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

New Hampshire winter. 34'x12' deck. Own a big Ariens for the the driveway, looking for an alternate for the deck. Will need to clear deck, roof rake pulled down roof snow, and clear again. Prefer gas powered. Thanks

I use a single stage on my 12' x 40' deck with Trex decking and it works very well. Most SS machines have an adjustable scrapper bar on the bottom of the bucket which allows the operator to make height adjustments but the paddles are rubber anyway and don't cause any damage. The sides of the bucket are typically about a 1/2" to 1" off the deck with a new scrapper bar set at its lowest adjusted setting.

I used to put the Toro Power Shovel to work on my 14' x 16' deck.   Now that I have the MTD SS machine sitting around, I'll just park it on the deck for the winter. 

I use a snow scoop similar to this:

http://www.acecalumet.com/snowtool.html

I can clear my 48'x10' deck in about 10 minutes, pushing it over the side where it falls 8.5' to the ground.  Then anothe 10 minutes cleaning up the fallen snow below the deck and relocating it to the rest of the backyard.  Then 5 minutes to clear the patio, and another 5-10 to clear out the courtyard and sidewalk around the house.  Works great on packed snow and EOD stuff.

If I don't feel like getting the 2-stage blower out, I can clean my 2400sf driveway almost as fast with this scoop as I can with the machine.  I'm a little winded afterward, but no sore back.  It's actually easier on the body than man-handling that craftsman mtd 928 around.  It's a great workout - if I wear anything more than a sweatshirt over my regular clothes at 15 degrees Fahrenheit, I start to work up a sweat, so dress lightly and you'll be comfortable!

I guess that scoop would work well if the deck doesn't have ballusters and railings.  I think the original poster was looking for something that can throw over without having to do repeated lifting.

Yes, the deck has railings and balusters. The blower will be on the deck all winter. I've been looking at the Toro SS 621 models. Wondering if I need all the accessories or if the Toro Power Clear 621 R would suffice? TIA

You definitely do not need the Quick Chute feature, but it's a nice convenience if is going to be used on the driveway and sidewalks.

I'd go for it.  Like the Chinese proverb "Buy once, cry once."

aa335 wrote:

I guess I'm lucky in that my deck railings are horizontal (originally built pre-code).  I re-built the deck this past year and kept the horizontal rails, but did add extra railing and made the rails bigger/thicker.  Nobody enforces the national code around here anyway, and home inspectors ignore it completely when it comes to decks.

longboat wrote:
It didn't bother or concern me at first.  However, when there's little children around that can slip through or fall down from there, that's a different matter.

aa335 wrote:

Agreed, but wife & I don't have any kids and don't ever have kids over.  Kids would have to make a concerted effort to climb or slip through these rails.  We have a dog and a cat - funny how they are smart enough to not climb over/through the rails!  Anyway, if we ever decide to sell the house, it will be a simple matter to attach balusters if the next buyer is concerned.

I also have to rake the snow from the roof onto the back deck, and falling about 8 feet packs it pretty well. Up to now I installed 9 foot ramps over the stairs so I can drive the 24" 2  stage up onto the deck. This summer I snagged a little ss that I am rehabbing. I'll let you know how it works on the packed stuff.