Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Hey, Springtime....You Gonna Stick Around Now??

Abso-freaking-lutely beautiful outside today. 67*, mostly sunny, 3~4MPH breezes, and with the exception of some rain later this week, it'll be like this for a while.

It's "Springtime In The Northern Rockies", which means we could still get clobbered with 12" of snow, but the chances of that happening are diminishing daily. This last snow was a lot drier than I expected, and was fairly easy to get blown off the driveway and sidewalk. It was a lot more than I expected, meaning it was deep enough to require hitting the same spot twice with the snow blower, and as such, I ran the batteries down just clearing a single 24" wide lane down the driveway and sidewalks.

And the stimulus money we received will be going to fund a GAS POWERED snow blower very soon.

The "Honda vs Ariens" battle will be decided by what I can get at what I consider to be a reasonable price.

14 comments:

  1. We've actually been getting some rain showers, and the snow is 97% gone. Mostly just the deep piles along the roads, and some shaded areas remain. Now we have mud as the ground thaws out. And Bravo Zulu on the plan to acquire a gas-powered snowthrower.

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    1. Just got back from walking the dog, and about the only snow left on the ground is on the North side of houses and fences.

      Yeah, this electric one just isn't suitable for here. The batteries were down to 50%, and it couldn't handle the snow, no matter how easy I was with it. It would just start to bite into the snow, and then quit.

      I'll put it on craigslist for $200 and be done with it...

      Delete
  2. With the collapse of the energy sector locally, in a few weeks there will be some bargains to be had. I'd wait. Maybe cruel to take advantage of other's misfortune but ........ your cash just might put some groceries into a hungry house.

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    1. I hadn't considered that, but you're right. I might be able to help someone by converting a useless (to them) item into "working capital".

      Delete
  3. Congrats on the Trumpbux! And weather. It's turned ridiculously hot here in the space of a day but still looks like Spring instead of a furnace...

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    1. Yeah, we got the full amount, much to our surprise.

      Just gorgeous outside today. Spent a couple of hours cutting up the three (thought it was two until I got out there) big limbs off the poor little crab apple tree. I cut them down to 10~12" lengths, and tomorrow I'll strip the small branches off them prior to moving them into the garage to dry out and season over the Summer.

      Being a hardwood, it burns really well in the fireplace, and gives off a lot of heat and a pleasant aroma.

      Delete
  4. Hmm. Maybe we are going the wrong direction in thinking about the snow removal.
    https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a19051/jet-engine-snow-blowers-demolish-snow/
    https://aviationhumor.net/mig-aircraft-jet-engine-snowblowers/
    https://www.6sqft.com/how-does-the-mta-deal-with-snow-storms-jet-engine-powered-snow-blowers/

    And now that I'm done giggling, there are some very small jet turbines.
    https://www.pbs.cz/en/our-business/aerospace/aircraftgines/jetgine-pbs-tj100

    It's probably not feasible to use a jet turbine powered quadrotor for snow removal. But it would literally be a blast.

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  5. Good luck! Honda is the better engine. Just sayin...

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    1. No argument from me. My generator is a Honda. Starts on the 3rd or 4th pull even after sitting for six months.....

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  6. If you get a snow blower make sure it is one that does not have a smaller impeller exit than the diameter of the exit itself The Craftsman I have has a small rectangular exit on my snowblower and in wet snow it extrudes snow bricks and plugs up constantly I am in Great Falls, Montana. In dry snow it works great but a small amount of wet snow underneath the dry snow plugs it up.

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    1. That's one of the problems with the electric one I have. Besides the fact that the "maw" at the front can't accept more than 6~8" of snow, the discharge chute is undersized. In dry, fluffy snow it's no problem, and with fresh batteries it will easily fling the snow 30' or so.

      Wet snow? You get about 10' into it, and it's plugged. I've soaked it with silicon spray and WD-40, and it always plugs up the same way.

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    2. Same here I tried WD-40 apparently there are snow throwers for different types of snow BTW this is a 6.5 HP Craftsman. we have an old 2.7 HP Ariens and it does not have this problem

      Delete

Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...