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.

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.