Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Appreciate any help everyone here can provide. Already have acquired a wealth of knowledge.

Buying a new machine. Looking primarily at Ariens. They list max throwing distance the same for almost all their snowblowers. So what would a bigger engine do for me? For example I am weighing the 27" deluxe 249cc against the 28" pro 342cc. Disregarding the other feature differences, what will I get out of the bigger engine?

If it helps, this is going to be used on my parking lot that is 50'X50'. Mostly flat but the entire width of the parking lot is open to the street so I get 50' of deeper snow at the street due to city plows.

Thanks for any insight.

I have an Ariens Platiinum 24" with the 249cc engine.  I've used it 3 times so far on snowfalls of about 5 inches.  This is obviously not much of a challenge for any machine.  The snowblower cut through the snow with more than enough power and shot it out like a cannon-- about 45-50 feet, I'd say... just as Ariens claims.

A bigger, even more powerful engine won't shoot snow any farther (if you look at the major manufacturers' spec sheets, you'll see that their intermediate and more heavy-duty blowers all shoot at 45 or 50 feet.  The advantage of having a bigger engine is that you can make headway slightly quicker when faced with deeper snowfalls, especially of the heavy stuff.

But think about this.  Up until maybe 10 years ago, an average snowblower had 6 or 7 horsepower.  Though for legal reasons manufacturers are no longer using horsepower ratings on engines (I think somebody filed suit because the stated HP of a motor was one-tenth of an HP too high or something spurious like that), the 249cc B&S engine has something like 9HP.

Unless you are in a zone that gets lots of heavy snow, like the California Sierras or Buffalo, you won't need an engine bigger than the 249cc. Even then, I doubt you'd really need a bigger engine.,   I really like my 24" Platinum-- it's powerful, easy to turn (unlike the Deluxe 24 which i initially bought... that was a bear to turn and had no trigger to remotely disengage a wheel), small enough to tuck into a corner of the garage, and yet makes quick work of our driveway (60 feet long with a 40x40 area outside the garage).

Just my $.02-- hope this helps!

honestly like was said you will make better headway with the EOD stuff and with the wider front ends you are taking in more snow so therefore you need a little more umh to get it done so to speak I have 2 snowblowers a toro 1332 13hp OHV techuseh the think is litterally a tank will plow through whatever and hardly even bogs down therefore it is faster ,last winter was awful up here where i live northern ny lots of snow day after day and the toro had some issues and carb and other stuff it 11 years old by no means woreout I acctually plan on putting a carb on it and getting it running again soon I also have a cub cadet 930 it says 305cc B&S  30 inch cut it works as well throws the snow just as far as the toro did  but when you get into the EOD stuff it just doesnt have the  stamina so to speak of the toro you have to knock it down a gear or stop let it catch a breather and continue on  so in my opinon  the biggereng gets you done quicker in some instances because with it ussually comes a wider cut   as I always say just my humble opinion good luck to you on your purchase

Larger engines mean more torque. Torque is good. The more torque an engine has, the harder it can work and resist the effect of load changes. A smaller engine might be quite happy purring along throwing 7" of moderately dense snow. When that engine has to deal with 12" of wet snow, it's performance will be immediately compromised due to the additional and constant load. The smaller engine will have trouble maintaining it's operating speed and if pushed too hard, will falter and possibly stall. A larger engine will not be as readily effected by the additional load and will continue to work relatively unimpeded by the increase in load.