better blowers?

[Showmedata]

My 'toxic trait', as the kids like to say, is that I almost never buy a device without deciding some aspect of it could be better designed or engineered. Today, it's my LandPride SP1064 snow blower.

With a wet snow like we had this week, it never clogged in the second stage or the chute but it really packs up in the housing and builds up on the auger shaft. The result is it acts as half blower, half plow. On my first clearing yesterday, about 16" deep, I had to raise the blower a couple inches off the ground for the first pass because the wet bottom layer would fully pack up and let very little snow get to the second stage fan. Today with about a foot, but a drier bottom layer, it did better but you can still see how the blower looks at the end of the job.

I'm thinking that the auger should be more aggressive - perhaps the helical blade should be wider, or the paddles bigger, or...? Do y'all have other make snow blowers that are more effective and vary in design?

 

[mcmxi]

I think the problem is expecting anything to do everything well, all of the time. Snow varies tremendously in terms of density, and it's unreasonable to expect anything to work well under all conditions. I have a Land Pride SB1574 that is way more capable than the BX5450 that I used to run, but even the 1574 will choke up if the snow is wet, dense and heavy.

My approach is to have at least two ways of moving snow with an hydraulic angle snow blade up front and a blower out back. There isn't any type of snow that I can't deal with.

Blowing dry powder type snow is about as much fun as it gets, and trying to blow dense, wet, heavy snow sucks. That's just the way it is.

 

[Showmedata]

BTW last year I tried an application of this stuff that somebody here recommended:

Absolute debacle! It made everything stick much worse.

 

[JimDeL]

BTW last year I tried an application of this stuff that somebody here recommended:
View attachment 124321

Absolute debacle! It made everything stick much worse.

Haven't tried it yet (No Snow!) but somebody told me that Fluid Film will work.
Anybody tried it?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

No matter what you do, it will still happen if the snow is the right consistency!
And more aggressive blades on the auger will not help.

 

[GreX]

I've had mixed results with Fluid Film in my SB1051 (little brother to your blower). Its good for about one snow blowing session, then have to reapply. This year we've had almost no snow, so just ran it as it was, same as what you're showing, packed main area, and with really wet snow, the chute also packs up. Worst case, I pull it back in the heated garage, let it sit for a bit and thaw out, then go again, but I may have a smaller drive that you. Maybe try the Fluid Film?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

dang with only 4 days until Spring, the last thing I want to see is a snowblower full of white !!
Snow is never the same, you have to adjust how you 'attack' it based on how it 'feels'.

 

[ctfjr]

I used PAM in the past to prevent clogging. Did it work? dunno but it didn't clog that season. This year we were in FL so didn't use it once.

 

[DustyRusty]

I used Pam to clean the snow out of the snowblower when it clogged, but she wasn't very reliable, and quit working below 32 degrees.

 

[Dustball]

I wonder if your augers are reversed side to side. I'm used to seeing the smooth side of the augers facing towards the center so the snow doesn't get hung up on the bracing as the snow is being pushed inwards.

Compare that to my blower-

 

[mcmxi]

I wonder if your augers are reversed side to side. I'm used to seeing the smooth side of the augers facing towards the center so the snow doesn't get hung up on the bracing as the snow is being pushed inwards.

View attachment 124352


Compare that to my blower-
View attachment 124353

That's an interesting observation and you would think that the angle supports would not be on the side of the screw that's pushing the snow towards the center. However, the parts manual shows a one-piece auger that's arranged the same as the op's blower.

My auger arrangement puts the supporting steel on the back face of the screw, which seems intuitive.

 

[mikester]

For some reason the Lucknow blowers do a good job throwing snow and don't have the clogging issues I've seen on other brands.

My old AgroTrend blower would choke on wet stuff especially in the rectangular chute. My Lucknow chute with its large round chute design never plugs up.

I suspect a fluid flow issue going from a rectangular fan scroll chute to a round pinch point then back to rectangular. That design slows the flow down enough for the icy slop to cling to the walls and stick in the corners. The Lucknow goes from a rectangular scroll chute to round then keeps the same flow profile through the chute and the slop maintains higher exit velocities. End result is the snow throws further and less clogging issues.

 

[Showmedata]

That's an interesting observation and you would think that the angle supports would not be on the side of the screw that's pushing the snow towards the center. However, the parts manual shows a one-piece auger that's arranged the same as the op's blower.

View attachment 124357

My auger arrangement puts the supporting steel on the back face of the screw, which seems intuitive.

View attachment 124358

I like this analysis. I don't know the age of my blower, but maybe LP learned something and revised the design to put the supports behind the screw helix.