The Snow Thrower Thread or Snow Blower thread

[North East Goon]

Looking to make this purchase soon and would love any input on brands,size power I should be looking for? I have a pretty big two car garage driveway area to clear plus the sidewalk.

[FlameOn]

I just bought one myself from home depot a little week ago. Was a four stage sno-tek (ariens) 4 stage 208cc monster. Was going to go with this small plastic Toro ones, but wasn't sure how durable they'd be so I forked over a bit more money.

[YYC in LAX]

Would like to buy one for my dad for his birthday/Christmas. How much should I spend or expect to spend for a reliable, solid snowblower?

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Looking to make this purchase soon and would love any input on brands,size power I should be looking for? I have a pretty big two car garage driveway area to clear plus the sidewalk.

just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to shovel your driveway if it snowed 10 cms (~4 inches).

Although I have a two car garage, it only takes me 20 to 40 mins (the longer time period means I am scraping down to the pavement) to shovel so I could never justify purchasing a snow-blower - also it is a big contraption to store.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to shovel your driveway if it snowed 10 cms (~4 inches).

Although I have a two car garage, it only takes me 20 to 40 mins (the longer time period means I am scraping down to the pavement) to shovel so I could never justify purchasing a snow-blower - also it is a big contraption to store.

I want to get one as well even though it doesn't take me that long to shovel the driveway. I have 3 reasons:

1) My neighbors do not shovel their sidewalk, and they are just downhill from me, resulting in any melting making ponds on my sidewalk. I realize this is their problem but I do not want to have to deal with chipping 3 or 4" of ice like I did last year. My passive aggressive approach will be to blow the snow from their sidewalk onto their driveway...

2) The city was kind enough to plow our street once last year. The did this in one pass which resulted in hard packed snow at a higher level than our driveway, which cause some interesting moment when the thaw came. A snow blower will prevent the massive piles of snow at the end of my driveway.

3) I want all the snow from my driveway on the street. There were massive patches of dead grass on my lawn this summer from road salt that fell off my truck and was shoveled onto the lawn.

[North East Goon]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to shovel your driveway if it snowed 10 cms (~4 inches).

Although I have a two car garage, it only takes me 20 to 40 mins (the longer time period means I am scraping down to the pavement) to shovel so I could never justify purchasing a snow-blower - also it is a big contraption to store.

Ssshhh, I have the wife convinced, dont be changing her mind now!!!

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to shovel your driveway if it snowed 10 cms (~4 inches).

Although I have a two car garage, it only takes me 20 to 40 mins (the longer time period means I am scraping down to the pavement) to shovel so I could never justify purchasing a snow-blower - also it is a big contraption to store.

I have a two lane driveway too, but my house is also on the bottom of the hill next to a retaining wall. Last year when everyone else was getting 4 inches of snow I was getting snow drifts that were building up to 2 feet blocking off more than half my driveway. Worse snow day I was getting up to almost 3 feet and that took me 5-6 hours to dig myself out of. If I get a snowblower and it cuts my time down to half hour, I'm laughing. Big contraption to store yes... but I hope its worth it cuz "winter is coming" and I'm told it'll be worse than the last.

[4X4]

We got one for my dad a few years ago, and he loves that thing. It was $900, but probably the best gift me and my siblings ever teamed up to buy the old man. IIRC, I got it at Jed's Equipment. It was a Toro, but it was a nice one, not one of those little pieces of crap for $169 at Canadian Tire. It's about the size of a lawnmower, and it chucks snow halfway across the street if you set the chute to do so.
Starts every time, is self propelled, and saves his back and his heart from unnecessary exercise, as his house is a big corner lot with a long, wide sidewalk.
I think he actually enjoys doing the walks now.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I want to get one as well even though it doesn't take me that long to shovel the driveway. I have 3 reasons:

1) My neighbors do not shovel their sidewalk, and they are just downhill from me, resulting in any melting making ponds on my sidewalk. I realize this is their problem but I do not want to have to deal with chipping 3 or 4" of ice like I did last year. My passive aggressive approach will be to blow the snow from their sidewalk onto their driveway...

2) The city was kind enough to plow our street once last year. The did this in one pass which resulted in hard packed snow at a higher level than our driveway, which cause some interesting moment when the thaw came. A snow blower will prevent the massive piles of snow at the end of my driveway.

3) I want all the snow from my driveway on the street. There were massive patches of dead grass on my lawn this summer from road salt that fell off my truck and was shoveled onto the lawn.

Just a note on this, if the snow you were to put on the street caused problems for someone else, I am pretty sure you would be liable.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Just a note on this, if the snow you were to put on the street caused problems for someone else, I am pretty sure you would be liable.

I used to live on a bus route as a kid with now garage. Every snow storm the plows would come early and plow in all the cars. We would then shovel all the snow back onto the street (where to be fair it melts off faster than it would have not been plowed) and then the plow puts it back the next morning. No one ever cared, as this was the only way to get your cars out.

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Just a note on this, if the snow you were to put on the street caused problems for someone else, I am pretty sure you would be liable.

no

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by 4X4

We got one for my dad a few years ago, and he loves that thing. It was $900, but probably the best gift me and my siblings ever teamed up to buy the old man. IIRC, I got it at Jed's Equipment. It was a Toro, but it was a nice one, not one of those little pieces of crap for $169 at Canadian Tire. It's about the size of a lawnmower, and it chucks snow halfway across the street if you set the chute to do so.
Starts every time, is self propelled, and saves his back and his heart from unnecessary exercise, as his house is a big corner lot with a long, wide sidewalk.
I think he actually enjoys doing the walks now.

Is the Toro you purchased, does it have small tires? I am looking at HomeDepot and the Toros all seem to have the same small tire feature which is odd because all the other brands have huge tires. I looked at them and thought that looked odd as to why they are the only ones with lawn mower tires and the others have off roading tires.

[Locke]

Do not unjam it with your hand.

[THE SCUD]

It's against the law to shovel your driveway onto the street. The general spirit of the bylaw is that the snow must remain where it was. IE if its on your property you must shovel it onto your property (aka the lawn). if it's on the road, sure push it to one side to get your driveway road access clear.

If any of my neighbours shovelled onto the road I'd go pee on their driveway.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

It's against the law to shovel your driveway onto the street. The general spirit of the bylaw is that the snow must remain where it was. IE if its on your property you must shovel it onto your property (aka the lawn). if it's on the road, sure push it to one side to get your driveway road access clear.

If any of my neighbours shovelled onto the road I'd go pee on their driveway.

i never knew that. Pretty much all the houses in my cul de sac shovel the driveway onto the street.

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

i never knew that. Pretty much all the houses in my cul de sac shovel the driveway onto the street.

BYLAW NUMBER 20M88, paragraph 67, sub section 7:

The owner or occupant of a parcel of land adjacent to a Street may remove ice and snow from the Sidewalk or Pathway adjacent to the parcel and place it on the Roadway or Boulevard of a Street but shall not remove any ice or snow from the rest of the parcel and place it on the Roadway or Boulevard of a Street

http://www.calgary.ca/CA/City-Clerks...m88-Street.pdf

coles notes: you can shovel a city-owned sidewalk onto the road, but not your driveway.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

BYLAW NUMBER 20M88, paragraph 67, sub section 7:

The owner or occupant of a parcel of land adjacent to a Street may remove ice and snow from the Sidewalk or Pathway adjacent to the parcel and place it on the Roadway or Boulevard of a Street but shall not remove any ice or snow from the rest of the parcel and place it on the Roadway or Boulevard of a Street

http://www.calgary.ca/CA/City-Clerks...m88-Street.pdf

coles notes: you can shovel a city-owned sidewalk onto the road, but not your driveway.

I guess it is lucky for me then that for some freak of nature reason all of the snow only lands on the sidewalk at my house...

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I guess it is lucky for me then that for some freak of nature reason all of the snow only lands on the sidewalk at my house...

I don't disagree with the chances of getting caught being improbably low, much like speeding. I am talking about the fact that your neighbours will think you're a jackass.

Think about it - sure if you push it onto the road it's okay, but if your whole street did? The road would be treacherous.

[Madman]

Have an Ariens Compact 24 and love it.

You pay a little more than the entry level snow blowers, but it's all metal construction and B&S motor make it well worth the extra cost.

We get massive snow drifts across our driveway and they are pretty much un-shovelable, the Ariens cuts right through it and the B&S motor rarely lacks for power.

[spetch]

Two years ago I picked up a Yardworks 357 cc 30 inch one @ crappy tire. The thing works like a dream. Never had any issues and I use it anywheres from 1inches (i'm lazy) to over 9000 inches. Never had any issues with it bogging down, even on the massive drifts.