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.

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.