Mind of I continue the snowblower discussion?

[rubytue]

I am in love! I did the driveway, my sidewalks, and a few feet into my neighbors sidewalks on my 50 foot cord. 💜  But I have questions…

The throw, with the slight breeze, was not great. My driveway is 2 cars wide. I started in the middle and did lengthwise passes blowing out. Anyone have advice on an efficient pattern?

When shoveling, in a big storm, I usually try to do passes about every few hours. Should I consider the same thing here? Like going out in the middle of the storm? 

Its electric. So not as powerful as a gas. Perfect? No. But better than shoveling? HELL YEAH

picture tax (maybe? Did they upload?)

edit: drat, pictures didn’t load. But imagine a two car driveway cleared of snow, with 6” snow burms on both sides. 

[macmars45]

H used ours for the first time yesterday. It's battery operated using the same battery our lawnmower uses. He said it shut off when it got to too what it perceived as a barrier. So some parts were just fine and smooth sailing. Others were go a foot, shut off/turn back on rinse & repeat.

[icedcoffee]

If there's a lot I'd start on the outside edges and work your way inward. You may need to touch up the inside, but otherwise you're making it harder as you go, ya know?

[bex1973]

Jan 19, 2024 15:02:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

If there's a lot I'd start on the outside edges and work your way inward. You may need to touch up the inside, but otherwise you're making it harder as you go, ya know?

This.

[womet]

rubytue, which one did you get? H and I were talking about this yesterday.

[rubytue]

Jan 19, 2024 15:50:03 GMT -5 womet said:

rubytue , which one did you get? H and I were talking about this yesterday.

www.amazon.com/dp/B075NMXLSS

edit: bless the Amazon logistics people. I was eyeing it Tuesday, it was $250 with 2 day shipping. Wednesday, it was $161 and next day shipping. 

[cap]

If you're going to get quite a bit of snow, I'd definitely go out during the storm. If you had a big gas-powered blower it might not be necessary, but with an electric one, I doubt it'll have enough oomph. It also really depends on if you have dry snow or wet/heavy snow.

[deadwing]

Even with a gas blower, I will go out multiple times during a big storm. It's easier to move less snow at a time. The only time I wouldn't bother is when the wind is extremely strong - then there's no point. The wind will out the snow where it wants to.

My driveway is short and wide. It's been so long since I've had a good snow storm (2022), I don't know how to describe my pattern. It might now be useful for a long narrow drive though.

[rubytue]

Ooo. Now with pictures 

Attachments:

[livinitup]

People snowblow BOTH sides of a 2-car driveway ??

I’m going to have to have a talk with H !

[rubytue]

Jan 19, 2024 19:38:10 GMT -5 livinitup said:

People snowblow BOTH sides of a 2-car driveway ??

I’m going to have to have a talk with H !

LOL. H parks outside the garage, so his truck takes up half the driveway. I need the other half to come and go. 

[stemmie]

DS has done ours with a 2-stage gas power for the last 7 years or so.

What works best in a big storm is to run the blower just before the snow depth reaches the max your model can handle easily. For us, that's about 12-15" assuming typical snow. The electric we were considering would have been around 6"- YMMV. A heavy wet spring snow would need to be done around 6" with mine. The end of the driveway "gift" of the local plowing service takes "bites"-- going in a foot or so and pulling back before it stalls before moving forward again. It still beats digging with a shovel.

Wind and weight of snow play into his pattern. It took him a while to figure it out. We're on the bulb end of a dead-end street so our one neighbor's driveway is only about 4' away at the curb while ours is 2 cars wide at the garage end and tapers to about 1 1/2 widths at the street. DS always blows away from the neighbor's drive for the first 10' up the driveway. The first couple times before he figured this out he had to go dig out what he did to the neighbor. Now he usually starts in the middle and blows out. If it's really windy towards the neighbor's yard, he'll make one pass along the side and go sideways blowing towards our yard.