How does the ice resurfacer work?
Ice resurfacers are designed to do several things at the same time as the machine is driven over the ice. There is a sharp blade that shaves the ice. These shavings are moved by a horizontal auger to the center of the conditioner and then lifted up into the snow tank by a vertical auger. There are two separate tanks of water on the resurfacer. The wash water tank allows water to enter the ice surface in front of a squeegee which makes slush with the shavings to help wash the ice and fill in the deep gouges. This wash water is recycled by being vacuumed up, filtered and then returned to the wash water tank. The other tank is for ice-making and is visible during the resurface. This water comes out just behind the conditioner and is spread onto the ice surface by a towel. The original ice resurfacer was invented by Frank Zamboni of California in 1949.
