rink on our pond. We are going out to buy materials to make your diy zamboni!
Yay!! I’d love to hear how it goes!
Awesome can’t wait to try this in the backyard!
Can you give me a list of products used with sizing please?
Thanks for sharing this! Building this on the weekend for our new backyard rink!
I’d love to hear how it goes!
@@everythingrachael1033 Turned out awesome! Cost $20 for the parts and sewed 6 1/4" elastics on to the towel for easy removal and washing/drying. A few friends thought it was cool and did the same thing! Thanks again!!
great idea for this thanks!
Thank you so much for posting your video. I followed your instructions with a few tweaks, like a 3/4 inch pipe and bigger holes on the end, and it just worked great! Thank you! Thank you!
You are so welcome! Yep a bigger pipe would definitely work better to flood it faster. So happy that it worked out for you!! 😍
How big did you drill your holes? And how big was the hole in your container? I'm planning to use 3/4" pipe too.
How much water does it use (volume) per square meter or ft of ice?
ALWAYS Clear your snow first.....use warm water (from a Zamboni ice tech)
Definitely always clear the snow! We could have done a better job at that on certain days, our kids are always just so excited to get out and get skating.
This is so perfect and easy to make!!!!! I will be attempting this method and probably make the towel holder wider to hopefully have to do less times through. Thank you!
Hello! Should the male and female PVC fittings go all the way together? I tried several different options at Menards and no combination comes all the way together. I’m left with about and inch of threaded pvc and it would let all the water out of the hole in the tub because the two won’t close together.
Nice!
Great video. Thanks very much!
You’re very welcome! 😊
I think you could place a weight across the top of the towel to have it place more pressure.
Need to scrape more snow off.
How do you seal the hole Rubbermaid container?
I was wondering the same. We can probably find rubber washers/gaskets that’ll work
I actually didn’t need the rubber washer because the valve screwed in tight enough that water didn’t leak.
I'm trying Teflon tape and pipe dope sandwiches the container between.
I have also silicone around both fittings where they meet the container.
Hoping to test it out tomorrow
@@stewartbaird86 how did it work out? That's the last part I'm waiting to finish up.
@@sanaaread5336 good hasn't leaked on me. Silicone pulled off a bit from turns and the towel dragging.
I haven't added any extra and still no leaks
Question can you still take off the flood rag between floods or when not in use
We zip tied ours on so unfortunately not easily, however you could replace the zip ties or use shower curtain rings or something along those lines.
@@everythingrachael1033 I used your basic design but I have it so I can just unscrew the flood rag from the tote when not in use
How much volume or water was being put down per sq m or ft of surface?
Now that is a great question...one that I unfortunately don’t know the answer to.
You need to use a submersible/sump pump and flood it with the pond water underneath you. That’ll save you a lot of time.
Did you use hot or cold water for this?
And Hotter water would Melt any snow as you are going along!
Very helpful - thx so much!
Good video, but bend those knees when skating. The closer you are to a taking a poop in the woods position, the better.
😆 I love this advice, going to have to give it a try!
I've seen people just drill a hole and drop a sump pump in hooked to a hose to draw lake water on top of the ice
Great idea. That definitely works as well! Unfortunately we were a few hundred feet from a power source for a sump pump.
How does it turn
Wouldn't a over frozen pond be to dangerous if bits melt and a kid may fall in to a hole and ???
Drill a hole in pond and get a pump
Yeah that could definitely work although you’d still have to clear it with a shovel otherwise it would take forever to freeze it.
This is what ive done. Works well vs. Hauling water.
i drilled a hole, is it fast with a pump? i didn’t have one so i scooped water out
Forget everything she said and bought and use a large cooler and the drain in conjunction with a broom handle towel and bungee to hold it to the back of the cooler. Your welcome
Where does the elbow go??
Must be doing something wrong. With hot water the towel welded itself to the ice surface and ripped the piping apart. Now I have a fluffy blue patch on the ice. Water too hot perhaps?
Hmmm it sounds like that could be the case. We haven’t run into that problem, however I know our water cools quite a bit by the time we get it from the house to the pond about 400ft away. We often carry it in buckets down.
@@everythingrachael1033 Yes Rachel. Water was too hot. Works perfectly with warm water. The blue fluffy patch of ice will be there to remind me 😂
Video was sped up, actually took him 6 days to clear that small patch of ice
Lol not quite 😆
Only messing with ya 😂👍
I'd love to hear how you clear the ice on your pond or rink. Drop me a note below with any tips you have. I'd also love to answer any questions you have about the zamboni we made.
great instructional video. Just curious how many times did you have to fill your Rubbermaid container. I have a 25*40 rink and just wondering what size container would be optimal. Thanks.
So happy to hear you found the video helpful! If we had have shoveled more snow off to begin with we would have only needed 2 - 3 Rubbermaid’s full to cover it. Our pond is approximately 60’ x 40’ if that helps to answer your question. I’d say you’d be fine with 2 Rubbermaid’s full depending on how cleared off your ice is to begin with. Does that help to answer your question? I’m curious where is your rink? We live in Nova Scotia.
Everything Rachael thank u for your reply. I’m in Niagara Falls where it finally hit below zero last week. I plan on making a Zamboni exactly like yours.
You’re so lucky that it hasn’t been below zero until now. Then again this year it’s been great with it being so cold out because the ice froze early and has stayed that frozen for a while now. I’m so excited to hear you’re going to be making one as well. Please let me know how it goes!
Zamboni oni oni
If not do you have any sisters?