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Do you wax? (your snowblower)


jrmorrill

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The heavy wet snow season has started here in south-central Connecticut. My '66 Simplicity with a 36" snowblower does great in the light fluffy stuff but in the wet it quickly plugs up. I've tried spraying the chute with silicone spray and it works well for about 20 minutes. By then the snow has abraded off the layer of silicone and then proceeds to plug up. I'm considering put a nice layer of wax in the chute. Have others done this? I think a fairly hard wax would work well, Ski Wax of some sort? Thanks for any tips on this! Jason M
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If your trying to blow wet snow you need to have your forward speed very slow but the engine rpms should be high to keep the auger spinning fast. If the chute is rusty you need to clean it up and put some nice glossy paint on. Never tried wax but I would guess it may work? I just keep my chute painted and it works well for most cases. Best of luck...
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Smooth shiny hard surfaces like a shiny waxed surface actually produce a good surface for adhesion. Wet snow packed on a shiny surface will have a layer of water against the surface and actually produce a vacuum, like a suction cup, that holds it tightly against the surface. This is because of the surface tension of the surface moisture in the material. A slightly rougher surface, like unwaxed, flat paint will prevent this suction from developing because it breaks up the surface tension, and the snow will not stick as readily. Slick oily products like Pam and WD 40 which do not mix well with water will also make the snow release. Part of the coating itself will let go and make the snow fall off, which is why the coatings do not last too long. When I first hooked up my Sears blower to the 716H, the auger had a coating of rust on it. I roughly sanded it, but did not have time to prime and paint it. To my surprise, I had no snow sticking to those surfaces, but it did stick to the smooth painted areas. Because of this, I would not recommend a wax job on a snow blower.
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There's really a couple of keys to using a single-stage in wet, heavy snow: 1. Run the engine wide-open and nothing less... 2. Keep the intake housing or "hopper" full -- as long as you keep it full, the snow has to go somewhere and most of it will go out the chute... Vary the ground speed or width of cut as necessary to do so. I've found that they work best when you're pushing so much snow into it that the engine, though wide open, must go onto the governor to handle it -- that's the "sweet spot" of operation.... Think of it like you're cutting 18" - 24" grass with the mower deck... you can control both the speed and how wide a cut you're taking on each pass to have it mow well. The same holds true with a snowblower -- it's the first pass through it, when you're cutting full-width, that's really tricky or requires riding the clutch a little.... I've sucessfully pumped slush with mine that would barely throw it past the end of the snowblower, then you move over and pump it again on the next pass... My 2 cents, your mileage may vary...
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I second Kent. I was wishing I could blower futher, but my problem was I was not pushing the motor that hard. The hydro comes in real handy with the blower to keep the blower full as possible, when hitting the governor slow down the ground speed. My problem is not long enough driveway to be at max speed for very long and only 36" blower. Now I am looking for the 42" to try to gather more snow.
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My situation is like Rod's.The chute had a buildup of rust in it. I took some rough sandpaper,and knocked off most of the loose rust.Left the rest as it was.so far,it works great. If the snow is real wet and heavy,I get out the 712 with a blade.:)
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Rod, Your smooth surface being sticky is counterintuitive but right on!, (no pun intended) I ran into same situation years ago with wet paper stock in wet end of paper machine. The wet stock transfers from the rough wire to the smooth surface of the first dryer can by the same effect. Hadn't thought about that in years but now that you mention it I no longer feel guilty for not sanding and painting the chute. LOL.
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I'm with Kent on the sweet spot stuff. Although I really didn't know it at the time. I did the same thing keeping the hopper full but takeing a full 42" swath w/ the HB. Man there's nothing like a hydro for constant speed changes. Blew over an hour without touching the shute on a rusty blower and very wet snow. Only clogged once. That was also w/ the 12 Briggs in it. Now I have the 16 in it and would love to get some white stuff to play in.
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This is scary, I problably spent a good hour grinding the rust and chipped up paint outta the shute on my 42 inch blower and now have it painted all pretty with epoxy paint. It's nice and smooth. May be a good thing I never have snow wet enough to make a snowball outta. The parts man at the JD place in Fairbanks where I was buying some old constuction yellow paint, told me of a silcone spray they sell and used to use when they rented snowblowers. Never been a problem for me so i didn't think to look into close enough to have a name for you warm winter snowblowers. Sorry.
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