Snowblowing at Night

[Grouse Feathers]

I thought I ought to try blowing snow at night before I have to blow snow at night. So it was time to test the tractor and cab under some night time conditions. Let***8217;s see dark and snowy night, 10 F, 20 mph swirling wind and 4***8221; of fresh snow (12***8221; would be better). Get dressed; worn jeans with hole in knee, snow boots, ball cap, shirt, and light fleece sweater that should do it.
What worked:
Lights - Two 27 watt lcd flood lights provide plenty of light for snow blowing. Brighter lights might be a problem with more light reflected off the swirling snow.
Heater ***8211; Maradyne 503012 piped into the cooling system bypass. I needed the fan on high to stay comfortable tonight. The other day blowing 10***8221; of heavy snow, the engine was loaded up and the heater put out more heat.
Defroster ***8211; The heater came with some hose that I attached to a 2***8221; pvc pipe. The pipe runs across the bottom of the windshield and has four 4***8221; slots cut with the table saw. With the heater blower on, the windshield stays clear and most of the snow quickly melts.
Snowblower deflector - In the woods with the wind swirling around I adjust the tilt of the deflector as often as I rotate it. In the dark you adjust even more to keep the snow plume out of the lights.
What needs improvement:
Back up light ***8211; The small 10 watt back up light is okay for backing up, but I need something brighter for using the rear blade. Will probably upgrade to a single 27 watt flood light.
Head lights ***8211; The head lights reflect off the snowblower and often the snow plume. This wouldn***8217;t be a problem, but at night it would be nice to have instrument lights. Resolved it tonight by turning on the dome light, I plan to unplug the head lamps. The cab mounted flood lights are much better than the head lights anyway.
Cold air leakage ***8211; I didn***8217;t seal up any of the floor or fender openings , and the only cold air I notice is on the back of my legs and seems to come from under the seat. I stuff an extra wool shirt behind the seat that blocks some of the cold air. I may look for a thin rubber mat or sheet to cover the fenders and seat opening, and cut slots for the levers and holes for the seat mount.

TJ you said you move snow wearing a snowmobile suit and a helmet. I would send you mine as a spare but I still need them for ice fishing. I will take a cab for blowing snow.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Nice! (The yard and purple martin house too). Glad it is so balmy down here as to make a cab unnecessary NOT!

 

[Tooljunkie]

Nice to have a cab. And heat. And a radio. And good lights.
So as far as a helmet and snowmobile suit, i left that job and work at home now, where i use my 92 gmc with a plow to clear driveway. I did find a nice cab for my old big tractor that will get installed next summer. It wouldnt look right on the L1501.

It was a good idea to go run machine at night, best to know what you are getting into.
As a farm helper i have had to climb into strange machines and trucks, most with no interior lights. Makes it a challenge.
The old kenworth was the worst, about 20 switches on dash and 1/2 of them did nothing. Headlights are candles at best. No backup lights on anything (flaslight on ground marking auger to unload. Believe it or not, i help on the farm for fun, i do like running combine at night.

 

[tcrote5516]

Just a couple recommendations on the heat as I have the same heater in my bx.

#1 Use the defrost in the beginning, once your in cab temp is in the 40's; open up the big vent on top, the window won't fog as the air in the cab will be dried by the heat already in the cab. That top vent will turn over enough air to keep the cab toasty with the fan on low.

#2 Block the radiator air intake. Don't just sort of block it, block it up good so you don't get any vacuum.

#3 Sealing the seat area (which is a must as the HST fan pushes air in even if the engine is sealed off) can be done by picking up a 2" thick piece of foam (24" x 24"). Cut the holes for the seat springs and hinge and trim the edges to fit. Once that's done, get the rubber waterproofing spray and paint the whole foam piece. That's what I used and it works great. The foam takes the odd gap shapes all around the seat and the spray seal will prevent air from getting through the foam.

With those three changes I'm confident you will have the heater on low once up to operating temp. I had to move snow at 6am this morning, outside temp was 22 and I did it in nothing but a longsleeve shirt with the blower on low. I've operated it in the low single digits last year also on low once up to temp and I don't have a blower so engine heat isn't as plentiful.

 

[ShaunBlake]

... So it was time to test the tractor and cab under some night time conditions. Let’s see dark and snowy night, 100 F, 20 mph swirling wind and 4” of fresh snow ...

I'm not tracking... 100°F and 4" snow? Oh, and 20mph winds? At that velocity, the "snow" should have been blown away before you could close the door of the cab. But at that temperature, it should have been gone before the idea occurred to you to do a run-through. Did you mean 10°F? (That would have been pretty brutal!)

 

[Grouse Feathers]

I'm not tracking... 100°F and 4" snow? Oh, and 20mph winds? At that velocity, the "snow" should have been blown away before you could close the door of the cab. But at that temperature, it should have been gone before the idea occurred to you to do a run-through. Did you mean 10°F? (That would have been pretty brutal!)

With those conditions I had something stronger than Coors as I was typing this up. Typed up in Word and pasted over, formatting of the degrees transferred as a 0. I am in the woods the wind just swirls around and the snow doesn't go anyplace except in your face if you don't have a cab. We never even see a snow drift... Wait you don't know what a snowdrift is... I used to think 10 degrees was brutal until I moved to Graying and found out it was balmy. Now after reading about the temperatures that TJ works in up in the GWN maybe 10 degrees is a heat wave.

 

[Tooljunkie]

0 F is minus 18c. Today was a balmy -29 this morning. I dont like it anymore. After travelling south for a cruise 5/6 years ago i cant understand why i come back. Get off boat at st thomas and dont get back on. It seems stupid to cone back to this. My 51st winter in the GWN and i havent learned. Permanent brain freeze i guess. Slam head i freezer door, only have to do it once.i dont know why i keep goin outside.
Next tractor-heated cab. Nothing less.

 

[RCW]

0 F is minus 18c. Today was a balmy -29 this morning.

Gosh, Frank -

I'm with GrouseFeathers on that one.

Lived in Upstate NY all my life. We are still much warmer than northern NY, closer to St. Lawrence River.

You're colder than that, plus some!!

Ouch!!

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Just a couple recommendations on the heat as I have the same heater in my bx.

#1 Use the defrost in the beginning, once your in cab temp is in the 40's; open up the big vent on top, the window won't fog as the air in the cab will be dried by the heat already in the cab. That top vent will turn over enough air to keep the cab toasty with the fan on low.

#2 Block the radiator air intake. Don't just sort of block it, block it up good so you don't get any vacuum.

#3 Sealing the seat area (which is a must as the HST fan pushes air in even if the engine is sealed off) can be done by picking up a 2" thick piece of foam (24" x 24"). Cut the holes for the seat springs and hinge and trim the edges to fit. Once that's done, get the rubber waterproofing spray and paint the whole foam piece. That's what I used and it works great. The foam takes the odd gap shapes all around the seat and the spray seal will prevent air from getting through the foam.

With those three changes I'm confident you will have the heater on low once up to operating temp. I had to move snow at 6am this morning, outside temp was 22 and I did it in nothing but a longsleeve shirt with the blower on low. I've operated it in the low single digits last year also on low once up to temp and I don't have a blower so engine heat isn't as plentiful.

tcrote
Thanks for the recommendations. #1 & #2 I already had in place. I usually have to keep some heat on the windshield not for fogging as that has not been a problem, but to keep melting the snow. Today I put some carpet under the seat if it doesn't seal well enough I will try your method.

 

[tcrote5516]

tcrote
Thanks for the recommendations. #1 & #2 I already had in place. I usually have to keep some heat on the windshield not for fogging as that has not been a problem, but to keep melting the snow. Today I put some carpet under the seat if it doesn't seal well enough I will try your method.

I just noticed your heater is mounted the opposite way from mine. Are you pulling in fresh air from outside or is it recirculating the inside air?

My heater is setup with the intake pointing towards the back of the tractor (blower motor side is up tight against the front of the cab) and it recirculates.

 

[Grouse Feathers]

0 F is minus 18c. Today was a balmy -29 this morning. I dont like it anymore. After travelling south for a cruise 5/6 years ago i cant understand why i come back. Get off boat at st thomas and dont get back on. It seems stupid to cone back to this. My 51st winter in the GWN and i havent learned. Permanent brain freeze i guess. Slam head i freezer door, only have to do it once.i dont know why i keep goin outside.
Next tractor-heated cab. Nothing less.

I have adapted to the colder temperatures here, I like winter and have no desire to travel south this time of year. However, it would be a big stretch to adapt to temperatures in Lac Du Bonnet. I shoot skeet every week at the gun club even when its 0F, no way I could go out and shoot skeet, ice fish or blow snow wearing a snowmobile suit when its -20F. I respect you guys of the GWN in Manitoba.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Lied about next tractor having a cab, found a zb7000 with a pile of attatchments including a snotblower for a reasonable price. Will be fabbing up a cab i guess.
Still cold, happy its not snowing.

 

[jmatz]

I thought I ought to try blowing snow at night before I have to blow snow at night. So it was time to test the tractor and cab under some night time conditions...

That sounded like a great idea. I've only just learned how to work the snowblower, and didn't even consider how different night operation would be, so I tried it out tonight during a short lake effect snow burst, just after dark.

Something I noticed right away is that it's much easier to see the contours of the snow in the road and on the edges because of the shadows that the front and rear work lights cast on the surroundings (even when it's snowing pretty hard). I tried amber lenses in my sunglasses during an overcast day, but that doesn't help nearly as much as lights at night.

Won't be my first choice most of the time, but it was fun to try and gives me confidence for when I really have to do it.

Also tried out the drink holder in the cab for the first time! Not a proponent of drinking and driving, but I couldn't get myself into too much trouble on our private road and driveway. A short stubby Coors fits perfectly in the drink holder

 

[gregger]

0 F is minus 18c. Today was a balmy -29 this morning. I dont like it anymore. After travelling south for a cruise 5/6 years ago i cant understand why i come back. Get off boat at st thomas and dont get back on. It seems stupid to cone back to this. My 51st winter in the GWN and i havent learned. Permanent brain freeze i guess. Slam head i freezer door, only have to do it once.i dont know why i keep goin outside.
Next tractor-heated cab. Nothing less.

Hi, I really appreciate my cab I've just finished, luckily, you are close to the mfg of TekTite Cabs, in Manitoba. I had considered getting one from them, but the freight to New Brunswick would be a killer, as they come all assembled. Nice cabs too..

 

[Grouse Feathers]

I just noticed your heater is mounted the opposite way from mine. Are you pulling in fresh air from outside or is it recirculating the inside air?

My heater is setup with the intake pointing towards the back of the tractor (blower motor side is up tight against the front of the cab) and it recirculates.

Just recirculating, I thought this way would give me better control of the air flow out of the heater. Probably doesn't matter which way you blow the air out in a small cab.

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Also tried out the drink holder in the cab for the first time! Not a proponent of drinking and driving, but I couldn't get myself into too much trouble on our private road and driveway. A short stubby Coors fits perfectly in the drink holder

Now that I have tried blowing snow at night a couple of times I find that I like blowing snow at night. Since I built my cab with heater, wiper, and lights maybe that has something to do with my level of enjoyment using it at night. Of course the level of intelligence on TV at night might also contribute to getting out on the tractor.
I will try something new tonight, as we got hit with the lake effect today, but it will take more than a Coors. A good dark beer, luckily Guinness is not at the top of my dark beer list because I understand all the Guinness in Northern Michigan has been shipped to PA to alleviate a shortage there.