Snow Thrower
I don't know what I was expecting from my new snow thrower, so I'm not sure if I'm happy, disappointed, or just dealing with quiet resignation. Not it though, it's damn loud (141 cc's of two stroke noise and fury). It's definitely easier on the arms though. Dealing with the snow can no longer be considered exercise, so I'm not sure that's an improvement since it means I have to wake up early to exercise, then "mow" the pavement.
The one thing that I expected was that it wouldn't break up the ice on the driveway, and I was correct. The salt and sun helped to soften some of it up, and the snow thrower got rid of those soft bits, but there wasn't anything impressive going on. I doubt the metal snow throwers would have done much better as they don't get super close to ground, so they probably would have driven right over the ice (though it is about a quarter of an inch thick). I came back with the shovel and was able to get a little bit more, maybe two shovels' worth. So, I can't really fault it there.
It does a good job of clearing down to the pavement, but it's far from perfect. Definitely good enough though. It loves heavy wet snow, throwing that close to 30 feet in a very impressive arc. The dry, loose, powder it only throws a few feet. I don't imagine that a bigger unit would be any better, there's just no mass for the surface area of dry powdery snow.
You need to be aware of the wind direction, and where you want the snow to land. Since it can't throw the snow all the way across my driveway, I was going sideways back and forth my driveway blowing the snow in front of me. That worked OK when I was up wind. But, when the driveway gets steep, it's very hard to keep the snow thrower from heading downhill, so I switched to a more normal up and down motion. It pulls itself up the driveway no problem, and it doesn't run away going down hill. However, that means that you have to go over the same snow multiple times to actually get it off the driveway. Also, I think starting in the middle, rather than a side, is the way to go so that you're always throwing new snow with already thrown snow.
I met another neighbor last night too. Seems like a nice guy, a car guy. We had a good chat and I hope to be able to make friends with him, even though he's not a Ford guy.
The one thing that I expected was that it wouldn't break up the ice on the driveway, and I was correct. The salt and sun helped to soften some of it up, and the snow thrower got rid of those soft bits, but there wasn't anything impressive going on. I doubt the metal snow throwers would have done much better as they don't get super close to ground, so they probably would have driven right over the ice (though it is about a quarter of an inch thick). I came back with the shovel and was able to get a little bit more, maybe two shovels' worth. So, I can't really fault it there.
It does a good job of clearing down to the pavement, but it's far from perfect. Definitely good enough though. It loves heavy wet snow, throwing that close to 30 feet in a very impressive arc. The dry, loose, powder it only throws a few feet. I don't imagine that a bigger unit would be any better, there's just no mass for the surface area of dry powdery snow.
You need to be aware of the wind direction, and where you want the snow to land. Since it can't throw the snow all the way across my driveway, I was going sideways back and forth my driveway blowing the snow in front of me. That worked OK when I was up wind. But, when the driveway gets steep, it's very hard to keep the snow thrower from heading downhill, so I switched to a more normal up and down motion. It pulls itself up the driveway no problem, and it doesn't run away going down hill. However, that means that you have to go over the same snow multiple times to actually get it off the driveway. Also, I think starting in the middle, rather than a side, is the way to go so that you're always throwing new snow with already thrown snow.
I met another neighbor last night too. Seems like a nice guy, a car guy. We had a good chat and I hope to be able to make friends with him, even though he's not a Ford guy.
posted by Mark at 11:37 AM
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