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

Here in my driveway we only got about 14-16 inches. Here is a clip/quote from the newspaper.

http://news.yahoo.com/snow-smacks-northeast-power-could-days-122810201.html

"But in New Hampshire's capital of Concord, more than 22 inches fell, weeks ahead of the usual first measurable snowfall. Trees downtown still bright with fall colors were covered with snow. Some didn't survive — a large oak tree that had stood alongside the Statehouse fell, partially blocking a side street."

I'll post some videos but this was the heaviest wetest nastiest heartattack snow I have seen in a long time. Their were so many leaves in the driveway that I had a lot of trouble with the chute and auger clogging. I'd have to shut the machine off to clear the impeller and chute. Heavy wet snow and leaves do NOT mix. There were times I didn't think I was going to be able to finish my driveway. As long as the leaves didn't get sucked in the Toro handled it pretty well. I'd just let it ride up on the first pass and then take a second pass. We finally got power and cabl back. I guess downtown got more than we did for once.

Share your stories and vieos in here if you have 'em.

Yeah it's pretty amazing how bad this storm was. Thankfully we are not expecting more. Peak foliage season was less than 2 weeks ago! This is crazy weather. Some places had 27" of snow. Our city got 22" but here we got about 16" in some places.

I'd just gotten my Toro back on Friday. Good thing too!

I started off thinking the Toro should be in 1st gear to handle the weight of the snow. I was initially disappointed when the chute quickly clogged with ice and throwing distance dropped to a few feet. Cleaned it and was about to put it away, when it occurred to me to experiment a faster gear. Duh.

In 2nd gear the performance improved, third was better yet,and I finally settled on 4th for the best efficiency. Conclusion is that the impeller must be fed sufficient snow to push the heavy stuff through and prevent clogging. The 4th gear provided the best balance between forcing the snow through and not bogging the 250 cc engine. The 826OE threw this heavy wet stuff about 25 feet and the chute stayed clean. The Quickstick would occasionally stiffin up a little, from ice around the outside of it, but it remained fully functional.

Once I got going, the Toro cleared the drive of Snowpocalypse in the normal amount of time. 

The real problem with clogging came with all the leaves being mixed in with that wet heavy snow.